Thread by @babuyagu

I thought our midfield struggled today and I thought Hendo in particular had an absolute mare, in a season of being way off his best.

I thought All 3 were poor in defense and dribbled past too easily at times. On the ball, thought Jones was good and brave - and remember a few

moments were he was trying to escape the last man to set us away and lost it - and I don't mind that.

But Hendo was even worse on the ball than off the ball today. So many times he lost it and we were countered almost conceding.

I still think that Fab-Hendo conundrum can only

be solved by them simply not being on the pitch together. At least not in a 433.

https://twitter.com/Parthvk116/status/1444718803779088387

For me our midfield depth is

Thiago - Fabinho - Jones
(Elliott) - (Hendo) - (Keita)

then Ox/Milner picking up mins from injuries when needed.

https://twitter.com/marvinlim707/status/1444720913098817538

This goal kinda encapsulates a problem I have. Watch Hendo the whole goal - only Hendo. Now watch Jones.

Hendo caught ahead of the ball, Jones steps out to press the ball, then runs back to cover de Bruyne in the box.

Hendo at no point gets back behind the ball despite Jones ending up ahead of him, stationary and facing the City goal at one point.

My concern is Hendo is a player who solves problems running. And his legs aren't getting him to where he needs to be right now.

https://twitter.com/footballdaily/status/1444730287984943104

People highlighting how Klopp wants Jones and Hendo to 'step out' and 'push higher up' as proof that all the problems we see stemming from Henderson today are 'instructed'.

First, players are not micromanaged. This isn't FIFA where Klopp has a controller

to decide when they are to step out and when not to - it is an individual choice.

On 28 seconds he even says it himself "in specific moments". So how do you know if the player is making good decisions or not - simple. Are they consistently getting it wrong and being ahead of

ball?

Elliott? No, he's not. Jones? No, also. Henderson is though.

But as mentioned above, that isn't entirely decision making. On the second goal he just needs to run in a straight line and get back behind the ball - he can't.

Jones steps out, presses the ball, is ahead of

Hendo, turns, runs back and gets back behind the ball to TRY and block KDB. But Hendo running in a straight line never gets behind the ball in that attack.

And it was same as the Brentford goal last week where the whole midfield drops and he never makes it.

Which means if you know that your legs aren't doing what you need them to and you keep getting caught ahead of the ball you have a problem. You either need to be perfect in your decision making or realise you are no longer suited to that role that you asked for after Fabinho

joined because you were no longer getting games as a #6.

I still don't think Hendo and Fabinho can be on the same pitch together for that reason. How Hendo plays makes Fabinho struggle. How Fabinho needs us to play isn't something Hendo is comfortable with.

So it looks like our midfield is at cival war... two contrasting needs battling it out to see which prevails.

Will our midfield be open and full of running - I fucking hope not. This isn't the Milderson+Gini midfield of 4 years ago that can cover that space.