Liverpool shoehorned Fabinho in the centre-back role for our trip to Brighton and came out with a 1-0 win. The Brazilian midfielder got some practice for this position in the FA Cup defeat to Wolves.
The performance at the Amex was great from the Brazilian and BBC’s Garth Crooks claimed such performances could lead to the end of Dejan Lovren.
The Croatian defender would have started alongside Virgil van Dijk but picked up a hamstring injury in the loss to Wolves.
Joe Gomez was out injured, but Fabinho did a wonderful job against a tough team and Crooks claimed the Brazilian has become a “far more important” addition to the Liverpool line-up than expected (h/t Mirror).
The pundit praised midfielder’s performance at the Amex and claimed Brighton made things difficult without hurting us.
“The Brazilian enforcer looks better at centre-back than he does in midfield. At least that’s how it appeared against a Brighton side who made life difficult for the league leaders but struggled to really hurt them.
“When there was the slightest threat, Fabinho snuffed it out. His positioning throughout the match was quite impressive. Any more displays like that and Dejan Lovren might have to start looking for new employers.”
Matip should start against Crystal Palace at the weekend after appearing on the bench against Brighton, and we should see Fabinho return to a midfield role.
It is great to see we have players that are versatile to plug holes. James Milner played an entire season as a left-back when Alberto Moreno struggled in the team, and Fabinho can do a job as a full-back too.
Gomez was the first-choice partner alongside Van Dijk at the start of the season, and hopefully, the Englishman returns to the starting Xi soon.
