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Peter Crouch and Michael Owen praise Liverpool star that is ‘not beautiful to watch’
Peter Crouch and Michael Owen have both raved over the performance of Fabinho after the Brazilian returned to Liverpool’s midfield on Wednesday night during their second leg against RB Leipzig.
The Reds were tasked with holding on to their 2-0 first-leg lead, as the two sides did battle in Hungary for a second time. Not only did Liverpool progress, but they produced a second successive 2-0 victory over Leipzig.
Fabinho, 27, has missed six out of Liverpool’s last nine Premier League games and only came off the bench last weekend against Fulham. But on Wednesday night, he started in his more natural position of holding midfield.
Having filled in at centre-back for some time now, Jurgen Klopp opted to trust Nat Phillips with Ozan Kabak and the decision paid off – as Liverpool won 2-0. Both Crouch and Owen raved about the Brazilian midfielder.
Owen said, during BT Sport’s coverage of the match: “When he’s in the middle, you feel safe, he did nothing spectacular – but some of these clips are brilliant. He covers the back two which is a weak part in the team.”
Crouch followed up: “They’ve missed him, it’s not beautiful to watch but he is always very calm in possession – he always has a good touch. The biggest miss for Liverpool has been him in midfield. This is the first time since October we have seen him in midfield, and Liverpool look a different team
TBR’s view – In hindsight, Klopp made a Fabinho mistake
Although, he was hardly left with any other choice. Fabinho is able to play at centre-back and with the likes of Joel Matip, Virgil van Dijk and Joe Gomez all injured at times – it made sense to put him there.
But with Nat Phillips doing well when called upon and Ozan Kabak making a steady start to his life at Liverpool – Fabinho should have returned to midfield. But he remained in defence – and that should be considered a mistake.
