Many Liverpool fans were on the same page as Jurgen Klopp confirmed injury news on Thursday. The Reds may be suffering another crisis.
Jurgen Klopp confirmed on Thursday that Thiago will be out for Saturday’s trip to Brentford. Naby Keita will likely miss the game, too, after kicking the grass hard against Norwich City.
Those two join Harvey Elliott on the injury list, leaving quite the hole in Liverpool’s midfield. James Milner is only now recovering from illness, too – there’s no guarantee that he’s fit for the fixture.
Liverpool are left with Fabinho, Jordan Henderson, Curtis Jones, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and possibly Takumi Minamino for their midfield roles on Saturday, then. But that’s really missing the point.
Injuries to Thiago and Keita aren’t a shock – they frequently have spells out. Unfortunately, the same can be said about both Henderson and Oxlade-Chamberlain. Fabinho, too, has had long periods out over the last two seasons.
It does feel that Liverpool are brushing with a mini-crisis here. Another injury on Saturday, for instance, and the Reds are incredibly short for a huge game with FC Porto next week.
The inevitability of all this does bring one thing to mind – why did Liverpool not replace Gini Wijnaldum this summer? They took a real risk by letting their most consistently available and reliable midfielder walk away for nothing and without anyone coming in.
And as they stare down the barrel of an injury crisis, the decision looks quite bad. That’s certainly how fans on Twitter feel.
Liverpool fans react to injury news
Once again, I am utterly astonished that we didn’t replace Wijnaldum
— Dan (@skillrow_x) September 23, 2021
well who knew not replacing gini was a bad idea
— Hi liv (@mrdude2304) September 23, 2021
Good job we replaced the 40 game a session never injured midfielder in the summer 🙃🙃🙃
— Will Cranmer (@willcranmer) September 23, 2021
Who could ever have foreseen this…most of the midfield is made of glass. Awful decision not to bring in a reliable midfielder especially after losing Gini.
— RwC 🙂 (@TheSilverDonJon) September 23, 2021
Hence why we should of recruited during the summer. Yet again we’ve let players go without replacing them.
— John snow (@Johnsno36837584) September 23, 2021
Maybe it’s an overreaction. Maybe Liverpool have Keita back for Porto and there’s nothing to worry about. It does feel as though the Reds could soon pay a price for their transfer window, though.
Fingers crossed they don’t.