30 Jan 2023 10:26:38
Thinking about Fabinho and struggling to recall witnessing a top footballer decline so far so rapidly and without obvious explanation.

From a player regarded by many as the best in his position in the world, to a player who has become something of a liability to the extent that we're better off with an 18 year old playing his debut season.

And the thing is that Fabinho is still only 29 and was never a player who relied on, or had, much pace. There were no serious injuries that he struggled to come back from. That defensive midfield rock position is one where players can usually go on at the top for a bit longer, well into their 30s.

Thinking more broadly, perhaps it's something away from football. In which case, maybe it's something he can still get over and come back from.

1.) 30 Jan 2023
30 Jan 2023 10:58:26
I think he’s the sort of player that looks great when others around are doing great and vice versa. We’re going through a period where unfortunately moments that are quickly forgotten when you win are the centre of attention when losing.

There’s clearly a complete lack of confidence that has infected this squad. It often surprises me how little the mental side of players’ performances is analysed versus the physical side. Take salah with the AFCON loss for example. These are humans who have thoughts and feelings who can be really affected by their surroundings and what happens to them - being very good at a sport and earning a silly amount of money doesn’t change that.

More generally for the core of this team and Klopp - they’ve been involved in 2 incredibly close league runs and lost out on the last day of the season and lost 2 champos finals in the past 4 years; the fact that two of those events occurred simultaneously last season when they were on the cusp of the greatest ever season and they fell short has dealt a massive psychological blow imo.

2.) 30 Jan 2023
30 Jan 2023 11:07:48
He has been awful but I've no idea why.

3.) 30 Jan 2023
30 Jan 2023 11:32:03
Fab relied a lot on he's power which has been waning for Last two yrs.

Last season we were struggling seems lots of peeps have forgotten but thx to Diaz we were able to resurrect our season and closed 14-18 points gap on City and made it look closer.

We had fans here who were worried abt the club not investing on midfield last half decade and was only matter of time to all go south but were told the club has no money coz of pendemic and some thought signings weren't needed.

We have just bought one midfield in last 5 yrs most of our players have been playing consistently for Last 11-7 yrs at highest level nonstop every 2-3 Days which is very rare so the fall From players shouldn't surprise you at all. It was just a matter of time.

4.) 30 Jan 2023
30 Jan 2023 11:41:07
It’s not been rapid at all it’s been about 12 months he’s been poor for the most part. Mane had a rapid decline for us. Fabinho has been gradually getting worse. I refuse to complain about Salah’s wages when he’s our top scorer and the most goal involments of any winger in europe when Fab and Hendo get about 200k a week each.

5.) 30 Jan 2023
30 Jan 2023 12:18:23
kopforever - what does that mean? He "relied a lot on power". Sure, there's a physical aspect to his game but he's a footballer, not a weightlifter or boxer. The prime Fabinho I recall was not about power or pace. It was about having that ability to be in the right place to constantly break up opposition play, to time tackles really well to shut down opponents and then - and this often gets overlooked - to use the ball really well in simple but effective ways. And that's my point - the attributes that made him so good are not things that would normally just suddenly disappear from age 27 to age 29.

OneKiss - I would say 12 months is a fairly rapid timeframe to go from being one of the best in that position in the world to being out of the team and replaced in the side by an 18 year old who has only played a few matches.

6.) 30 Jan 2023
30 Jan 2023 13:46:57
RR fab game was all about power just like Rodri or casemiro but now opposition midfield are passing through him like he's not even there ?

I still can't forget cup game how Rodri bullied him where he was literally bouncing on Rodri and falling himself down.

It's time to move on and buy another physical imposing monster middle of the park.

7.) 30 Jan 2023
30 Jan 2023 14:31:52
Nemanja Matic had exactly the same drop off in form, and he was 29 too. Arguably Matic didn’t fall out of form quite as contrastingly because his ceiling wasn’t as high but it was still a marked decline.