No. Thiago, Fabinho and Hendo were starting.
Wijnaldum came on in extra time for Fabinho.
Thiago stayed on even after he was injured by Richarlison.
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Difficult.
Gini left and even if we sell Shaqiri and Minamino - who both are not real CMs - and Grujic we would still have bodies to survive any injury crisis in midfield.
And even without Keita.
We would still have Fabinho, Hendo, Thiago, Jones, Milner, Ox.
Enough bodies.
Maybe i should not write this but in the worst case Bobby could play as a 10 and Trent could play as a #6 or #8 - (didnāt Southgate say that he might consider Trent as a midfielder a the EUROs recently?)
My biggest worry is that over the next few windows players have to be āreplacedā
Gini left
Keita and Ox injury prone
Milner old
Hendo and Thiago aging
Wouldnāt it be better to bring in new midfielders one by one than being in the need of bringing in two next year?
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I donāt know how much we can/should depend on AOC. He definitely brings something different to the table, but how regularly does he do that? He has played a grand total of 4548 mins for Liverpool. He can be a tactical sub bringing extra sparks, he can be a depth player giving breather to the core players, but he canāt be count upon as a regular option.
Itās obvious that Klopp is easing Curtis into a regular role and we will see more minutes for him next season, but he isnāt a regular at the moment. I feel Klopp will play him regularly once Milner leaves in 2022.
Milner is leaving in 2022.
On paper it seems we have enough bodies in the midfield, but the reality is, we are spread pretty thin. Couple of serious injuries (something thatās not unheard of) will mean the remaining players will be shouldering more than they can do. I think a new CM is pretty high in the list.
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I would love to see 22-25 year-old CM coming to us, but not a 30+ year-old one.
I donāt think many of the people saying we donāt need a midfielder are saying that one wouldnāt be really nice to have.
But if we are trying to get a forward as well, then we would prioritize raising funds for that firstā¦ as we simply donāt have the numbers there.
If per say we get a couple injuries upfront? What happens then? Add in the AFCON when Salah & Mane are gone?
Bobby, Mo and Mane are all aging as well.
Ideally we can move all the players we donāt want at a decent priceā¦ but it is going to be a gargantuan task.
For midfield, the plan might also be to give a few games to Leighton Clarkson. Hence January or the summer window after might not be too late to address midfield if we canāt raise enough to get our top targets.
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Nope, because he is just another Jordan Rossiter a.k.a another mug.
Therefore, we must buy a CM, preferably before World Cup - because many good CMs will see their value skyrocketing after that event if they perform well.
I thought Liam Coyle was the new Rossiter.
Stop calling kids āmugsā you weirdo.
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Agree, all of them are reaching 30 at the same time. In addition, we donāt 3 good subs for the front 3, only Jota. Ox and Elliott are equally unreliable. As for Elliottās goals and assists, Harvey Barnes achieved similar number at West Brom back in 2018/19 in just 26 matches.
Therefore, another FW is needed.
The RB position also lacks a good cover, since Neco is absolutely garbage. We should have snatched Reece James in 2018/19 when he had just completed his successful Championship loan season.
@Thomas1195, anything outside England or English players? Iāve noticed that almost all your wishes are such (sorry if Iām wrong).
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Camavinga, Tielemans for CM. I would love to have someone like Marcos Llorente as well, clearly better than Ox/Jones/Keita - especially if Atletico wants Firmino like rumours suggested.
I am also probably the biggest Sven Botman advocate here.
And so is Clarkson. He is simply a Championship-tier player - basically the equivalent of Phillips/Williams in the midfield.
Curtis Jones will be at least a solid midfielder in a top 6 club.
The likes of Camavinga, Gravenberch, Bellingham, Foden are potential generational talents.
I think Clarkson is perhaps comparable to someone like Billy Gilmour perhaps, maybe less talented/able than him.
And that means he will be sold.
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Getting it back on track, we have plenty of numbers for midfield going into next season. Thereās 7 current senior players on the books + Grujic, and thereās a handful of serviceable academy players that would do a reasonable job in a pinch (Clarkson, Cain, Morton, Balagizi).
The issue Iād see with our midfield is it being a bit too once paced now that Wijnaldum has gone. Another runner in there would definitely be handy, Bissouma being the obvious choice but maybe there are some others out there too.
Iām happy with Jones getting more responsibility next season, his game is improving all the time and his industry off the ball is underrated. Whether Klopp thinks Keita and Chamberlain can produce something next season is the big question though - ideally one of them would be replaced by somebody more reliable. Iām a big fan of Keita but his fitness is obviously a major problem and if he was to be replaced with a lesser talented more reliable player that would be fine.
Weāll also see what happens with the front line - if another good forward is brought in instead of midfielder the option to go to a 4231 is always there, and that would somewhat lessen the need for another player in midfield.
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What do you mean by ārunnerā?
Sorry just doesnāt mean anything to me.
Someone with a lot of energy who moves around the pitch a lot.
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Like Thiago and Hendo. Got it! 
Cain has been there since forever and he hasnāt done anything notable, same as Clarkson. I donāt think they will have a future here unless our team suffers a massive decline like in 2010.
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