The Liverpool FC Forum > Former LFC Players
Naby Keita Watch
xbugawugax:
--- Quote from: rowan_d on April 17, 2024, 08:13:53 pm ---Chapter One in my new book Why You Shouldn't Get Too Excited About Transfers Based Entirely On Underlying Stats And Comparison Charts
Think even if he'd played every game for us he'd have been pretty disappointing given how hyped up he was. Then again, his level dropped for an entire season before he arrived, so maybe we should have paid more attention to that instead of assuming that he was just struggling to motivate himself for a team he knew he was leaving.
--- End quote ---
he was pretty good at redbull and it wasnt all stats and charts. Klopp approved so he must have been a decent character to have passed that test. Or maybe even klopp can be wrong sometimes.
anyway think his next move should be somewhere that is dry and clubs not accountable when it comes to finances. He could just do the bogarde til he retires where he could build a school or upgrade his whole village with his earnings.
darragh85:
the main thing that surprised me with him was how soft he was.
He came with a reputation for liking a tackle but we never saw it.
Fiasco:
--- Quote from: xbugawugax on April 19, 2024, 11:37:38 am ---he was pretty good at redbull and it wasnt all stats and charts. Klopp approved so he must have been a decent character to have passed that test. Or maybe even klopp can be wrong sometimes.
anyway think his next move should be somewhere that is dry and clubs not accountable when it comes to finances. He could just do the bogarde til he retires where he could build a school or upgrade his whole village with his earnings.
--- End quote ---
In fairness if you look at the hype before he came you would have thought we were about to sign a prime Gerrard/Kante/Silva hybrid. He was built up to be the best in Europe or one of the best in Europe at absolutely everything it seemed and it was about a sure thing as you could get. Until it wasn't.
I felt that people went overboard when he had a decent game, yet on the flipside people wouldn't give him credit for merely a decent game because they expected more. And the reason they expected more was mainly because statsbomb graphics said he'd be amazing all the time. He was very underwhelming IMO, clearly talented but fragile and couldn't run really and didn't really have great technique on the whole with the ball (he scored a few beauties but often he'd sky shots into row Z or pea-roll them to the goalkeeper).
A bit like Nunez now. Stats only go and take you so far. What happens on the pitch matters even more.
KC7:
Keita is definitely a much much better player than he showed here.
Think the major issue with him was his character. He's shy as hell, not just off the field but on it (with us). That timidness never changed. Five years after he signed he still felt like the new boy. Contrast this with the like of Robbo, big character, who made his presence known in no time.
Those clips of Keita with Leipzig, he looked immense. The way he spun away from danger and accelerated away from an opponent. That 'I'm the boss' type stuff. He does similar with Guinea. We just never saw that here. The game here is quicker and more physical, but that doesn't explain his change in demeanor.
McManaman. He ran the game when he was with us. There were times where a teammate wouldn't even have to pass him the ball, he would take it off his foot and run with it. The confidence was oozing out of him. "Stop McManaman stop Liverpool" the opposition manager's tactic. He goes to Madrid, looks a different player. Making five yard square passes rather than running with the ball, gets rid of it as soon as it came to him when with us it's like he owned it. Completely went into his shell. He had a decent career there (fine goal in a final) but the freedom and joy he had when he played with us was missing. I think Keita is in a similar boat, a player who never replicated the talent he showed when moving from an environment where he was very comfortable to one where he wasn't.
KC7:
--- Quote from: Fiasco on April 21, 2024, 10:48:42 pm ---In fairness if you look at the hype before he came you would have thought we were about to sign a prime Gerrard/Kante/Silva hybrid. He was built up to be the best in Europe or one of the best in Europe at absolutely everything it seemed and it was about a sure thing as you could get. Until it wasn't.
I felt that people went overboard when he had a decent game, yet on the flipside people wouldn't give him credit for merely a decent game because they expected more. And the reason they expected more was mainly because statsbomb graphics said he'd be amazing all the time. He was very underwhelming IMO, clearly talented but fragile and couldn't run really and didn't really have great technique on the whole with the ball (he scored a few beauties but often he'd sky shots into row Z or pea-roll them to the goalkeeper).
A bit like Nunez now. Stats only go and take you so far. What happens on the pitch matters even more.
--- End quote ---
What we saw with Leipzig was legit. He was that good. He is the only real failure of the Klopp era, and it's almost completely down to his character. We clearly just signed him based on the elite talent we could see from afar without knowing how he would adjust mentally by moving here.
When we signed Markovic and Aquilani, I remember watching clips of them and thinking "I dont see it". But Keita was different. His ball manipulation was world class, and it doesn't matter where you are playing, that's something you can do in any league. We just didn't see him do that here as he went into his shell. Those spins in tight spaces, the runs from midfield, the confidence and belief was evident. With us he looked petrified. And there's no way Klopp is going to fork out 50 million for him and then ask him to play a completely different way, more reserved, as then you aren't buying the player you wanted, so his displays were on him not what he was asked to do.
We got burnt by not knowing enough about his character, which is obviously essential before you sign a player. "What's the boy like" as Fergie would say. No doubt Klopp had a similar background check, but this one seemed to slip through the net.
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