Jamie Carragher singled out Fabinho for being particularly poor during Liverpool’s 1-0 defeat against Nottingham Forest today.
The Liverpool midfielder struggled to impose himself in the middle of the park as Cheikhou Kouyate dominated for Forest.
And taking to Twitter after the game, Carragher questioned what’s going on with Liverpool’s No.3
“Steve Cooper has changed Forest in the last few weeks to be a lot harder to beat, tactically very good again today. Liverpool were awful, what is going on with Fabinho,” wrote the pundit, along with a ‘mind blown’ emoji.
“Konate is needed back ASAP!”
Fabinho not good enough again
Where to start with Fabinho. In many ways, you really feel for the Brazilian. He has been so good since joining Liverpool and has largely held the midfield together singlehandedly.
It’s near enough impossible to keep that kind of form up forever though, and perhaps he needs a little break out of the side.
At the moment, he is almost a liability to the team. Usually so robust and clever in his challenges, Fabinho has been letting opposition players waltz past him all season long.
Maybe it’s a hangover from last season, maybe it’s the start of a more permanent decline. But Liverpool shouldn’t hang about too long to find out.
The Reds tried to bring in a long-term replacement for Fabinho in the summer, by moving for Aurelien Tchouameni. If they can find the right player to bring in in January, they simply have to do so. This can’t go on.
It isn’t as though Liverpool don’t have midfield options. The return of Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain today meant that Jurgen Klopp almost has a full complement to choose from again.
But none of those options quite fit the Fabinho mould. At his best, the Brazil star is one of the best in his position, no question. He hasn’t been playing like it for a pretty long time now though, and Liverpool have to start planning for the future. This looks like more than a blip.
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