Jurgen Klopp has revealed why Liverpool's summer arrivals Fabinho and Naby Keita have not yet made their mark on the side.
Liverpool spent £95million on bringing the duo to Anfield this summer, with supporters believing their arrivals would widely transform the Reds' central midfield.
However, neither players have been regulars so far this season, with Fabinho having completed 90 minutes just four times and Keita only twice.
Klopp has favoured his trusted midfield trio of James Milner, Jordan Henderson and Gini Wijnaldum during several games this season. They have been widely criticised this season, prompting journalists to ask questions of an unhappy Klopp.
Whilst Klopp defended his midfielders, he also revealed why he's holding the Reds' new signings back and insisted that their time will come.
Image: Getty Images via Liverpool FC
“We will have to work for it because it is not like you can throw players on the pitch and just tell them to do it,” he said.
“It doesn't work. It didn't work with Fabinho. It did work really well with Naby in the beginning, but then he got an injury and the team did really well. If things are working then you keep them.
“That gives the other players even more time to adjust to all the things around them, in the league, in the club and all this stuff. There will come the time when they are playing and nobody will remember that there were three or four games at the beginning when they weren't playing. So, of course, there is potential there to improve.
“It is a pretty young side too. One that is not experienced in winning anything so far. Our big opponents are the champions, the champions from a year ago, the FA Cup winner from a year ago and so on. All these teams are challenging you and we need to find our own way. We know it will never be easy and this period coming up will be really intense.”
LFC News: Naby Keita is looking to push on in his Reds career after a summer move from Leipzig / Image: Liverpool FC via Getty Images
The plight of the duo is similar to last summer's signings Andy Robertson and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, both of whom only began to stake their claim for a starting role towards the second half of the season.
And Klopp has cited Oxlade-Chamberlain in saying that supporters will speak of the duo the same way they did of the former Arsenal man at the end of the season.
“Same time next year we will all talk Naby and Fabinho like we talked last year about Oxlade,” he added.
“In the beginning, it was not there and we always asked: 'What about Oxlade-Chamberlain?'
“Maybe you did not ask that much because nobody expected that much, they thought he was too expensive, then he came back and he was ready. I get it, 100%. But that's really not our problem.”