But like so many others you seem to be missing the key fact that at one time, early on in the season, Nat and Rhys were simply not ready to play regularly in defence, and certainly not to form a partnershiop without any senior CB there to lead and help them. So it's no surprise that Klopp played Fab and even Hendo there whenever he felt he needed to, even if it meant reducing midfleld effectiveness.
But time has passed; lots of emergency coaching and training and practice has taken place, and now I think Klopp would be much more sanguine about playing Nat certainly in just about any game; maybe not Rhys quite yet. And he's now less likely to move Fab and or Hendo out of midfield.
Of course he'd prefer Kabak there and prefer more ideal CBs even more, but the point is that Klopp's views; what he's prepared to risk doing, will have evolved as these extremely inexperienced young players became better suited to the tasks they needed to perform. They'll never be perfect for the roles for all the reasons discussed ad nauseum, but things have not stood still. Those early months with Fab/Hendo out of position were necessary; they weren't a mistake or something that needs questioning; it needed to be done so that now it no longer needs to be done, so to speak.
It's quite amazing how so few seem to grasp this. Perhaps because people love to think they've spotted a flaw that the manager had not thought of; that they'd have done better. As if!
Definitely this.
It's almost as if Jurgen and the players needed time to fix things and adjust to losing so many players - who'd have thought?
It's not rocket science to see that Fabinho and Henderson were utilised to bring short term stability, as Phillips and Williams weren't ready to be thrown in so regularly.
Sadly some on here didn't want him from the start, and instead of accepting that he's now a realistic option next season alongside Virgil or Gomez against many clubs in the PL, they keep doubling down on their original views. It's no surprise our defence looked better once Fabinho was restored to his best position, and once players had a run of games and some familiarity with the system.
We've had 20+ different CB combinations this season, a changing midfield, and two thirds of our usual front 3 misfiring at times. Our problems started in defence but have actually been all over the pitch this season. All things considered, Phillips has done very well (and exceeded expectations) in a disjointed team in which he would never have expected to get so many minutes.
Whilst there's no doubt we'll need to see Virgil, Gomez, Matip, and perhaps Konate next season, I'd be absolutely fine if Jurgen started Virgil and Phillips together against a bottom half club - especially those whose main tactics are aerial balls and physicality.
