Fabinho admits ‘van Dijk helped a lot’ in Brighton win
Liverpool midfielder Fabinho has admitted that Virgil van Dijk helped him a lot in their recent Premier League win over Brighton.
The Brazilian was picked as a central defender due to injuries picked up by Joel Matip, Dejan Lovren and Joe Gomez. And while Fabinho is a rookie in that area of the park, the Mirror reported that van Dijk expertly marshalled him through it.
Watch any game that features the Dutchman and you can see how important he is to the Reds. Van Dijk is an excellent communicator and leads the back four in a peerless manner – which aided Fabinho a lot.
“He’s really vocal, he guided us. He helped me a lot,” said the former AS Monaco man, before adding that Trent Alexander-Arnold and Jordan Henderson also contributed with their own positive chat.
More from Liverpool FC News
- Set to return, Virgil Van Dijk facing heavy criticism back home
- Wolves tilt gives Klopp opportunity to tinker with lineup following international duty
- How are the Reds fairing on international duty?
- 4 Things we want to see after the international break
- Liverpool missed the boat not investing in a defender
“I had good communication with Trent and also with Hendo,” concluded Fabinho. All of this is really encouraging to see, and bodes well for the rest of the season – especially if anyone needs to play out of position again.
The temporary defender played well, but believed that his positioning could have been better. That’s completely natural – and something that would come with time, if Jurgen Klopp picked Fabinho there regularly.
Of course, that’s unlikely to happen and everyone at the club would prefer to see the Brazilian back in midfield and an actual defender alongside van Dijk – but it’s always good to have the option.
Matip should be back in the side for the Crystal Palace game on Saturday, which will give Klopp the freedom to pick Fabinho in central midfield. Alexander-Arnold’s injury will mean another stint at right-back for James Milner, which’ll leave Henderson and Naby Keita to fight it out for a place in the side.
Jurgen Klopp’s best Liverpool signings to date ranked. dark. Next
Gini Wijnaldum and Adam Lallana could both be missing for the game, although a Wijnaldum absence is likely to hurt the team more than Lallana.