I can see Klopp persisting with the industrious midfielders as it's served us well over the past 18 months or so. Having AOC & Keita as options off the bench are ideal if our fullbacks are being nullified. Their energy & creativity will give the opposition different problems in the closing stages of a match.
It’s whether Keita or Ox can get as good defensively and tactically so they can enhance what we have whilst also providing all the other qualities the others do. Keita in particular I feel stands a good chance of doing this as his numbers at Leipzig both sides of the ball were exceptional and he’ll add a different dimension to our build up play. If he can get fully integrated and stay injury free he can be immense, but the latter is the key part. He’s only shown glimpses with us so far.
I mean Henderson whilst very good is actually probably the weakest of the midfielders we have, however the leadership energy and intensity he provides is greater than all of them, he’s second to none in that regard. It’s away from home against the big sides I feel that we actually need more ammunition on the pitch from midfield as the top teams force our Fbs to defend more often so having a different method of building play is a way to combat this and we have 3 midfielders plus Shaqiri in the squad if we switch to formation to accommodate him to do this. We just haven’t seen much of it largely due to injuries those four just haven’t been able to keep themselves fit and then when they are it’s hard to win a place in a team that wins as often as we do.
Right now it’s usually going to be Fabinho + 2 and Wijnaldum is the best we have in the squad tactically in both halves which leaves one spot, if keita can make that his own we could go up a level. Our game like you said currently relies heavily on the full backs so we have little ball progression in midfield and there’s sometimes a disconnect between the midfield and attack which leaves the front three isolated. I’d go as far as to say we’ve sacrificed their individual games for the benefit of the team. It’s why you won’t see Salah play like he did before in 17/18 because he’s never going to be in those positions constantly fed like he was. But keita Ox and possibly Lallana may help in that regard.
Either way it’s a nice problem to have really, improving an already great team.