Jamie Carragher believes Jurgen Klopp has missed three players more than any other this season. The Liverpool boss has had to deal with an injury crisis.
Liverpool have been without just about every player at one point or another this season. The injury crisis has hit deep and season-long, ruling players out between a single game and the entire season.
The result is a remarkably hit-and-miss Liverpool team. They were top at Christmas and just made the Champions League quarter-finals. They’re also seven points off fourth and have lost six straight at home in the Premier League.
Some absences hit harder than others, though. Jamie Carragher certainly believes so as he picked out three players that Jurgen Klopp has ‘missed most’.
“There is more to Klopp’s teams than high pressing and counter-pressing,” he wrote in his Telegraph column. “Only City dominate possession more.
“Those players most adept at knowing when and how to change the tempo – [Virgil] van Dijk, [Jordan] Henderson and Fabinho – are those Klopp has most missed this season.”
What RTK has to say
We’d got along with that. Van Dijk is unquestionably the biggest loss, immediately making Liverpool weaker and forcing them into further changes.
There is then an argument that Joe Gomez and Joel Matip are the next two, if only for the impact of losing all of your centre-backs.
But Fabinho and Henderson have been huge misses. They haven’t only been missed through injuries, in fact. Simply playing them as defenders has created problems.
Liverpool are a lot stronger and more controlled with at least one of those two holding in midfield. It’s no coincidence, for instance, that Henderson first dropped back into defence at the start of the calendar year – exactly when the Reds’ form dropped off.
In fact, Liverpool remain undefeated with Henderson starting in midfield.
And we saw on Wednesday how much better Liverpool look with Fabinho holding in the middle. Everything is more controlled, sharper and cohesive. Players can move around him and focus on their own duties more.
So we think Carragher is bang on, here. Hopefully, Wednesday was a sign that Fabinho is back in midfield. It’s a move that would benefit everyone long-term.
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