Jurgen Klopp faces a tough decision of where to play Fabinho against Manchester United. We weigh up the pros and cons.
It looks as though Ozan Kabak will miss the game today through injury. That’s according to the latest team news, anyway, and it asks questions of Jurgen Klopp.
We know Nat Phillips will start at the back but who partners him? Rhys Williams is one obvious candidate, given he started there at the weekend. Klopp admits he could play him again, too.
But he’s not the ‘best’ option there.
That would be Fabinho and Klopp will need to weigh up the pros and cons of whether to play him at centre-back against Manchester United.
The pros
1. He’s the best option
Fabinho is probably the best available centre-back at the club. He’s consistently played well there this season and while he’s not perfect, Liverpool can rely on him.
This is likely to be a game where the centre-backs face a lot of pressure in isolation, too. United don’t really need to win – they’ll be happy enough to sit back and counter-attack. We can expect to see plenty of long balls hit at the centre-backs and the channels to try and get the forwards in.
Making sure those centre-backs are as good as possible makes a lot of sense, then.
2. Midfield options
Liverpool have some very good options in midfield if Fabinho isn’t there. They could play any three of Thiago, Gini Wijnaldum, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain or Curtis Jones. Alternatively, Klopp could trim the midfield to go with a two.
He doesn’t have that luxury in defence – the Reds need at least two centre-backs with or without Fabinho.
The midfield options could be stronger, of course. Jordan Henderson, James Milner and Naby Keita are all out and Liverpool will miss them. But what they have definitely goes deeper than in defence.
The cons
1. Midfield shield
Liverpool do have midfield options but they’re undoubtedly at their best with a proper holding midfielder. And beyond Fabinho, they don’t have one available right now.
Thiago and Wijnaldum can play the role at a stretch but not particularly well. There’s a difference between simply getting talented players out there and putting together a functional midfield.
We’re not sure Liverpool can do the latter with Fabinho in defence.
2. Difference in quality
How much better in defence is Fabinho than Williams? He’s definitely better – undoubtedly so – but we don’t think the difference is enormous.
A better way to put it, however, may be this – is Fabinho in defence better than Williams in defence with Fabinho as a protecting midfielder?
Fabinho doesn’t have the luxury of having himself shielding the backline in front of him, of course. Instead, that job falls on someone not as good at it, as we mention above.
Williams, though, isn’t on his own. He would have one of the world’s best holding players protecting him. That might make him the better option.
What RTK has to say
We think Williams at the back with Fabinho in front might be the way to go here. It would be one thing if Liverpool could call on Milner to offer extra security in midfield but they unfortunately can’t.
That’s assuming Klopp wants to go 4-3-3. There’s a chance he’d prefer 4-2-4, after all, and go high-risk in pursuit of the win. In that case, Fabinho at the back with Thiago and Wijnaldum in midfield would make some sense.
If we had to guess, though, we think it’ll be 4-3-3. And perhaps that should mean Williams gets back-to-back games.
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