Frustrating draws

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Another frustrating draw then. Last night when I finally caught up with the game I was all throwing my arms in the air, shouting obscenities at the TV, before switching it off in disgust.

Having slept on it however, I feel the need as ever for a bit of perspective. The reality is, right now with the injuries we’ve got, we have an unbalanced midfield. Our current fit midfield is very attack minded, basically the polar opposite of what it’s been during the Klopp era. Keita is capable of doing the defensive side, although he’s also capable of getting it all wrong, as we saw when he was hooked at halftime against Atletico. Curtis is still a young boy learning his trade and Ox, although I thought played well yesterday when he came on, his instinct is to always look forward.

If any of Fabinho, Milner or Thiago were fit, our midfield would be a lot more balanced and less easy to play through. Ox, Naby and Curtis are all top players in their own right but they’re too similar to be playing together. We’ve missed Thiago in a number of games this season. His game management would have been most welcome against Atletico, Brentford and yesterday. Dare I say we’re missing Gini as well, who could adapt his game to be the perfect foil for whoever he was playing with.

Yet another injury with Naby going down again. Just… sigh. I really don’t know what to make of Naby’s endless injuries. I’m not going to labour the point as it’s all been said countless times. Who knows what to make of the Fabinho injury, they’re being very vague “it’s complicated but not too complicated…” which could mean anything from two weeks to six months in Klopp speak. With Thiago back in full training however, his imminent return should help provide a better midfield balance than we’ve had recently.

So a frustrating day yesterday but this is why the Premier league is the best in the world. Brighton are capable of drawing with Liverpool on their day, Palace capable of beating City!! Who saw that coming? We were a bit unlucky as well, two goals chalked off and Brighton scored an absolute worldie but fair play to Brighton. They’re a good team with a good manager. There will be more of these results as the season goes on.

Anyway, still unbeaten and three points off the top is still a healthy position to be in and hopefully with some more players returning over the coming weeks, our form will simply get stronger.

Atletico up next then and any kind of result against them all but secures our passage through to the knockout stages and we can look to start rotating through the remaining fixtures, as managing squad fitness is going to be key to any ambitions we have this year. Looking forward to the game, Anfield should be rocking. Until then, walk on!

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