The emergence of Fabinho as a defensive option for Jurgen Klopp could spell the end of Dejan Lovren’s Liverpool career, according to Garth Crooks.
The former Spurs forward was in awe of Fabinho’s centre-back performance in the heart of Klopp’s defence over the weekend, with the versatile Brazilian keeping a clean sheet alongside Virgil van Dijk in a 1-0 win against Brighton.
Could Fabinho force Lovren out? Five things to know…
- Klopp had to replace Lorven with Fabinho in central defence against Brighton due to injury.
- Fabinho is a midfielder by trade but has previously played at right-back for Monaco and Brazil.
- Lovren was recently criticised for his performance in Liverpool’s 2-1 defeat against Man City.
- The Reds have been linked with a move for Napoli defender Kalidou Koulibaly.
- But with Trent Alexander-Arnold and Jose Gomez injured, Liverpool is in no position to be ruthless with their squad.
Lovren enjoyed an impressive 2017/18 campaign, reaching both the Champions League and World Cup finals with Liverpool and Croatia respectively, but he returned from Russia with an injury and has featured just nine times in the league this term.
Fabinho took time to acclimatise to the demands of Klopp’s football upon his arrival in the summer, but he has since proven to be a shrewd acquisition and Crooks believes he could become a mainstay in defence.
“[Fabinho] has become a far more important addition to the Liverpool set-up than I first realised,” Crooks told BBC Sport.
“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.”
“The ingenuity of Salah”
Crooks also reserved special praise for talisman Mohamed Salah, who scored the decisive spot kick against the Seagulls to help Liverpool tighten their grip on top spot.
He added: “I cannot believe Brighton’s Pascal Gross fell for it. We’ve all seen Mohamed Salah go down from the slightest touch in the penalty area (normally at Anfield) but there was no doubt about this one.
“Salah teased and enticed Gross to such an extent the German just had to have a bite. The result was another penalty attributed to Salah’s ingenuity.
“The Egypt international took the spot-kick and buried it into the back of the net to extend Liverpool’s lead at the top of the table.”
Man City have reduced the gap at the top to four points but Liverpool are still in a commanding position with 11 games left to play.
The post Fabinho could force Dejan Lovren’s Liverpool exit – Garth Crooks appeared first on Squawka News.
From Squawka NewsSquawka News http://bit.ly/2QREg87
No comments:
Post a Comment