Buried beneath Aston Villa's time wasting and the emotional goodbyes of departing heroes on Saturday, there was a new-look Liverpool midfield that quietly revealed a lot.

As Jurgen Klopp shuffled his pack, juggled his options and tried to change the pattern of the game in the second half, the Reds boss ended the final home match of the Premier League campaign with a midfield three of Harvey Elliott, Cody Gakpo and James Milner.

Milner, the legendary veteran whose decorated eight-year spell on Merseyside will come to an end this summer, made what will be the penultimate appearance of a Liverpool career that will tip up to 332 games should he be involved at Southampton this Sunday.

At the opposite end of the scale, the recently-turned 20-year-old Elliott was making his 45th appearance of the campaign; one which marks his most impressive to date as a senior professional.

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And then there was Gakpo, the January signing brought to the club to lead the line for the long term under Klopp, operating, instead, as something of a No.8, dropping deeper into midfield before trying to link up with those further forward.

While the selection of each individual player is neither a real problem or even a bone of curiosity on their own, that all three were asked to essentially get on with proceedings as a midfield trio as Liverpool chased frantically to keep alive their slim top-four hopes summed up a lot of issues of this troublesome term.

It was a further pointer, if it was needed, to just where the problems have been for the majority of the season, outside of frustrating injuries to key players at the wrong time.

With the Reds looking to overturn a 1-0 deficit from Jacob Ramsey's first-half opener, the decision to send on Roberto Firmino and Diogo Jota inevitably had an impact on the make-up of the midfield. It was a fluid, attack-minded system set up to force a way back into the game.

Gakpo's disallowed goal around the hour mark was a controversial decision but even had that stood and Firmino's late intervention proved to be the match-winner itself, that would have papered over the cracks of a midfield department that has been the subject of much debate over the last 12 months.

It's why Liverpool are determined to significantly bolster that department in the coming weeks and months. Losing Naby Keita, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Milner this summer will free up both space in the squad and wages for potential targets, although it is expected that Stefan Bajcetic will now be able to consider himself a member of the first team squad once he returns from the injury that ended his season in March.

It is hoped that the next time Liverpool field a new-look midfield next season it won't contain an out-of-contract 37-year-old, a player barely out of his teenage years still adapting to the role and a player more known for his instincts as a striker.

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