Err wasn’t that the African nations cup?
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On Naby:
“Naby is not ready for involvement. It’s not a big thing; it’s a little bit like with other players in the past when they came back from injuries and then because of the amount of games and situation in the squad they had to play.
Then a little injury happened again. Now we just had to put on the brake and say ‘let’s settle it properly’. In the moment we have alternatives in midfield, so we really try to give him all the time he needs to get 100% fit. That’s the situation.”
Sounds like they’ll have him rehabilitated and fully fit just in time for the next International break. 
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Three draws and two losses, all against low block teams looking to nick the odd goal.
Naby was essentially brought to counter these sorts of opponents, but he’s now been around for ages with us and still can’t keep fit to string some games together.
Mix this with Ox not being the same since the Man City match damaging his knee, Adam Lallana say no more, Shaq with mystery bouts of missing games, etc, we’ve been playing without a Coutinho replacement for about three years.
This must now be Naby’s last major chance to get himself fully kit and try to integrate properly into the team.
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The forgotten man - or should I say Baby. The forgotten baby.
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Just needs moving on. Be lucky to get a quarter of what we paid for him.
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Understand we run out of patience with him and Ox but Situation is tricky.
Milner aging and Wijnaldum leaving. Even with Jones improving all the time and Fabinho moving back to midfield.
Last thing we want to have is suddenly being short in midfield like we’ve been with CBs this season.
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I actually think Keita will come good next season, also think Taki is being groomed to play as a no.8 in our system.
Klopp brought in that guy to get the likes of Keita back fit and firing, hopefully this prelonged period is to do exactly that.
I doubt, even a visit to Lourdes will cure Naby’s problems.
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The first problem is that Klopp is intensely loyal to his players. He won’t give up on Naby, even if fans would.
The second problem is that if we do decide to move him on, there is no-one who will take him at even a reasonable fee. The arse is in the process of dropping out of football.
The third problem is the Guinean FA, who will continually play him, come what may through injury. Naby is their star man, and I think there needs to be a frank conversation with Naby that they are, at this point, damaging his career. Not saying he should retire, but he needs to understand they need him more than he needs them, and start calling the shots a bit more on when he does and doesn’t play.
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To be fair we also struggled against low blocks with Coutinho. So for me a it’s a system / tactical problem rather than a player one.
Still it’s massively frustrating not having players available like this. This season we’re basically carrying roughly 6 injured players from the first team squad at any given time. That’s crazy.
Let’s not forget he played some really good games straight after coming back in the team, involved in some of our best wins this and last season. Was often one of our better players. Arsenal, Leicester and Palace spring to mind. Didn’t play well in Denmark though, was clearly unfit. He’ll have 2 years left (as with quite a few of our other players, even more important ones) next summer. I expect him to stay one more season, Ox to be closer to leaving next summer and then see our decisions in 2022. Who gets new contracts, who gets sold, etc. Keita will perhaps never get to the point of expectations when he first signed. But let’s not forget the good things he’s doing just out of pure frustration. Yeah, staying another season might be more because we will need numbers in midfield and he’s 25 (soon 26). Let’s see what we can do with him over the next year or so and then we really have to make a decision.
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I’m pretty sure that Ferguson’s Man United had a few cases like Keita (Anderson and, to an extent, Carrick pop up in my mind first), i.e. players who were extremely talented, pretty expensive but failed to fulfil the expectations that came with their price tags. Carrick did become a quality midfielder towards the end of his career there, though, but prior to that, Ferguson had a team that was strong enough to carry him for about four or five years, to be honest.
That’s the best case scenario with Keita, though his Liverpool career looks to have more parallels with Anderson than Carrick, unfortunately. I think that this team is strong enough at this moment to carry him for a little while longer and I’d rather have him in the team than Oxlade-Chamberlain - I think AOC’s fitness record over the course of last two seasons is better than Keita’s but I fail to see any impetus in his performances, whereas Keita looks pretty good and purposeful almost every time he plays.
With Wijnaldum leaving, Milner ageing and Jones emerging, I feel that there’s one spot available for one of them, I can’t see both being offered new contracts.
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I can see outside interest in Keita but who would be in for AOC? All the things people say about Keita are doubly true for AOC. The one big difference in my opinion is that after each layoff Naby looks like he gets up to speed quicker.
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Southampton took back Walcott…
Liverpool were fleeced for Keita, AOC’s price tag was more realistic considering he’s also English. I think that there would be a fair few clubs where he’d be a good fit (Leicester, Wolves and Southampton, in my opinion, even Arsenal, why not). I think Liverpool will make a significantly smaller loss on him than on Keita and that Keita, when fit, is a greater and more “useful” luxury than AOC.
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Yep I reckon he’d go back to Southampton, probably does look like 1 or the other long term. The real sad thing about both Ox/Keita is they really were the next inline to take over from Milner/Henderson;
Milner (35), Henderson (30), Gini (30) → Keita (25), Oxlade (27), Fabinho (27)
With Thiago at 29 bridging the transition nicely.
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Back on the pitch.
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Glad they’ve found him something to do 
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Saddest thing about this pair is that they offered something our regular midfielders don’t.
Back injury, incoming 
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One thing is also clear; I guess fans of each clubs believe it’s exactly their club that is cursed od jinxed. Of course, you get some good times and some worse times. Some bad decisions and use of these players, players who don’t live a good enough professional life and increase the risk, some pure bad luck. But in general, it happens everywhere and I think basic impatience/frustration also exists everywhere. Also, not every player can merit the same patience or trust from the coaching staff. We can’t just go out and sell every player who got injured at least once and hand out 5-year deals to the likes of Nat Phillips and co.
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