There are Liverpool fans who want Jurgen Klopp to field all his attacking midfielders together all the time – at the expense of the trio who won us the Champions League.
Tonight’s game v Arsenal is probably decent evidence that he’s correct in not doing so!
Adam Lallana played as a no.6 and was constantly caught in possession, while Naby Keita – fully fit and off the back of a good outing v Genk – was invisible in midfield.
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain was the best of the central three and capped his performance off with a stunning goal – but his partners in crime – as well as left-back for the evening James Milner – didn’t play with the composure you’d expect of experienced, multi-million pound pros.
Combined, Keita, Lallana and Ox cost us over £100m – but two of them will not be starting at the weekend v Aston Villa – without question.
Sadly, it looked like Keita picked up a knock before his exit, too – which judging on how long niggles have kept him out for us so far – will likely see him begin another period of rehab.
Here’s how many Reds reacted on Twitter:
Lallana, you’ve been garbage today. Keita, I like you, but you were terrible. Ox? MOTM.
— Notorious (@notoriousjerk1) October 30, 2019
If this game has taught us anything it’s that Keita is always nailed on to get an injury, Chamberlain can twat a ball dead hard and Lallana as a number 6 is a shocking idea 👍🏻
— Kev Seddon (@kseddon11) October 30, 2019
Lallana has been very poor tonight.
But you'll only hear about Keita's performance.
— Naeem Seedat (@NaeemSeedat) October 30, 2019
Keita & Lallana very poor tonight. Origi & the youngsters decent.
— Jonathan Morley 🇮🇪 (@jonmorleylfc) October 30, 2019
Milner, Lallana and when he was on Keita, have been the three worst players tonight
They really should be being the three best bar AOC
— LFCKoptalker (@LFC_Koptalker) October 30, 2019
Lallana, Milner and Keita have been trash today. Kelleher had a mare, VDB has improvements to make. Gomez > Lovren.
— Amr. (@amr91_) October 30, 2019
Adam Lallana one of the worst players in @LFC squad. Slow, gives the ball away too easily. Waited a year on Keita and still waiting
— Dominic Shields (@shieldsdom) October 30, 2019
https://twitter.com/DamianEd_/status/1189649701236162561
All these kids on show and it’s Milner, Keita and Lallana that have been terrible
— . (@wr_ghty) October 30, 2019
Our worse players have been the senior lads very poor from lallana Milner and Keita
— ElijahHughes (@elijahhughes97) October 30, 2019