Midfield play as a unit so if it’s dysfunctional then the deepest player will be left exposed. Fairly obvious.
And as for the assertion that we are always compact when Henderson plays. Hmm enough examples just this season shows that is nonsense.
I didn’t say Fab was anything more than mediocre but the witch hunt was a bit ridiculous and if looked at objectively then imo he did ok defensively bearing in mind he had to plug so many holes because Gini went missing and Milner did his usual trick of moving out to the wing leaving too much space in midfield.
Arsenal were very clever in pushing their full backs so we were always out manned in midfield.
On the ball I agree he was not great.
We are much more compact when Henderson plays, for the simple reason that the 3 of Henderson, Wijnaldum and Milner have played together for much longer.
Wijnaldum and Milner didn't "go missing", Fabinho followed the ball too much and was out of position, which I'm putting down to a bit of him being too keen, and not yet gelling with the other players.
There's no witch hunt against Fabinho, unlike the real with hunt against Henderson.
It's not a "trick" by Milner, that's part of his job in the system we play.
I've explained before that width and creativity comes from the 2 FB's getting forwards, but of course people don't want to really understand how we play, they just want to moan.
Milner played behind Robertson, Wijnaldum played behind (and slightly inside of) TAA, Milner and Robertson were supported by Mane, and Firmino dropped deep to provide cover in midfield for when Wijnaldum supported TAA. Fabinho's job was to hold the centre, in both the horizontal and vertical zones, and he failed to do it, and pushed forwards when he should have stayed back, failed to support the wider players, got bullied several times by Xhaka, and showed a worrying lack of pace.
As things stand, I'd much rather see him play in front of Henderson in a staggered 3 (possession play) until he really gels with his teammates.
Once he and the other lads get that understanding, I'm sure he'll be fine. It just takes a bit of time in systems as complex as Klopp's.
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