Liverpool legend Graeme Souness criticised Fabinho following our Super Cup victory over Chelsea on Wednesday evening.
The pundit thought the Brazilian looked leggy in midfield, apparently losing an individual battle with N’Golo Kante on more than on occasion.
‘This guy [Fabinho], twice he had Kante dance past him as if he had Jacques Cousteau boots, lead boots on,’ Souness told Virgin Media Sport Ireland, cited in the Metro.
‘They were not Liverpool, I’m not seeing a Liverpool that resembles the Liverpool we saw last season.’
But while Souness decided to pick out isolated incidents, the reality is that Fabinho has worked jaw-droppingly hard already this term in our two matches.
Stats expert Simon Brundish shared this tweet following the comments to prove as much:
Fabinho ran 14km 4 days after 12.1km
5 fucking days into the season— SimonBrundish (@SimonBrundish) August 14, 2019
Liverpool’s midfield was poor, but our worst players were James Milner in the central three and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain out on the left.
Fabinho is utterly integral to our side and for us, an automatic starter in holding midfield thanks to his physicality and ability to win the ball back.
Souness should reserve his criticism until we actually lose a game, perhaps!
Wow!! Fabinho has run 11 miles tonight.
Hopefully Klopp doesn’t play that Milner/Hendo combo again & put my man through this output again pic.twitter.com/KIUy8gSf2p
— Darwinho (@Dijkinho) August 14, 2019