It can’t be a coincidence that on the day Gini Wijnaldum was missing from the centre of Liverpool’s midfield, the Reds were involved in a game of chaos.
It’s become the norm so far this season that the Reds are in complete control throughout the 90 minutes, but it was a return to previous seasons and end-to-end football at times against Crystal Palace.
It was a really hard performance to assess overall, with lots of good attacking play but three goals conceded, but for many Reds fans, the fact Gini Wijnaldum was missing was telling.
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Both Jordan Henderson and Fabinho did quite well at times against Palace, but having Wijnaldum in there as well would have made it more solid, as these tweets suggested.
https://twitter.com/dearlove_T/status/1086707088296951808
Don't care what midfield Klopp picks from here now until May as long as Gini Wijnaldum starts every game. The most underrated midfielder in the League. He was missed today badly & it showed 👍
— Cathal OL 🇮🇪🔴🇵🇸 (@IrishRED05) January 19, 2019
One thing that Wijnaldum does better than almost anyone else in the league is staying calm and keeping possession under pressure. Missed him today
— Jacob (@jacob1892_) January 19, 2019
There’s so much you could say about todays game but apart from displaying fantastic spirit in the 2nd half we undoubtedly missed Wijnaldum so much
— Steve Williams (@stevew0601) January 19, 2019
How long is that Wijnaldum injury? 😶
— Nishan (@Nishan_LFC) January 19, 2019
Btw we don’t concede 3 if Wijnaldum plays..
— 3Jemz😞 (@lfcjm21) January 19, 2019
Wijnaldum a major miss in midfield today #LFC
— jonathan young (@jonyy_87) January 19, 2019
https://twitter.com/AnfieIdCentraI/status/1086675632053018625
The Reds got the job done without Wijnaldum in the end, but the sooner he is back, the better.
Sometimes it takes a player to be missing for a game for people to fully appreciate his role, and that appears to have been the case today.