Fabinho has hit the career reset button

Liverpool star Fabinho has hit the career rest button after sloppy performances against Chelsea, Atletico Madrid and Watford.

Let’s go back to the summer of 2018 when the Brazilian was fresh off the boat in a deal that took us all by surprise. Nobody really saw it coming, and it had been a transfer that’s stood out as one of the best under Jurgen Klopp.

There was a rocky start, definitely. Fabinho took time to get used to life at Liverpool, as all new arrivals tend to do, but then he started to blossom in one of the best defensive midfielders in the world.

And then disaster struck against Napoli. Fab was forced off with an ankle injury and spent nearly two months on the sidelines and it’s like we’ve hopped in a time machine and transported back to those early days of his career.

But his performances have been bad enough to warrant missing a few games, but the problem is Klopp can’t take Fabinho out of the side because he needs that rhythm to get back to his former levels.

Now Liverpool have lost three out of the last four games and have a massive clash against Atletico Madrid in the Champions League, there isn’t time for the Brazilian to ease his way back into form. But he’s hit the career reset button and that’s not good for us.

With Jordan Henderson out, the Reds needed their big players to step up and be counted for and they largely haven’t done that. Fabinho didn’t. Georginio Wijnaldum didn’t. Even Virgil van Dijk didn’t.

It’s a good job that the Premier League is largely wrapped up, because if it wasn’t this could be the start of a serious speed wobble. We’ve been so good for so long, but this one aspect is disappointing and we need Fabinho to fix it.