Jurgen Klopp admitted that there wasn’t a clear explanation for Fabinho’s drop-off in performance levels, though explained he had no choice but to keep fielding the Brazilian in light of Liverpool’s current circumstances.
The German’s comments from the embargoed section of his press conference (as relayed on Twitter by @TheAnfieldTalk) make clear that he’s not concerned by the 29-year-old’s struggles.
Klopp on Fabinho’s dip in form:
“No there’s no real explanation and it’s not a change of a system. I’m pretty sure that’s not an explanation. In a long career, players have kind of dips. Usually you sort that then by not playing that often but Fab had to play in our situation.”
— The Anfield Talk (@TheAnfieldTalk) November 4, 2022
It has hardly helped, of course, that injuries have meant the 55-year-old couldn’t give the former Monaco man the break his outings in 2022/23 would have fairly warranted.
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Napoli could have marked a turning point for Fabinho, with Klopp himself noting that our No.3 had delivered an improved performance against a side that had yet to lose a game all season – across all competitions!
Whether it’s a sign of incoming consistency or just another European blip before the return of domestic action brings us all crashing back down to earth remains to be seen.
Should we get our defensive midfielder anything close to his best on Sunday and beyond, there’s no question that our chances of securing three wins out of three before the World Cup comes calling will significantly improve.