I really was not expecting Harvey to start against Chelsea. Obviously, this is a sign that the manager believes the Kid is ready. And, I still think there’s a good chance that we had come up with a tactical tweak that we tried out in the Burnley match, in an effort to attack/overload Chelsea’s weakest defensive link the following week (Marcos Alonso). If so, Harvey was essential to that tactic.
But, many in the LFC Twitterverse and fan media (e.g., The Anfield Wrap) have also interpreted Klopp’s decision to start Elliott as a sign that Naby Keïta has fallen behind Elliott on the depth chart. Some of those same fans, exercising the typical Naby Keïta confirmation bias, have gone further — interpreting the lineup decision (plus the fact that Naby failed to come off the bench) as a further sign that Klopp is essentially “done” with Naby.
The Anfield Wrap Review Show, for example, dedicated a lengthy discussion to whether Klopp should have started Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, or should have chosen him as the first sub, instead of Thiago. To be sure, they did NOT explicitly suggest that Naby is “done” during this discussion. However, they talked about Klopp’s midfield personnel options for about 30 minutes and never even mentioned Naby Keïta.
I call bullshit.
As we saw after Naby left the pitch in the Burnley match, Klopp was very happy with him. Notably, after two matches, Naby led the Premier League in tackles.
But if Klopp is happy with him, and there’s no injury (Naby was, after all, on the bench against Chelsea) — why didn’t he play?
I have a theory.
I think the decision to leave Naby out on Saturday was largely driven by the sports scientists. I believe they were trying to limit the likelihood that Naby will be injured during the international break.
Unlike the Brazilians and Mo Salah, Naby HAS been released to go play for his national team, because he will not be going to any “red list” countries that would require him to quarantine upon his return to the UK. Guinea plays a World Cup qualifying match tomorrow (Wednesday) in Guinea-Bissau. I’m ashamed to admit that I didn’t even know this was a country. It is, and it’s on the UK’s “amber list,” for COVID-19 risks. The amber list includes most other countries in the world, including Guinea itself, and the United States. Most importantly for this discussion, if a vaccinated person is traveling from an amber list country, the UK’s current restrictions do NOT require quarantine upon their return. Guinea plays another World Cup qualifier on Monday in Guinea.
Thus, Naby is likely to play 90+ minutes of football twice over the next week for the Guinea national team.
Naby has an awful injury history while playing with Guinea. Most significantly, Naby tore a groin muscle in the first leg of the Champions League semifinal in Barcelona in May 2019. That injury sidelined him for the remainder of that season, and SHOULD HAVE sidelined him from any summer competition as well. Instead, Guinea rushed him back for the African Cup of Nations in June 2019. He limped his way through two matches, and then returned to LFC in August with a much longer-term problem, which affected more muscle groups. He has not been the same since.
Perhaps LFC should pressure Naby to retire from international play. But that would probably be a very difficult and unpleasant choice for him.
Instead of pressuring Naby to retire from international football, I’m speculating that the sports science and management team at LFC may have decided to do their best to protect him in other ways. One of those ways would be to restrict the amount of minutes Naby plays for LFC just before and just after playing matches with Guinea.
If Naby had played 60-90 minutes against Chelsea, then he would have been set up to play three full football matches over a very short (9-day) time frame. Instead, he will only be playing two. From a sports science perspective, that’s a very big difference.
So, has Harvey Elliott leapfrogged Naby, Thiago, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, and Curtis Jones on the LFC depth chart?
Possibly. And, I think probably yes with respect to AOC and Curtis. But I think Thiago and Naby are probably both still ahead of the Kid.
I think that, for the moment, despite Milner being sidelined with a calf injury, the LFC boss is spoiled for choices in the midfield. Knock heavily on any available wood. We will need all of those choices right away after the return from the international break, when LFC will be playing both in the League Cup and the Champions League, in addition to the Premier League.
Obviously, we all have to wait and see. But I think that, if he stays healthy, we will see plenty of Naby Keïta in Premier League and Champions League lineups in the coming weeks.
