The Central Midfield Thread

I thought Keita was abysmal yesterday and Henderson not much better.
Hopefully its down to rustiness but Henderson is a concern as he has been off it for a while.
How Keita wants a better deal for his next contract is beyond me. He can be first to go in the midfield re-build along with Ox and Milner.

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Is that some news from a reliable source - that Keita wants an improved deal for his next contract?

What did Henderson do wrong? Genuinely interested, considering he was playing the no.6 role and Cardiff didnā€™t get a sniff of goal till he went off.

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A few of those f*ck knows if it was a cross or a shot autopilot attempts towards the left side.

:joy:

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Apparently if youā€™re not scoring youā€™re shit. Loved seeing Elliott back, and wonderful goal, but those shit-talking the rest of our midfield were watching some other game compared to meā€¦

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If that was the case then Henderson is shit full stop due to his goals or lack of.
Hes lost a yard, few more passes going astray.
Hell be back but has looked off it for a bit.

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Is anyone actually using that as an argument against any of our midfielders?

Henderson has been very poor in a lot of games this season to be fair to @Walshy07. Klopp seems to be stocking up on young attacking talent for a potential retooling, but the midfield is going to need a LOT of attention over the next few windows if we want to stay at or near the top. Hendo, Milner, Ox, Keita, Thiago will all likely be gone or have reduced roles by 2024. Getting i. The likes of Carvalho and Elliott are great for attacking, but we need a couple of box-to-box types and another CDM to backup Fabinho. Gonna be interesting.

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Good to see Hendo seems to have found a bit of his mojo again. Weā€™ve definitely been worse for him going off the last couple of games. Maybe the taste of silverware has reinvigorated him again.

The negative is the injuries picking up again in that area. Real shame for Jones last night as that was a good opportunity and a good half from him. Gutting for Thiago again but I think weā€™re going to have to live with his niggles and just enjoy him when he is fit.

Keita seems to well and truly back in the fold. Was it telling that he got the nod in the LC final when Thiago went down? Elliott then gets the bench place ahead of Jones and then gets on ahead of Ox. May well be horses for courses but that doesnā€™t look great for Ox and he didnā€™t exactly shine last night either.

Feels like the writing may be on the wall for him this summer whilst Keita has possibly shown enough to earn a new deal. If Milner now does stay as rumours suggest then maybe weā€™re only going to be after one CM in the summer. Just hope whoever it is has an impeccable injury record.

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Are we sure it was injury to Jones and not something pre planned that caused the substitution?

As he was coming off at halftime he was gesturing to him thigh according to the comentators on ITV last night.

It could simply be he was taken off as a precausion as we were already up 2-0, and the substitute was Elliott so not a drop in quality

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Ah missed that signal, yeah with it being Elliott that came on I wasnā€™t sure if it was part of his recovery to only play half the match

Klopp said it was nothing special, not an injury, but a combination of feeling the hamstring and a bit of fatigue, better not to risk anything.

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Sackā€™em all they are all crap particularly that ageing Elliot chappy, what does Klopp think heā€™s doing. I mean Henderson is real poop couldnā€™t lace up his kids boots let alone captain LFC to any trophies. Wtf our midfield looks so crap when Henderson is captain and so much better when heā€™s not there.
Iā€™ve had enough we havenā€™t even won a trophy this year yet. Surely itā€™s time to question that idiot Klopp, certainly hasnā€™t got a clue, noway will we win any trophies with him in charge.

Ohh wait ā€¦ what the fuck do I know? What the fuck am I going on about?
Does anyone ever stop and question themselves, I wonder?

Not impressed with our midfield this season. Lacking energy and feels very inhomogeneous / unbalanced.

Canā€™t remember one game this season after which I felt ā€˜wow our midfield was unplayable todayā€™. In previous seasons we had that regularly.

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It feels as if something has changed tactically somehow. The midfielders are further apart and less joined up.

Iā€™m not 100% sure what it is to be honest but we are not as effective there as we were.

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I think it has a lot to do with Firmino not playing or not being at his best when playing. Alcantara usually drops deep, while Henderson often goes right to create triangles with Salah and Trent. No wonder midfield looks disjointed, especially when Firmino isnā€™t there to drop deeper and connect the dots.

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I touched on this in another thread, but, for me, itā€™s all about age and athleticism. Milner 36, Hendo soon to be 32, Thiago 31, Fabinho 29 early next season are all sliding past their peak years, and Thiago is the only one I would consider a special athlete. This is where the loss of Gini has hurt us. He is athletically gifted also.

From the little Iā€™ve seen of Carvalho, it looks as though he will add some athleticism, but, as with Elliott, he is young and learning. Yes, I consider Elliott to be athletically gifted. Iā€™d love to see them add another gifted athlete to the midfield, especially one who can sit deep, and give Fabs some rest. That is why I covet Tchouameni. The few times Iā€™ve watched him, Iā€™ve been taken by how smooth and athletic he is. He moves from end to end, sideline to sideline effortlessly, and I believe adding he and Fabio, to replace Ox and Milner (who I see leaving this summer) will make our midfield young, hungry, and athletic, and a force to be reckoned with again.

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I understand the point about the guys getting to their mid thirties, but I really believe the age - performance drop off is drastically overstated in the early 30s range. The way these guys take care of themselves now, 30-32 is actually closer to a maleā€™s physical peak than 26-28.

We need an extra body for sure since ox and possibly Milner are likely gone, but we are drastically over estimating the physical fall off of Fab/Hendo/Thiago.

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I still think our current best Trio of Hendo, Thiago and Fabinho is still our best. Not only our best, they are probably one of the best CM combi in the PL. Of course they are not going to last forever. And while I think they will still be top of their game for another season or two but I think its also fair for the calls to ensure we have continuity when they eventually drop off as they age.

I had been hoping that ever since Keita came, that he would become the stalwart of our ā€˜newā€™ midfield. But honestly, the verdict is still out, because he has obviously shown he can be very good when he is healthy but he has shown nowhere near that he can be that world class CM on a consistent basis week in week out. Jones is of course still young and his career can go either way still, so we need to trust Klopp to develop him and give Jones space and patience to grow for another season or two.

So I think getting a midfielder in this summer could be important. The kind of level when we brought in Diaz or Jota.