Jurgen Klopp has praised Liverpool youngsters Curtis Jones and Caoimhin Kelleher after both impressed in the win over Arsenal.
Klopp revealed last week that he was using tough love to help Jones realise his full potential and kick on in the Reds’ first-team.
The Liverpool boss opened up on how he had become so concerned about Jones’s failure to kick-on this season that he had spoken to him at length to remind him of the quality he possesses.
Jones has made great strides in the three years since Klopp handed him his debut in an FA Cup tie at Wolves, and impressed against the Gunners at the Emirates.
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"You win a football game, a difficult one, you only can win it because a lot of players obviously performed really well. And, yes, Curtis was really good last two games, yes," Klopp replied when asked if he was pleased with Jones' response.
"I know him for a long time now and I am one of his biggest fans, to be honest. From the first day when I saw him I can pretty much remember when the Talent Group trained at Melwood on a side pitch, I looked out of my office and I saw him there and thought, ‘Oof, wow!’ The next question was, ‘How old is he?’ I think he was 15 at the time but was already clearly a massive talent.
Talents need to work and he is doing that work. Talents need to learn the game, he’s doing that every day and trying that every day. Sometimes they need a little push and Curtis looks like he is that guy.
"Not that he is not concentrated or whatever; let me say not ‘pushed’, it’s a response, a proper response and then he can have that much more often if he wants.
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"If his response is then like this, absolutely fine. Again, we couldn’t have won that game with bad individual performances and he was one of them, so he performed really well."
While Irishman Kelleher once again impressed in place of Alisson Becker and made an excellent save to tip a free-kick from Alexandre Lacazette to safety.
"He is No.2 at Liverpool, which is, I would say, one of the highest ratings. I don’t think you can be rated much higher at the age he is," Klopp replied when asked about his goalkeeper's performance.
"We are more than happy with him, absolutely. This is a John Achterberg project. There were a lot of steps to go since I arrived here.
"When I saw him first time, a skinny boy from Ireland and standing in this big goal, it was like, ‘OK, it could take a while until he fills it.’
"Since then he made incredible steps and now he is a top-class goalie definitely. Calm like you cannot believe. Good with the ball. And on top of that, makes incredible saves.
"So, he enjoys the work with John, Jack, Taffa and the other goalies because what can you do better in this age than to learn from the best goalie in the world? All these kinds of things are really good for him and we are more than happy to have him."
