Arne Slot believes Curtis Jones may have excelled for Liverpool since becoming a father.
The midfielder produced a man-of-the-match display in last month’s win over Chelsea which came just days after experiencing parenthood for the first time.
He has continued to deliver for the Reds, most recently providing the opening assist for Luis Diaz in the Champions League rout against Bayer Leverkusen.
Ahead of his side’s clash with Aston Villa, Slot refused to take credit for Jones’ renaissance and feels the recent change in his private life is a greater factor.
He said: “With Curtis, maybe it’s not me who did it because he became a father and I had nothing to do with that!
“You never know if that plays a part or not, but since the moment he became a father he started putting great performances in.
“He already did this in the first few weeks that we worked together in pre-season. I was like, ‘Wow, quality player!’ but then his performances dropped a bit.
“Since the moment, like I said, he became a father, he’s outstanding again. It might have to do a bit with that.
“But in general I think it has to do with the way the team plays, because every player that comes in has a good performance.
“That probably tells you a lot about the quality of the team, how they play together. As a result of that, individual performances are good as well.”
The Liverpool head coach also refused to be drawn on whether he would persist with Kostas Tsimikas over Andy Robertson for the Villans’ visit.
Tsimikas has now made six starts this season including back-to-back outings against Leverkusen and Brighton while Robertson has struggled of late.
“We have two very good full-backs,” insisted Slot.
“We play many, many games so both of them need their games because it’s also a position where a lot of effort is being asked.
“If you look at the players that have played most games, it’s mostly our centre-backs and they don’t run the most if you compare that to full-backs, midfielders or wingers.
“There are multiple reasons why our full-backs or midfielders are sometimes rotated, but definitely also has to do with the quality of the players.
“If you compare centre-backs to full-backs or midfielders, they don’t run much so that’s why we rotate.
“I have two very good left full-backs and Kostas has started a few times. Let’s see who starts tomorrow.”