Jurgen Klopp blown away by Liverpool player who played a 'special game' in Newcastle United victory

Jurgen Klopp hailed the performance of Curtis Jones in Liverpool's win over Newcastle United and declared: 'he sets the level for counter-pressing'.

The Reds started 2024 with a 4-2 victory over the Magpies at Anfield. Mo Salah netted a double before heading off to AFCON - as well as missing a penalty - while Curtis Jones and Cody Gakpo were on target. In truth, Liverpool's triumph could have been more emphatic but for a combination of poor finishing and an acrobatic performance from Newcastle keeper Martin Dubravka. Liverpool are now three points ahead of Aston Villa at the summit of the Premier League table.

Jones was back in the starting line-up after being rested for the 2-0 win over Burnley on Boxing Day. The 22-year-old enjoyed a fine start to the season before a mix of suspension and injury saw him lose his berth. But now Jones is firmly back in Klopp's plans.

Asked about Jones' display against Newcastle, Liverpool boss Klopp said: "Special game. Special game from Curtis, to be honest: his high press, his counter-press. We all know how good a player Curtis is, he is technically incredibly skilled, but he finds more and more direction in his dribbling, he gets better out of situations and his pressing and counter-pressing is meanwhile... he sets the level actually, how it should look. Really happy with that. He keeps every player in the game.

"How I said, the counter-pressing we played today was absolutely exceptional, absolutely. It was a school video, you have to show it if you want to do it. A lot of times people tell me my behaviour is not great and it’s not good for grassroots football. OK, maybe the grassroots team want to play counter-press, then watch the video of that game, that is really helpful.

"So many good performances, cannot actually remember really a bad one, to be honest, they were all really good. But we had to be, because in the situations when we were not at 100 per cent you could immediately see then Newcastle were there. But we made it really tricky for them tonight and it was a fully deserved three points."