He had some good moments in Real’s half, but too relaxed on the ball, giving it away. There were others, it was not only Keita or mainly because of Keita. I found the decision to start him ahead of Thiago a little bit surprising, but I wouldn’t call it a shocking decision or that it had so much affect for our performance and especially our first half performance last night. I expected Jota ahead of Firmino just about and Thiago (much more games like these in his legs). I understood Klopp’s reasons for it. As for the rest, no doubt there will be another focus on the player like it is now with Trent. I don’t think Keita is necessarily finished with his Liverpool career after last night. But we’ll see this summer.
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On the abuse - fucking cuntish behaviour of the highest order.
On Naby, I really do feel sorry for him. Although he was awful yesterday, I think the game bypassed him because tactically, ZZ had Jurgens number last night. Dunno if it was the shift to a 4 at the back from 5 from ZZ or what, but in my mind, regardless of who was in midfield, with the starting tactics, it was always going to be a lose lose. Of course there’s a clear argument that say had Thiago been there, the game is entirely different, or he may well have thought “fuck Jurgens tactics, I’m gonna just keep hold of this ball and calm things down”.
It was too big a game to make that call, but hindsight is wonderful. it could just as easily have worked and Jurgen proclaimed to be a genius.
All my defending of Naby done - I still think his number is up here. Combination of injuries and inability to find form have starved a central midfielder that really had me excited. Better off in a slower, less intense league. So some Serie A club on loan next year, fucked about the year after, sold for peanuts. Joy.
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I agree with this, but in such a game, the quality of passing and the energy of pressing in midfield was always to be crucial, especially at the beginning of the game. In the first ten-fifteen minutes, Keita looked generally lost in his positioning, lacked any kind of pace or energy, and lost a big number of balls which led to Real Madrid getting into their game with ease.
The rest of the team rapidly lost confidence, and other players started to behave similarly: Gini, Fabinho, Trent, Robbo and others. But for me, Keita bears a lot of responsibility for our horrible first half performance. When he was taken off just before half time, our game improved afterwards.
I don’t want to blame Keita too much either. It’s first and foremost Klopp who is responsible for throwing him in without any kind of competitive rhythm in his legs. Let’s call a spade a spade: Thiago was the obvious choice, well ahead of Keita, and Kloppo bottled it completely.
But still, as this is the Keita thread: he’s not good enough I’m afraid. As you say, he looks bereft of anything making a good player. He’s simply not at the level we want to be, unfortunately so. And he hasn’t the excuse anymore of having to adapt to our game.
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While I’m not sure if he was the catalyst for last night I certainly agree that Klopp must bear some responsibility. That selection clearly didn’t work or deliver whatever he had in mind before the game.
I’m always against really throwing blame at any one player to be honest. Sure, players make mistakes and that leads to goals but using Real’s first goal as an example, some are singling out Philips for that. I dont, I see at least 5 collective culprits on that one.
Sadly my current problem with Keita is purely contribution. He doesn’t play enough, whether that’s through injury or selection and that basically means the club has been carrying him. We simply cant afford that long term. Clubs will always carry some players but we seem to go through cycles of simply having too many in that bracket.
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Passenger 10 characters
I’m perfectly happy to throw him under the bus. Might give him the kick up the arse he needs. He’s been given ample time and support since he’s been here and is looking increasingly less arsed. He was diabolical and a lot of the disjointed feel of our team and being under pressure came from him being completely ineffective and basically a cone on the pitch off the ball and not so much a conduit of our play but where it came to die a whimpering death on it.
He was atrocious and as all the patience and coaxing hasn’t seemed to work I reckon its the bollocking he needs.
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I think Keita has got an identical twin, who is the real Naby and they’ve swapped identities. We’ve signed the shit one.
it might work.
Still I dont think we should blame everyone’s poor performance on Keita
In a vacuum, I quite like Naby as a player and was beyond thrilled to have him here.
But as The Boss (and many others) likes to say, it’s a results based business. There are certain expectations that come with the territory. I wish some would stop romanticizing these notions that the supporters aren’t patient or have “given up” on Naby. He gets paid to do a job. And paid quite handsomely, in addition to the handsome fee that was paid to another club for his services. His availability is a big part of that.
So with all that in mind, we are now 3 years into the Naby Keita project and no one still knows what he is, what he does well, or how exactly the club has benefited from having him here. He’s never able to sustain any period of staying in the lineup. Through injuries or bad luck, I simply don’t care anymore.
Rightly or wrongly, my perception of Naby is that he can never be relied on and that he has more concern and passion playing for his national team than he does his club. Harsh or not, it’s my perception and I’m entitled to that. When the time comes for him to move on, the club will almost certainly absorb a financial loss. It’s a transfer that hasn’t worked out, and that happens to every club. No emotion involved, it just hasn’t worked out.
But when is enough actually enough and the club does make the decision to move on?
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What did he cost? 53 million was it?
Currently ranking ahead of Andy Carroll for biggest waste of money in this clubs history. Really hope he turns it around but the more I see of him the less impressed I am.
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I suspect in addition to a brittle body, he also has a fragile mind. The talent is undoubted though.
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Maybe we can con Bournemouth into buying one of our cast offs again.
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Rodgers is rumoured to be interested, he needs a wing back. 
No doubt he has another 180-page dossier… of Keïta’s injuries.
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He will buy him in a heartbeat. We just have to make the Leicester Committee oppose it.
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Swap for Fofana would do me.
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The comparison begins and ends with the money spent. Carroll was a donkey who was never going to work out. Keita was universally perceived as the missing piece of the puzzle and his talent was never in doubt.
Seems like Tuesday was the final straw for just about everyone but as unacceptably bad as he was, for me Klopp bears greater responsibility for starting him in the first place.
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I’d swap him for Tielemans in a flash if we could take anyone from Leicester.
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Problem is I’ve heard Kieta is the final piece of the jigsaw but never seen that, what’s it been 3 seasons?
Agree with you Klopp starting him was an awful decision.
Klopp is loyal I get that but some decisions he makes for loyalty reasons dont half come back and bite him on the arse.
Putting him in a swap deal would be best way to get highest price…
Like you would part-ex a clapped out car to have decent money knocked off the purchase of something more modern… This guy, for whatever reasons over the years has been a dismal failure…!
Get Rid ASAP