Here's the rub though, we DO have players capable of putting a cross in
Who?
Milner tried for 90 minutes and failed, he also tried against Augsburg all night and failed.
Moreno was sh*t, Henderson maybe once got close to the box in both games and should have scored a simple tap in but failed.
The best crosser of the ball we have is actually Firmino.
Did you see Lallana berating Henderson for a shocking pass that nearly cleared the entire box when he was completely free. Milner just about got his crossing boots on in extra time and we probably should have won it there, Origi very unlucky with both the diving studs attempt and the header, a foot wider and it's a goal without question.
The difference yesterday was that our midfield was indeed different both in personnel and in attitude. Henderson was a shell of the player he can be, he produced absolutely nothing, I'm convinced if Allen was near fitness he would have played, if Stewart hadn't been injured he would have played but Klopp had, yet again, so few options that we had what we had and had to deal with it.
Lucas in the middle would have given us much more control over both tempo and possession. Can in the first 30 minutes literally gave the ball away on every touch, it was a shocking first 30 by the German. Milner was not much better throughout the entire 90 and Henderson managed to be the worst of the 3. Trying to put the emphasis on an attack that had no connect to it's midfield is, as S@int right says, banging the Benteke drum it's not even disguised but it is horribly misguided.
We also had the misfortune of having to use one substitution that was forced and the other on a complete moron, Moreno getting out of position endlessly forced Klopp's hand and you can hear in his interview how disappointed he was to have to 'fix' the problem. With 1 substitution left and our crosses showing no signs of even beating the first man let alone being effective why introduce a lamp-post that wont close down, wont create on his own and likely wont even score when presented with a chance from 3 yards out.
We lost on penalties against one of the best teams in the country, no disgrace, even less so when all mitigating factors are taken into account. A damn fine attempt that was disappointing but bloody close to triumphant.
Can't wait to get some real midfielders in the summer, midfielders with ability as well as engines, one's that can cross a ball and stay on their feet more than 5 minutes. One's that when it comes to a moment of responsibility or pressure they don't hide and one's that when one of their team-mates gets gripped by the kneck and bent sideways in the air has the bollocks to step in.