A lot of the natural feedback in matches is gone too. For example, in normal times, the tension at Villa Park would have skyrocketed when Mo made it 2-1, which would help us keep up the pressure. Now it's just nothing.
Not an excuse of course.
I think Henderson/Milner may be more important in talking Gomez/Trent through a match than we thought. I'm not saying they aren't great players, just that they are still young and it's normal. Milner is not a realistic option for a huge number of matches, so we better hope Henderson gets and stays fit or we have a backup plan for that. We definitely cannot put Keita on that side.
Context matters with Adrian though. I don't think the team trust him anymore (which means we should get someone else). I think Alisson does the exact same thing and the match is very different. Even if we lose, it's not like that.
I'm trying really hard not to overreact here. But anyone else think we are a lot more inconsistent when Van Dijk is captain (to start a match)? We generally seem more nonchalant. I've thought this for a bit, but maybe it's just confirmation bias.