Photoby Visionhaus
Liverpool’s substitute centre half didn’t put a foot wrong
against Frank Lampard’s London Blues.
Between Thiago Alcantara’s impressive second half debut and
Sadio Mané’s two goals in a comfortable victory over ten-man
Chelsea, most of the time you wouldn’t expect for one
of the centre halves to have arguably been the day’s top
performer.
On Sunday, though, one of them was, as midfielder Fabinho lined
up at a centre half for Liverpool and kept Chelsea’s expensive new striker
signing Timo Werner in his pocket. And according to Virgil van
Dijk, at least, he was Liverpool’s Man of the Match.
“I just told him as well I think he was Man of the Match,” Van
Dijk said following Sunday’s 2-0 victory. “To keep out a striker
like Werner and don’t let him score was outstanding. Everyone knows
how good he is but it shows also that we need everyone.”
It’s certainly comforting to know that Fabinho can, in a pinch,
fill in more than capably at the back as was the case on Sunday
with both Joël Matip and Joe Gomez
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everyone when everyone’s fit.
For now, though, that’s a question for another day, and the
focus is on Sunday’s victory. The second for Liverpool to start
what will be a highly congested 2020-21 campaign, and one that
appears to mark the Reds as favourites to defend their league
crown.
“Overall we dominated,” Van Dijk added. “Obviously the red card
helps a little bit, we can’t deny that, but even before that we
created moments of danger and we were very concentrated and very
ready to get the good result.”