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With Jordan Henderson proving his critics wrong, Gini Wijnaldum dictating the play and Fabinho (injured at the moment of writing) bossing the midfield, Jurgen Klopp's midfield is on a roll. Displacing any of them is an extremely arduous task, even if you have inherited the number 8 jersey from the legendary Steven Gerrard. Naby Keita, thus, had to give his all when a rare start was gifted to him by Klopp against Bournemouth in the Premier League, and he did just that.
The Guinean did struggle in the beginning as he misplaced some passes and lost the ball too many times. He slowly settled into the game and started exerting his authority. He scored the second goal, laid out the assist for the third goal, and put up some remarkable stats. That's an outing Keita will remember for a long time.
The link-up play between Salah and Keita was impressive. For the second Liverpool goal, Salah grabbed the attention of the defenders that gave Keita the space to run into the box. All Salah had to do was produce the pass-through to Keita, which he did brilliantly. Keita was on the receiving end of Salah's perfectly worked pass, and all the Guinean had to do was put the ball into the net. The same link-up play was evident in the third goal as well. The Guinean played a gorgeous through ball towards Salah, which helped the Egyptian to bag his first away goal of the season. The game finished 0-3 and it was a calm and comfortable evening for Liverpool.
Despite some sloppiness in the beginning, Keita ended the game with 95% pass accuracy while playing 94 passes. He made three tackles and took on the same number of shots. Overall, the performance was worthy of the man-of-the-match award.
It may be too early to predict that Keita can keep up this good form, but it certainly is a boost for Jurgen Klopp. Injuries have stalled his performances for Liverpool so far, and Klopp expects him to stay injury-free now so that he can rotate his squad during the hectic December schedule. Klopp will welcome Keita's form as he adds an extra creative dimension to an already formidable team. The £53 million price tag still hangs heavily on the Guinean, and it is high time the midfielder starts to justify his price tag.
