Liverpool continued their impressive start to the 2023/24 season after sinking Brentford 3-0 at Anfield in the Premier League before the third international break of the year.
With Tottenham Hotspur falling to defeat against Wolverhampton Wanderers and Manchester City drawing 4-4 with Chelsea in a pulsating fixture at Stamford Bridge, Jurgen Klopp's side have now advanced to second place in the table, just one point off top spot.
However, the victory over the Bees was not as straightforward as it might have appeared, with Liverpool's bench bereft of senior leadership in the outfield positions – Luis Diaz was the only player over the age of 20 to sit among Klopp's substitutes.
The midfield in particular was looking rather light, and it does beg the question whether the Reds might have been wise to hold on to Tyler Morton this summer, with the talented midfielder joining Championship side Hull City on loan in September.
Tyler Morton's academy statistics with Liverpool
Despite having only played nine times for Liverpool's senior side, Morton, aged 21, is a distinguished veteran of the development game and has chalked up 75 appearances for the various youth outfits, scoring 13 goals and supplying 16 assists.
A defensive midfielder by trade, he evidently boasts an eagerness to get forward and influence the play in offensive phases, and this is possibly something that has developed through his club's innate forward-thinking philosophy with Klopp at the helm.
Last season, he was loaned out to Blackburn Rovers in the second tier and played 40 times in the league, supplying four assists; now, he has been shipped out on loan once again.
Tyler Morton's season by numbers
Joining the Tigers might be a move that Morton has taken in his stride, but there's an argument that Klopp could have found a use for his abilities on Merseyside.
Described as an "incredible talent" by media man Matthew Stanger, Morton has made ten appearances in the Championship this season, starting eight successive matches after being used from the bench across his first two outings.
Impressing so far, Morton has completed 91% of his passes, earned two assists, averaged one key pass and 3.5 ball recoveries per game, and remarkably succeeded with 83% of his dribbles, as per Sofascore.
An industrious presence in the centre, Morton could have indeed played a role this term in the absence of a starring specialist No. 6 – barring Wataru Endo – and given that he is matching Dominik Szoboszlai for assists too, could have opened up a new dimension of creativity when called upon.
Arriving from RB Leipzig on a £60m deal in the summer, Hungarian dynamo Szoboszlai has been a revelation under Klopp's guidance, bringing life and energy back to the midfield and providing an all-action approach to bring the club back into contention for the Premier League title after last year's issues.
Having been hailed as an "artist" for his creativity by talent scout Jacek Kulig, it's intriguing that Morton is actually matching the 22-year-old's seasonal assist tally, perhaps highlighting the underrated side of the Liverpool loanee's game. That said, it's still rather obvious who boasts the higher level of playmaking ability.
Nonetheless, Morton's supplementation is but an element of his broad-sweeping midfield skill set, and while he wouldn't be earning regular appearances from the outset, his utility presence may well have paid dividends as Klopp's side fight for success across multiple fronts.