OPINION
Adrian Durham claimed that Liverpool midfielder Fabinho looked shattered after 60 minutes during the 4-3 win over Red Bull Salzburg due to having to cover for Trent Alexander-Arnold and Andy Robertson.
The talkSPORT host shared his observation about the Brazilian from Wednesday’s clash while trying to explain while Alexander-Arnold and Robertson could sometimes cause the Reds issues by not being as good defensively as they are when verging forward.
“If you look at Fabinho after about an hour he was shattered as he was doing all the running for his full-backs to cover,” said Durham on talkSPORT, as seen in a clip uploaded to the station’s Twitter account.
The 25-year-old wasn’t at his best, especially in the second half of the match, as he was dispossessed, only achieved a pass completion rate of 80.9% and only averaged a rating of 6.98 for his latest display. (Source: WhoScored)
As a result, Michael Owen ended up criticising the midfielder’s performance against Salzburg following the full-time whistle.
The formers Reds forward described Fabinho as making several mistakes in quick succession due to nerves as he described him as looking “really nervy.”
“Certainly, Fabinho looked really nervy,” said Owen, speaking on BT Sport 3 after the match on Wednesday night.
“He made about three mistakes within the space of five minutes, one that led to a goal as well.”
Yet while Durham didn’t mean it, his observation about Fabinho is understandable and actually undermines Owen’s criticism of the defensive-midfielder following the Salzburg clash.
While Durham didn’t address Fabinho’s mistakes, it could be argued that the midfielder shouldn’t take too much blame because an error literally came as a result of him being tired after doing so much running for his side.
Fabinho making mistakes due to being shattered is also far more believable than him making errors due to being nervous.
The 25-year-old has always been the personification of calm during his Reds career and his big-game experience should ensure he doesn’t get unsettled when playing in the Champions League group stage.
After all, Fabinho was unflappable in the Champions League and UEFA Super Cup finals.
So with that in mind, while a better performance from Fabinho was expected on Wednesday at least the blips in his latest display can be argued as being a result of him working too hard, rather than it being a cause of him having an issue mentality once Salzburg got back into the match.
