‘I still think he’s good’: Merson feels £180k-a-week Liverpool player has become a scapegoat

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Paul Merson doesn’t agree with the consensus on Fabinho and his form at Liverpool this season. The pundit thinks people have it wrong.

Fabinho has come in for a lot of criticism at Liverpool this season. The Brazilian has been unable to control the middle of the pitch, with the Reds looking particularly vulnerable on the counter-attack.

That’s typically Fabinho’s speciality – he’s the one who spots play developing and steps in before teams can truly break. The midfielder has been, in our estimation, one of the absolute best in the world at it over recent years.

This season, though, he’s struggling. Jamie Carragher labelled Fabinho a ‘problem’ earlier this season, saying he was ‘miles off the pace’. He questioned him again after Liverpool lost to Nottingham Forest. And honestly, he was right to do so.

Paul Merson feels people are overly focused on Fabinho, though. After all, he’s not the only midfielder at the club.

“Everybody’s been highlighting Fabinho on this run,” Merson told Sportskeeda. “He’s been out of the team and injured as well, and I still think he’s a good player.

“He’s not the only player in their midfield. Liverpool’s midfield trio has been the bedrock of their success, and it’s just not clicking at the moment.”

Fabinho form at Liverpool

It’s a bit of a strange take from Merson, given he called out Fabinho himself just last week. Still, we agree with his overall point.

The Brazilian has been a casualty of Liverpool’s press and defensive work breaking down. He’s not the only one, either, with virtually every defender suffering as a result.

The Reds just aren’t defending very well as a unit and players are instead defending in isolation. That makes things incredibly difficult for anyone and Fabinho, as the sole holding midfielder, often finds himself exposed with players running at him. Then come the fouls or the missed tackles.

We saw a better performance against Napoli this week, and it’s no surprise that it came as the team as a whole was more compact. Hopefully, that’s a sign that Liverpool will get back to their defensive best.

Once things are clicking, as Merson says, suddenly all of these maligned players will look good again. There’s no doubt about that.