I expected more from Curtis this season. His ceiling is so high that one day I expect him to be one of the best players in the league. I thought we’d start to see it this season but I guess it’s going to take a while longer. One goal is a terrible return for a player of his talent.
I’d say that overall he’s been decent if you look at it in context. That tends to not happen very often though as this team is so great and has so many world class players that we expect everyone to be able to perform to that level, and those who don't are judged more harshly. It's easy to overlook the fact that he's a young lad with not much experience, trying to hold his own in the best team this club has ever had. It's a tall order and all things considered he's doing pretty well.
Not as well as I think he should be and there's definitely a lot more to come from him. I'm one of his toughest judges because I probably rate him more highly than most, so therefore my expectations of him are greater. I don't think he progressed this season compared to last. I don't think he regressed either though.
It felt like a year where he was just treading water, but I'm basing that solely on what we see on the pitch, and mostly I'm only looking at what he's doing with the ball. I'm sure Klopp and the staff have seen big steps in his development in some of the things we don't see. Positioning, tactical discipline, decision making etc
Occasionally he's been very good, at other times not so good. Overall though, yeah he’s been alright. The lack of goals is really disappointing because a player with his talent can contribute a lot more than he has done. It’ll come though. He scored so many goals at youth level that we know he’s got that in him.
He’s worked so hard on getting the other side of his game up to the levels required that it almost feels like he’s forgotten what got him there in the first place. Curtis has always been cocky and while that isn’t always a good thing, there is a place for it and I hope over the next few years he starts to show that swag that he has.
Currently I think he’s just trying to be the responsible adult and too often he’s taken the safe option whereas in his early days he’d have just imposed his talent and made things happen.
We’ve seen it in flashes this year. I thought he was brilliant in the second half at Southampton recently, while Porto away earlier in the season was another exciting display full of promise. He had a dip in the middle part of the season and Klopp revealed that he had a good talk with him to get him back on track.
That did spark an upturn in his form and there’s one incident that I recall that seemed to kick start his season again. It was a midweek game at Anfield (can’t remember who we were playing, it might have been Leicester) and he’d started poorly. He gave the ball away, the crowd groaned and then he chased off, won the ball back and started an attack and after that he never looked back. Slump over. He was good after that in the limited chances he has.
Southampton away at the end of the season was a big performance from him and he had some success with England u21s after the season ended too. When you look at the profile of players we sign for the first team, they're usually between 22-25. There's a reason for that. We let them learn their trade elsewhere and then when they're ready we bring them in and develop them further. Curtis hasn't had that, he's still a couple of years younger than players we bring in, so he's ahead of that curve. He won't be classed as a youngster forever though and he will need to step up.
It was interesting to me to hear England u21 coach Lee Carsley (I know, I know) say that the target for Curtis is that he needs to show he's the best player in every game and every training session. At that level, he's dead right. He should be the best player all the time rather than just some of the time. He's not going to be the best player in club games or training, but in time he could be.
Previous Season Ratings:
N/A
This Season’s Rating: 7/10
Ups and downs, but for a 21 year old trying to establish himself in arguably the best team in the world, he's done alright.
Best Moment:
Porto away.
Worst Moment:
Not making the bench for the League Cup final.
The Future?
Much like how I felt this time last year really. Curtis needs to really kick on this year.
Recommended Comments
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.