Much has been made of Liverpool’s fantastic front three in recent years. Yet The Reds defence was just as significant as they claimed their first Premier League title last term.

This campaign hasn’t gone just as swimmingly for the front three and that has meant that more pressure has been shifted onto the team’s backline.

Injuries to centre-backs Virgil van Dijk and Joe Gomez plus the sale of Dejan Lovren in the summer has impacted on their chances of doing well in that area.

With Joel Matip also succumbing to injury, Liverpool’s defence as of late has been very makeshift. Having two regular central midfielders (Fabinho and Jordan Henderson) in the heart of their defence for their huge clash with fellow title challengers Manchester United was far from ideal.

Liverpool managed to hold out and grab a 0-0 draw (BBC Match Report) with the current league leaders and that might actually be seen as a confidence booster as it keeps them in the hunt as they wait for more reinforcements to come back and help out the rest of the squad.

The Reds have two Brazilians to thank for keeping that important clean-sheet today and that’s Fabinho and goalkeeper Alisson.

Fabinho has played in central defence a few times already in his career but he’s mainly seen as a holding midfielder via coming onto the scene as a full-back.

The vital qualities that he brings to the heart of the defence is composure and intelligence (in my opinion).

He’s a player that gets rarely flustered. The twenty-seven year old doesn’t rush into challenges and he always seems to pick up great positions to snuff out chances.

At centre-back Fabinho still sees plenty of the ball and against Man United he made 76 passes, completing 91% of them!

The midfielder turned centre-back also won both of his key tackles that he had to make at Anfield. Plus he is decent when the ball is in the air also.

Last month his manager, Jurgen Klopp, praised Fabinho for his inteliengence and being an organiser at the back:

 “Fab is, I wouldn’t even say a defensive-orientated player, he’s an organisation-orientated player. He is very strategical.

“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 frequently at right-back and for the national team he played right-back. Then he played one of a double six.

“I’m not sure if he played centre-half before, probably yes. He just is able to do that, you can see that in different situations that his challenging skills are just outstanding, defensively on top of that.”

Via Liverpoolfc.com

Any trouble that Fabinho couldn’t sweep up, well that’s when compatriot Alisson stepped up to show his worth.

The Brazilian number one is for me the best keeper in the Premier League and I think that he proved that fact today during the second half against Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s men.

He got gown well to divert a Bruno Fernandes effort away from his goal-line, then he blocked Paul Pogba from pointblank range and rushed out at a corner to prevent Marcus Rashford getting a solid shot away.

A shot-stopper like Alisson is worth his weight in gold and that’s why Liverpool won big trophies since he arrived in Merseyside. The goalie along with Fabinho and Henderson were the ones that stopped Man United moving six points clear at the top.

Jurgen Klopp will be desperate to get a few faces back from the treatment table and he’ll also be hoping that his front three can find their scintillating best form once again.

If those two things can happen and Liverpool can charge towards a second title in a row, then they’ll definitely have to thank Brazilian duo Alisson and Fabinho for being consistently brilliant and keeping them in the hunt during what many might see as Liverpool’s lean spell this season.

Posted on January 17th, 2021 by scott
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