The former Liverpool man didn’t think the midfielder contributed enough on Wednesday night.
Having missed the vast majority of the season so far because of injury and fitness issues, there was a lot of anticipation about the player’s performance in last night’s Champions League fixture.
Liverpool won the match handily by a 4-1 margin. It was their first away group stage win in two years and represents significant progress towards the knockout stages of the competition.
Warnock though was left unimpressed by Keita’s display, feeling he has to contribute a lot more if he’s to break into Klopp’s first-team on a regular basis.
As quoted by BBC Sport (23/10 live match page, 21:12), he said: “I’ve been disappointed with Naby Keita tonight. I wanted more from him. He almost ambles through games, he doesn’t do enough to justify breaking into the Liverpool team.
“He seems to be in that Origi role where he’s more of an impact player for Liverpool.”
A harsh assessment?
Considering it was Keita’s first full 90 minutes of the season so far, it’s perhaps a bit harsh to judge the quality he showed too much. His fitness is very much a work in progress and patience is required.
It’s not as if he had a terrible game either. As shown by WhoScored, he made three tackles, an interception, completed three dribbles and provided a key pass during the match. That doesn’t suggest he was an absent part of the Liverpool midfield.
Clearly he isn’t quite hitting the form he showed prior to his big move to Liverpool but Jurgen Klopp appears to have faith he can grow into an important player for the Reds.
That will only happen if he gets a run of games and up to full match fitness. If he’s given that, Warnock might find he’s impressed by the 24-year-old sooner rather than later.
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