Phil Thompson has labelled Liverpool’s current midfield ‘a bit light’ but urged caution in any last-minute summer business.
The Reds lost Thiago to a hamstring strain in Saturday’s 2-2 draw at Fulham, with Sunday’s scan revealing the Spaniard will be out for a number of weeks. He will join Curtis Jones and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain in the treatment room, while Naby Keita also missed the weekend's draw through illness.
The Guinea international is expected back for Monday’s game against Crystal Palace, but the pile up of injuries within the midfield at such an early stage in the season has caused concern around Merseyside that Liverpool are a little light. But Thiago’s second-half replacement, Harvey Elliott, produced another dynamic and promising stint in midfield and Reds legend Thompson has urged fans to remain calm in the final weeks of the window.
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“As you’ve seen, the way our football club is run, we like to plan,” Thompson told the Off The Ball show. “We don’t want knee-jerk reactions to it. We had to do it when we lost all our centre-backs, there had to be movements and we ended up going with the two young lads.
“You look at the midfield; the Ox is out, Naby should be fit by next Monday - I think that'll be alright - but Thiago is a big miss. I think he's an absolutely superb player, brings so much more. We have a good blend with Fabinho, with Henderson and his energy, with Thiago and his creativity. He is just superb.
“For him to get injured in your first game, you just go ‘wow’, and then Curtis Jones is injured. So we are a bit light in there but where do we put Carvalho? Where do we put Harvey Elliott? Are they strikers, wide ones or are they midfield players?
“I think they're more midfield players either side of Fabinho, so he (Klopp) might think he’s got enough.”
Liverpool had six players over 30-years-old in Saturday’s starting line-up before adding 36-year-old James Milner off the bench, but the energy of Carvalho and Elliot - both still teenagers - provided a necessary counterweight to the wealth of experience in red. Exactly where the two future stars will play throughout the season remains to be seen, but both have shown enough during their respective performances to win Liverpool fan’s trust.
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