Naby Keïta’s Brighton performance may have raised both a question and a possible solution for Jürgen Klopp in order to fix his midfield issues this season at Anfield.
Jürgen Klopp’s midfield problems have been as persistent this season as an achy tooth. And the more it refuses to go away, the more the cavity in Liverpool’s midfield grows. Solutions are hard to come by, but it seems like Liverpool is not going to go to the doctors anytime soon in the January transfer window, but rather wait for surgery in the summer.
That means Klopp will have to solve the club’s problems internally, and while there is no escaping a rotten tooth, the pain can be soothed with some home remedies, of which Liverpool might have found the one that may serve them the most against Brighton.
For the third game in a row, Klopp’s Liverpool starting midfield had remained the same. That’s hardly happened all season, but it might be a telling sign of the Liverpool boss finally finding a formula that could just work.
It’s an unorthodox midfield, and not one that many Liverpool fans will have predicted would ever start at the beginning of the season. At the base of it is Stefan Bajčetić, an academy graduate from Kirkby, who has capitalized on Fabinho’s shaky form this season and actually provided some stability in the midfield in these last three games.
On the left is a midfielder who has carried Liverpool on his back in Thiago Alcântara, and probably the only Liverpool midfielder who cannot be accused of having slacked off this season.
Klopp’s right-sided midfielder is perhaps the biggest surprise. Naby Keïta’s enigmatic presence at Anfield has been one of the biggest mysteries in football. A player who had previously not suffered niggling injuries in his entire career has been haunted by them ever since arriving on Merseyside. And as a result, his career has stuttered in a red shirt. From flashes of brilliance to strings of mind-boggling performances of incompetence, it’s been a strange and wild ride for the Guinean.
But the fact of the matter remains that at his best and fully fit, Keïta is among Liverpool’s top midfielders, and Brighton proved that. His best moment came when he dispossessed Brighton in the middle of the park and set off Mohamed Salah with a sublime pass who then squared it to Harvey Elliott to score Liverpool’s opener.
The second probably came once he had come off the pitch. Liverpool struggled in his absence to control the game as well as they did when Keïta was pulling the strings, and the Guinean’s performance should be taken into account for Klopp.
He is the remedy Liverpool need, but it’s a remedy that will raise questions too. An expiring contract at the end of the season is going to be on the minds of many. Surely, even one last hurrah won’t be enough to redeem himself and earn a new deal. Or could it?
Only Klopp may know the answer. But one thing is clear: the Keïta, Thiago and Bajčetić midfield might be Liverpool’s solution to hide away the pain for the rest of the season in what is going to be a long and grueling campaign.
SOURCE: liverpool.com
