Naby Keita

[Norbs]

I'd completely forgotten about him too. He's kind of morphed in to the same person as Squintilani

[Doc_Piptorious]

Last season there was so many amazing offensive performances to be honest, everyone was on it, this season has been few and far between. Keita has only played 90 mins once this season in his 9 or 10 appearances and featured when we had a fully fit side. The reason I actually bumped this thread was because of a conversation about Keita with friends on whatsapp. One of the lads thinks he has been **** a disaster signing, the other lad thinks he has been good and produced the stats for pretty much what you said above. Both LFC fans.

So the guy that thinks he has been good posted all the stats from above that you have just mentioned & he other guy pretty much said this in reply. That pass, dribble, dispossession and ball control stat are pretty much inter linked. He doesn't try many high risk balls so possession stat is safe, most of them are sideways and simple, he doesn't dribble much so dribbling/dispossession stat is good and if he does it's over short distances to less like to lose the ball. He does have nice control, he is a nice footballer and technically efficient I don't think anybody will deny that. Interesting to hear such contrasting opinions. It's escalated a bit as there is 17 lads on the thread so I thought it would be interesting to rehash it on here but there was valid points on both sides imo.

Here's my take on it, at RBL his role seemed more dynamic as he had more license to drift, go from box to box and play a role with freedom as he was allowed to. At LFC & in the premier league imo he has been asked to play a much more tactical game in a much higher tempo & physciality which I do genuinely think he has struggled with. You could argue that the language barrier or that he is constantly injured could have something to do with that.

The reason I keep mentioning value for money is because we usually seems to have to sell to buy so it's a tight ship all round. With covid and the lack of finances value for money is even more important than ever. So we spend nearly 50m on a guy who is different from our current midfielders and who many of us described as a game changer signing (myself included), we bought him as our current midfield where tactically astute and workmanlike and we needed an x factor.

I wonder will Klopp and the backroom team be looking to cash in on the likes of Keita, Ox, Shaq, Matip who simply are not offering value for money and using the potential funds we can raise for them towards players who can potentially make a consistent difference.

I would be surprised if conservations were not already had about a number of players tbh. At some point we need to have our next tier down actually available when needed instead of having some or all of them out every time a first teamer needs to be covered.

If you go through our current squad you could probably list maybe eight to ten players that if they were not Liverpool players in the morning we would not even notice they were gone such is their lack of availability this season be it through injury, loan or non selection and that says a lot about those players given the opportunities that have been there this season for back up players to try and stake a claim.

[Doc_Piptorious]

Lazar has been be top 5 alright. Totally forgot that he ever existed. What a pile of ****e

What a brute. Did that player ever recover from that vicious assault?

[labourRed]

I can't wait to see the back of him. His percentage stats might be OK. But the amount of times he goes hiding does my head in. Too shy, too timid. He'll never make it in this league.

[Doc_Piptorious]

I can't wait to see the back of him. His percentage stats might be OK. But the amount of times he goes hiding does my head in. Too shy, too timid. He'll never make it in this league.

At least wait until Perkins is offline before slagging him off like that

[Bender]

I'll give Naby 3 gams till he's injured again ....one of thee all time **** transfer ever

[danperkins]

True, though I’d say Naby is a very good signing blighted by bad luck.

Others like Carroll, Downing, Balotelli, Djibril Cisse, El Hadj Diouf were all big money or even marquee signings of the time. Some of them were hampered by injury too, but they were all far poorer than Naby in terms of quality and fit and also in terms of value for money too.

I know you don’t agree, but at least Naby does actually show his value when he’s playing, unlike that lot and many others.

Sorry just seen this. For me, we'll never know what may have been as he is always injured or coming back from injury. Has it had an effect? Absolutely, it has to have had and would be ignorant to suggest otherwise. In terms of his quality on the pitch, for me he's been average, just there so to speak. Neat and tidy and not much else & certainly polar opposite to RBL Naby who admittedly had a role with much more freedom. But surely that dynamic, box to box midfielder is exactly why we wanted him in the first place? Nearly 50m on the guy you chase for years because of certain specific attributes & then watch him play in a completely different manner, surely that is not Klopps doing? Is it because we play more tactically or is it because he's just not as good in this league?

Language barrier, injuries, tactics, tempo, physicality? Too many questions imo and we didn't pay that amount of money for 6 or 7 out of 10 players in my opinion.

[Doc_Piptorious]

Sorry just seen this. For me, we'll never know what may have been as he is always injured or coming back from injury. Has it had an effect? Absolutely, it has to have had and would be ignorant to suggest otherwise. In terms of his quality on the pitch, for me he's been average, just there so to speak. Neat and tidy and not much else & certainly polar opposite to RBL Naby who admittedly had a role with much more freedom. But surely that dynamic, box to box midfielder is exactly why we wanted him in the first place? Nearly 50m on the guy you chase for years because of certain specific attributes & then watch him play in a completely different manner, surely that is not Klopps doing? Is it because we play more tactically or is it because he's just not as good in this league?

Language barrier, injuries, tactics, tempo, physicality? Too many questions imo and we didn't pay that amount of money for 6 or 7 out of 10 players in my opinion.

A player that gives you 7/10 every week will cost that sort of money nowadays. A 7/10 week in week out is a very good player.

Graelish at Villa would be a 7/10 player for me albeit in a very different role and I am sure there would be plenty on here that would like to have him in our team.

And when I say 7/10 I don't mean that player never puts in a beter performance, I just mean that when he is on the pitch you usually get a 7/10 performance.

Great teams usually have the majority of the team being those 7/10 players with maybe a handful of other players on the team that are a bit better again and who are the "star" names.

We have just been a bit spoiled the past few years as we seem to have had as many higher level performers as we have had 7/10s.

Right now though I would kill for a team that was full of 7/10 performances each game

[Kenneth]

Get him fit, give him a few games to prove his fitness and then get shut asap.

[Roboklopp]

Markovich ****ing hell. Kenneth’s fave- never sure what he saw in him.

[Roboklopp]

Get him fit, give him a few games to prove his fitness and then get shut asap.

Speak of the devil...

[Bender]

Has Keita ever manged two 90 mins games in a row ?

[danperkins]

A player that gives you 7/10 every week will cost that sort of money nowadays. A 7/10 week in week out is a very good player.

Graelish at Villa would be a 7/10 player for me albeit in a very different role and I am sure there would be plenty on here that would like to have him in our team.

And when I say 7/10 I don't mean that player never puts in a beter performance, I just mean that when he is on the pitch you usually get a 7/10 performance.

Great teams usually have the majority of the team being those 7/10 players with maybe a handful of other players on the team that are a bit better again and who are the "star" names.

We have just been a bit spoiled the past few years as we seem to have had as many higher level performers as we have had 7/10s.

Right now though I would kill for a team that was full of 7/10 performances each game

What!! ah come off it Jaco, I'm surprised as your responses are usually so measured

He has been outstanding this season, one of the players of the season and a talisman for Villa. Let's not compare Grealish's performances with Naby as it's a insult to poor oul Jack. You say 7 out of 10 for Naby, I think that's a stretch but all about opinions

[fabinho]

Talking of bad signings, what about the most disappointing? 2 standouts for me, litmanen and Morientes, Kewell was close. So much expectation, delivered so little.

[Kenneth]

They were both past their peak when they came to us.