Liverpool named a much-changed midfield against Crystal Palace, due in no small part to the short turnaround between the 5-2 defeat against Real Madrid in the Champions League and the top-flight encounter with the Eagles.
The performance of Naby Keita in the opening half of action left much to be desired as far as John Aldridge was concerned, however, with the Reds legend urging Jurgen Klopp to hook the No.8.
The Merseysiders find themselves level, at the time of writing, despite a great deal of suspect defending from the visitors.
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To be completely fair to the ex-Liverpool man, Keita hardly covered himself with glory with his latest outing, earning an early yellow after being cleanly beaten by Michael Olise and proving unable to assert himself physically in the middle of the park.
Given that a lack of physicality and intensity has been arguably the biggest factor behind our lacklustre performances all season, it’s a situation the manager simply can’t tolerate any more.
We appreciate the need to give players like Stefan Bajcetic and Fabinho a rest, though with top four in the balance, we simply can’t afford to take chances and allow the hosts to dominate.