Naby Keita is the final puzzle piece of Klopp's Anfield revolution

For all their big game performances, Liverpool continue to look just short of the top. They can't get RB Leipzig's midfield maverick in soon enough.

When Liverpool blew away runaway leaders Manchester City at Anfield in January, it seemed to vindicate the curious decision to cash in on Philippe Coutinho halfway through the season.
This it did, not just by virtue of the impressive result, but the very nature of the performance. As a representation of all that popular manager Jurgen Klopp stands for, it was definitive: a relentless, hungry side all pulling in one direction – the City goal.
It was a similar story on Tuesday evening as the Reds put FC Porto to the sword, winning 5-0 away in the first leg of their Champions League clash to all but secure their spot in the quarter-finals.

There was logically no place within either paradigm for the mercurial Brazilian, who had made clear his desire to leave, both last summer and again in the winter window.

This underscores one of the core requirements of 'Klopp-ball', which is a complete physical and emotional buy-in, not just from players and the fans, but from the man himself, often cartoonishly animated on the touchline. It makes Anfield a fortress, a seething cauldron from which few visiting sides emerge with fond memories.
However, that sense of a new dawn was slightly dampened by subsequent debacles against Swansea and West Bromwich Albion, as well as the draw against Tottenham, and it's why people shouldn't get too carried away by the Porto victory.
These struggles magnified the midfield void created by Coutinho's departure; but it also made clear quite why the Merseyside Reds were so keen to bring forward the arrival of midfielder Naby Keita.
Liverpool have since righted the ship and got back on track, but there is the sense that, for all that the progress made under Klopp is evident in the uniqueness and ferocity of the playing style, the German may be running out of learning curves. There is, after all, no trophy handed out for points against the rest of the top six.

There is only so long that the supporters can be content with the intangible.
It might seem an unpopular stat, but Klopp's win percentage (at 49.56) is weaker than his predecessor's: Brendan Rodgers (at 50.3), and even that is with the benefit of having played 54 fewer games. The Northern Irishman also favorably compares in the exhilaration stakes to his German counterpart, having taken Liverpool as close to a Premier League title as they have got since its inception in 1992.
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