Naby Keita was seen as the missing piece for Liverpool when he arrived from RB Leipzig back in 2018, but it is fair to say he has fallen well short of that hype up to this point.
His time at Anfield has been plagued by injuries, quite often being forced to spend a spell on the sideline just when he is finding a bit of form.
There is a player in there, as his early strike against Atletico Madrid this evening showed.
GOAL LIVERPOOL – The visitors double their lead and it’s an exquisite volley from Naby Keita following a botched Felipe clearance #RTESoccer #UCL #ATMLIV
📺 Watch - https://t.co/2W5kFtUgZE
📱 Live updates - https://t.co/jXI1wvY1ZB pic.twitter.com/RAI5v2yDKu— RTÉ Soccer (@RTEsoccer) October 19, 2021
However, his performance outside of that goal was absolutely abysmal.
Naby Keita has horror show in Madrid
Naby Keita was absolutely terrible in possession, continually giving the ball away and allowing Atletico to launch dangerous counterattacks. What's worse, he was also at fault for the home side's two goals in the opening 45 minutes.
He was beaten far too easily by Thomas Lemar to allow them to score their first, while his failure to halt the progress of Joao Felix resulted in the equaliser.
Speaking on RTÉ at halftime, former Liverpool player Didi Hamann absolutely slated Keita's performance, saying that it just about summed up his time at the club.
'He’s simply not good enough for Liverpool - @DietmarHamann says Naby Keita was at fault for Atletico’s goals and thinks the midfielder isn’t defensively at the races #RTESoccer #UCL #ATMLIV
Watch - https://t.co/2W5kFtUgZE
Live updates - https://t.co/jXI1wvY1ZB pic.twitter.com/DeQaWgoVkZ— RTÉ Soccer (@RTEsoccer) October 19, 2021
Keita is in his fourth season (at Liverpool). He scores a brilliant goal, then five minutes later he makes a mistake for the first goal, then he makes a mistake for the second goal.
He's simply not good enough for Liverpool. He will never be a Liverpool player.
He wants to play with the ball, but good enough to trust to play just with the ball. If you play in central midfield, you've got to do both jobs. You've got to attack, and he scored a good goal so should be full of confidence, and you've got to defend.
Defensively, he doesn't do his job. He has cost his team two goals.
I would be surprised if he kept him on the pitch, because if they don't want to lose this game they've got to take him off...
Clearly the two goals are Naby Keita's fault. The whole game and atmosphere in the stadium changed, but if it wasn't for his two mistakes I would hope that Liverpool would still be winning.
Jurgen Klopp would take Naby Keita off at the interval, not the first occasion he has been substituted early on a big Champions League night.
He was hauled off before halftime in the Champions League quarter-final first leg defeat to Real Madrid last season after putting in a similarly disastrous performance.
After another similar showing tonight, he is quickly running out of opportunities to prove he has a future at Liverpool.
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