Jürgen Klopp analyzes Fabinho’s form as central

Since Joe Gomez and Virgil van Dijk suffered long-term injuries earlier in the season, Fabinho has shifted from his usual deep midfield role to the heart of Liverpool’s defense.

The No. 3’s performances have also been impeccable, and Klopp’s press conferences ahead of Sunday’s Premier League clash against Fulham included a series of questions about the Brazilian.

Analyzing the reasons for Fabinho’s successful transition to the position, the boss said: “Fab is, I wouldn’t even say he’s a defensive-oriented player, he’s an organization-oriented player. It is very strategic.

“I don’t know what he played in his youth in Brazil, by the way, I didn’t ask, but for Monaco he played quite often as a right back and for the national team he played as a right back. He then played one of a double six.

“I’m not sure if he played as a center midfielder before, probably yes. He’s just capable of doing that, you can see that in different situations his challenging abilities are just outstanding, defensively on top of that.

“Usually you would say ‘Okay, come on, but as for football, it’s good in small spaces, it makes sense to take it to play in midfield.’ But, yes, he can play as a central midfielder and we knew that obviously before. It is not that we have invented a position for it, we use it there from time to time and now more consistently.

“Thank God we have him and Joel [Matip] and the other guys, someone can play these positions. “

Fabinho had sporadically replaced as center-back during his first two seasons with the club, when circumstances required.

But this term, due to the challenging injury situation that has developed since it began, has been used more permanently as a defender.

When asked if the 27-year-old needed to persuade him to retire, Klopp replied, “No, I didn’t have to persuade him or whatever. We know you can play the position.

“We train position when we have the opportunity, not just this position but positional play when we have time to do it. For him, he played it before, we knew he could play it.

“We had to adapt a bit to the way we defend when we have a different association, with Virg or without Virg. We played almost a year or so, at least a year if not more, always with Virg. Obviously as a team you have to adapt to that, for that you need smart players and thank God we have them. We did that and that’s it. “

After undergoing surgery in October, Van Dijk has returned to the AXA Training Center to continue rehabilitation from his knee injury.

The Dutch international was also present when Liverpool managed a 4-0 win over Wolverhampton Wanderers at Anfield last weekend.

On the suggestion that Van Dijk could play an advisory role to the team’s center-backs, the coach said: “Virgil was in the first weeks after he was injured not in a situation to talk to people and tell them how they should play. the position of the middle half.

“Now he’s back and that’s all different in his mind. He’s close, he was in the last game against the Wolves, which was really nice. Now the boys talk to each other, but I have no idea what they are talking about. You have to ask them.

“But I didn’t ask Virg to explain the position of the middle half to the other guys, I thought so far that was my job and we did the best we could.”