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13 hours ago, Duff Man said:

Since joining, he's had five separate injuries, putting him out for about a third of his time here. Not really sure what qualifies as injury prone if that doesn't

Walked off injured could not continue wed night on bench and presumably fit on Saturday. Does not smack of someone willing to push through initial pain to help team out. Worried about his mentality around injuries a this stage. Does not and never has shown me the hard tackling red card inducing bull of a player others saw in Germany. 

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8 minutes ago, clockspeed said:

Walked off injured could not continue wed night on bench and presumably fit on Saturday. Does not smack of someone willing to push through initial pain to help team out. Worried about his mentality around injuries a this stage. Does not and never has shown me the hard tackling red card inducing bull of a player others saw in Germany. 

Push through a potential injury in a throwaway league cup game, potentially injuring himself further? When he’s barely returned from a previous injury?

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14 minutes ago, moof said:

Push through a potential injury in a throwaway league cup game, potentially injuring himself further? When he’s barely returned from a previous injury?

Perhaps that was his / management thought process just not what I expect for someone trying to make mark in team and it being obvious we need him . Take your point though

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5 hours ago, clockspeed said:

Walked off injured could not continue wed night on bench and presumably fit on Saturday. Does not smack of someone willing to push through initial pain to help team out. Worried about his mentality around injuries a this stage. Does not and never has shown me the hard tackling red card inducing bull of a player others saw in Germany. 

If he can feel something isn't right I don't really have a problem with him coming off. Especially in a game like that. I just find it bizarre that people are pretending his fitness isn't an issue, when it quite obviously is. But then it's long been a TLW phenomenon to do the ostrich routine in these kind of situations, so I shouldn't be surprised.

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On 01/11/2019 at 12:02, elBooth said:

I'm quite happy to follow Jurgen's lead with Naby.  It's clear through listening to Jurgen talk about him and the fact he always tries to get him involved when available (run in last year before the Barca injury) that he defo rates in him. 

 

He hasn't been good enough for large parts yet but I do have that feeling that IF it clicks, the lad will take some stopping.

Jurgen also seems to rate Lallana!

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1 hour ago, VERBAL DIARRHEA said:

We will wait and see with Keita, i’m a fan as you all know. Something must give.

I hope he stays fit and shows his ability to the full.

I think most people share that sentiment, mate. I certainly do, anyway, but as you mention his fitness is definitely an issue atm.

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  • 3 weeks later...

https://www.football365.com/news/times-up-naby-its-now-or-never-for-keita-at-liverpool

 

Quote

Time’s up, Naby: It’s now or never for Keita at Liverpool

Date published: Saturday 23rd November 2019 9:09

Naby Keita has made just four Liverpool starts since April, partly due to injury, but mainly because he’s not been good enough. Inklings of the form that earned him his move to Anfield have appeared fleetingly, but Jurgen Klopp can only deflect the questions of those querying the poor performances of his £54million acquisition for so long – it’s been too long already.

Keita was hauled off on the hour mark in both of his two League Cup starts in that time, with Jurgen Klopp forced to defend his midfielder’s displayswhile lavishing praise on the untried and untested academy prospects that surrounded him. And while securing starting spots in two of Liverpool’s Champions League group games would be a sign of managerial trust in most cases, on these occasions the prestige of the competition belied the importance of his role in the squad. Victories against Genk – ninth in the Belgian top flight amd the whipping boys of Group E – were all but confirmed before the players stepped on to the pitch. It didn’t really matter who those players were.

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Although he’s been injured for half of Liverpool’s 12 Premier League games this season, the Guinean international has seen just 14 minutes of football in the six games he’s been available for. In those 14 minutes Liverpool did turn losing positions against Manchester United and Aston Villa into a draw and a win respectively, but not even the most blindsided of Keita advocates could suggest he had any significant bearing on those results.

In January – five months after Keita’s move to Liverpool – Klopp insisted his summer signing was still adapting to life on Merseyside. And fair enough; Premier League greats have taken longer to make their first significant mark on England’s top flight.

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A month later the German boss was again batting off press criticism, claiming he was happy with his midfielder but that there was much more to come. Again, justifiable: he deserved more patience.

But by September, Klopp’s continued claims that adaptation was still required became a case of a man who doth protest too much, and his latest attempts to allay Liverpool fans’ fears by insisting Keita is “close to his best” finally has people calling bulls**t. There have been faster adaptations on an evolutionary scale in the animal kingdom. And if this instance – as with evolution – is a case of survival of the fittest, Keita is far from a natural first-team selection.

He had a bigger build-up than most when he arrived at Anfield in the summer of 2018 in a deal that was agreed with RB Leipzig a year earlier. Having repeated the fine performances of the previous season for the German outfit in that limbo year, by the time the Guinean international finally stepped off the plane at the John Lennon airport, anticipation was huge.

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The Reds fell short of Manchester City by 25 points in the Premier League and lost the Champions League final to Real Madrid ahead of Keita’s arrival. And the high-energy, creative midfielder was seen of one of the last pieces of a puzzle, to take Liverpool that one step further. Along with Fabinho, Keita would turn what was deemed a functional but limited midfield – consisting of James Milner, Georginio Wijnaldum and Jordan Henderson – into one the rest of Liverpool’s ‘heavy-metal’ team merited and required.

Fabinho, like Keita, took time to acclimatise to the Premier League, but their performance trajectories split after those first few months and have moved further and further apart as the Brazilian is now one of the first names on the teamsheet. Keita has been a positive influence on the Liverpool midfield, in that his arrival coincided with the improvement of both Henderson and Wijnaldum, under pressure to perform to keep their places in the team. But £54m is a lot of money for a motivational tool.

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The Reds play Crystal Palace on Saturday ahead of a packed Christmas period, in which Liverpool face a minimum of twelve games in just over a month. And with only one of them against a top six side, a relatively easy run of fixtures would seem the perfect opportunity for a player completely devoid of confidence to prove his worth. And Keita needs to, because Klopp’s unmitigated backing of the 24-year-old will surely start to weaken should he not show signs of improvement. The German will be confident of finding a much cheaper, more reliable alternative in central midfield in the transfer market or promote the likes of Curtis Jones from within, who’s shown his talent in short bursts for the first team. It’s now or never for Keita.

 

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I personally felt this year Klopp had no choice but to give it another go & see if his injury niggles/mooted language issues/general teething problems could be overcome, even though it already felt like one which won’t work out to me. 

 

It’s obvious the way the squad works here and we won’t buy another player for that position if Naby stays, so for me he’s got the rest of this season to find his feet and if he doesn’t, I’d hope we move on decisively.

 

Hopefully he comes good, but one way or the other fingers crossed this topic won’t be being discussed anymore next year.

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I think it’s quite telling of Liverpool fans’ expectations of Keita now that he isn’t mentioned a lot in a ‘when is he back’ or ‘can’t wait to see him back’ way. I don’t think everyone is writing him off but there is a definitive drop in enthusiasm which would have been a lot worse if we weren’t top of the league.

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3 minutes ago, Jimmy Hills Chin said:

I think it’s quite telling of Liverpool fans’ expectations of Keita now that he isn’t mentioned a lot in a ‘when is he back’ or ‘can’t wait to see him back’ way. I don’t think everyone is writing him off but there is a definitive drop in enthusiasm which would have been a lot worse if we weren’t top of the league.

He's definitely been a disappointment thus far. The year extra spent at Leipzig has been to his detriment in my opinion. Klopp and his staff ask such a lot of their players that those 12 months in Leipzig could have been used as preparation in getting used to playing in our style and at our intensity. Its a long way now from his encouraging debut at home to West Ham.

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1 hour ago, VladimirIlyich said:

He's definitely been a disappointment thus far. The year extra spent at Leipzig has been to his detriment in my opinion. Klopp and his staff ask such a lot of their players that those 12 months in Leipzig could have been used as preparation in getting used to playing in our style and at our intensity. Its a long way now from his encouraging debut at home to West Ham.

You could tell his head wasn't there anymore so it seemed odd that they kept him there through that period.

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39 minutes ago, Butch said:

Klopp seen in him a player he wanted and was worth waiting for him, he really is a very good player and I hope we get to see the real naby. 

With every game now the oppositions Cup final we can't take the chance on anyone or naby underperforming. 

I can see why we bought him. Great with the ball and looks like he has the ability to contribute with goals from midfield while doing the work needed for the position.

 

Doesn't matter if his body can't cope with the physical demands at the club though.

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I think Naby did himself no favours when he went to the ACON and played when he wasnt fit and got injured again. Im pretty sure Jurgen will have been well pissed off with that and if he could have, would have stopped him going.

 

I think there's a player in there but due to his injuries, his career at Liverpool just hasnt got going. It looked like it had started to ignite last season but yet another injury and as I said earlier, his decision to go to the ACON has almost put him back to square one.

 

He's a £50m+ squad player and not a first choice team player. He should be a first pick for that kind of money. Im not sure he'd want to sit on the bench for most of this season, never mind next. The way things are looking, he's not getting in ahead of Hendo, Milner, Gini, Fab, Chambo and even Lallana.

 

Unless something radical happens, I really cannot see him being here this time next season.

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1 hour ago, El Dangerous said:

Has a player ever turned it around after so long? I suppose some people could argue Hendo but that would be very harsh imo. If you can't do it in this team under Klopp then the problem is you, we even get a semi half good game out of Origi.

 

Hope he turns it around, doubtfull he will.

Changed the game against Dortmund. Scored two goals in our greatest ever Anfield night and nailed the winner to bring home number 6. 

 

But yeah. Him and Andy Carroll. Splitters! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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