Klopp Explains Fabinho’s Continued Absence from Liverpool’s Squad

Special travel accommodations were booked from Liverpool’s Brazilian contingent returning from the international break. Roberto Firmino, Alisson and Fabinho were at Melwood for Thursday’s training session ahead of Saturday’s clash with Tottenham Hotspur where Jürgen Klopp will have been thankful that his no. 9 and his new world-class goalkeeper came through the break injury-free. But what of Fabinho?

The manager has so far left Fabinho out of his matchday squads, save for a spot on the bench in the opening fixture of the season. It looked like the Brazilian defensive midfielder would be a lock in the XI after completing the entire preseason with Liverpool and performing well throughout. But Klopp has deemed that Fabinho still has some adjustments to make in his game in order to deliver exactly what the manager wants.

There have been plenty of voices advocating for Fabinho to be included against Spurs at Wembley. A place on the bench would be a good confidence boost for the player but Klopp isn’t likely to mess about too much with a winning team sheet. If Fabinho is ready for a Premier League match then Klopp will include him, if he is not, the manager emphasizes patience. Klopp hasn’t lost his belief in the player.

“The thing is, it’s absolutely no problem,” said Klopp. “I don’t like the situation, because I don’t like to say to Fabinho, who is full of energy and desire, and wants to be involved, and then tell him, ‘you are not involved this weekend.’ That’s not nice, it’s only the job to do sometimes because we have players that worked together now much longer.

”He comes from another league playing in a completely different system, which Monaco played, to us and that takes time. The plan was, and still is, that he will make us better. And that’s what we are working on.

”From my point of view it is all fine, but I know the situation isn’t what some people expected. Sorry, I cannot change that.”