Nail on head springs immediately to mind. When you look at someone like Ben Woodburn, essentially a kid, coming in and scoring 2 in pre-season, as well as lads like Ryan Kent and Ovie Ejaria catching your eye, then for Markovic it should be a wake-up call to raise his game. Clearly they are very early experimental games, and no indication of long term potential, but Klopp loves that rawness that he can then nurture, shape and polish into a gem.
But y'know, Markovic just looks like he can't be arsed. Does he even want to be a footballer? For someone built up as being a great talent, then to be such a let down, is more infuriating than disappointing. Ok, there are the odd moments of brilliance, but we need more than odd moments. For me, and with the greatest of respect, he should be given the chance to move on for the sake of his career and the benefit of the team.
I think the youngster have caught the eye in pre-season but remember who we have played.
The youth is good but has inexperience. Some players can and will be put into first team and big games and handle it, others won't. People put too much pressure on some and too much praise on others, it's pre-season, it's mostly to make observations on fitness and the like until the bigger games, remember that Oxford or whatever guy at West Ham, he went back down to Rserves/U21 again because even though he had one or two big games that caught the eye that is not what it's all about, consistency is key and you don't tend to get that from youngsters all the time.
Ben Woodburn might be catching the eye now but will he do the same against Chelsea and Barcelona? I would say Markovic has more of a chance of doing that than young Ben, although I would very happily be proved wrong.
Markovic is a very talented player, I deffo don't think "he can't be bothered" I think some players just have a more relaxed style, he plays good football and has been keeping it simple, almost playing percentage football instead of allowing his natural flair to flourish which makes him seem more basic than he really is.
I think he will come good, it's an optimistic view but I have seen him in the Portuguese league and he was a class talent, I honestly hope he takes that up a level with us, but sometimes some players flourish in some clubs and some don't, only time will tell.