Former England international Darren Bent has claimed that former Liverpool man Stephen Warnock told him Reds midfielder Fabinho is always ‘blowing’ towards the end of games.
The Brazilian international was left out of Bent’s combined Liverpool-Manchester City XI in favour of Fernandinho, and Bent has explained his decision was down to fitness concerns in regards to the former.
“Fernandinho over Fabinho,” he said on talkSPORT [07/11; 16:40] “Because, do you know what it was? Stephen Warnock made a point to me. He said to me ‘you watch Fabinho, he’s very good, he’s unbelievable, but the last 20 minutes he’s blowing and he can’t get around the pitch’.
“Whereas Fernandinho, that doesn’t happen. He can still keep going right to the end. That was the only thing that swung it, that stuck in my mind once Warny told me that.”
OPINION
It’s very hard to prove something like this, but obviously Warnock has seen something and it’s been enough to influence Bent to leave Fabinho out of his combined XI. When you have two world class holding midfielders like Fabinho and Fernandinho it doesn’t take much to swing it either way, and so Bent has gone with the City man based on what Warnock has said. However, the allegation that the 26-year-old gasses towards the end of games is a bit of a strange one. He’s played the full 90 minutes in every Champions League game and in all but two Premier League fixtures this season, with one of them being against Aston Villa last time out when he was rested [Source: Transfermarkt]. That doesn’t exactly suggest he’s Conor McGregor when it comes to a lack of cardio down the stretch, does it? When you’re considering Fernandinho and Fabinho, it was probably a much easier question a year ago. It was the City star all day. Now, though, it’s hard to argue against the Liverpool regular.
