Naby Keita’s New Liverpool Groove is Due to Hard Work

Jürgen Klopp was full of praise for the Guinean midfielder’s recent performances for Liverpool.

After the slow start and then the slow ramp up and then the slowing down, Naby Keita has begun to pick up the pace for Liverpool. For whatever reason Keita has experienced a longer bedding-in period than is typical for most players. It happens. What’s important now is that the player is not only getting traction in the side but he’s making a difference.

Against both Southampton and FC Porto, Keita provided more evidence of his quality. He was lively and effective on and off the ball, scoring his first Liverpool goal at St. Mary’s and grabbing another one at Anfield on Tuesday. Jürgen Klopp explains that Keita’s inclusion in the team is down to the players hard work at Melwood.

“He looked really good in training the last couple of weeks,” said Klopp.

“Bringing him in against Southampton wasn’t really a brave decision to be honest, he looked that good in training. The start was not perfect but, I have no better saying, he found his feet in that game. He got better and better and better.

“So, we had enough time to recover between the two games to do it against Porto again. And then you have this wonderful start for him with an early goal and then he showed a lot of the things we will see in the future, much more often I’m sure.

“For him, for sure, it felt amazing. I think that the Southampton goal was really emotional for him and then you could see the pure joy in the Porto goal. It’s a good moment, long may it continue.”

Keita is clearly ready to fulfill his role in this Liverpool team. The Guinean playmaker has been well-rounded and consistent in his more recent performances, traits that will be in high demand from now until the end of the season when Liverpool lift a trophy or two, oh please.

Source: liverpooloffside.sbnation.com