BBC Sport’s Garth Crooks has proclaimed Liverpool’s victory over Manchester City as ‘one for the unsung heroes’ as midfielder Fabinho kickstarted a rousing win over their title rivals at Anfield.
Fabinho’s rocket from range set up the Reds’ victory, with the team going on to double their early advantage inside the opening quarter of an hour through Mohamed Salah, before Sadio Mane made sure of the points in the second half.
But it was not the usual suspects who made it into Crooks’ Team of the Week column for BBC Sport, with the Brazilian the only Liverpool player included in the XI.
And within his reasons for selecting the former Monaco man, Crooks paid tribute to those players who often go unnoticed.
He said: “Liverpool’s performance against Manchester City was about as professional as you will ever see from a Premier League team.
“Manchester City played the football and Liverpool got the job done. They were absolutely ruthless.
“This was not a game for the stars either, but one for the unsung heroes. The men who do all the running, never complain and seldom get the headlines. The Hendersons, Wijnaldums and my man of the match, Fabinho.”
While Crooks did not go into detail over why Fabinho was selected, the stats do help to demonstrate what Fabinho brings to the team other than a goal rate of one every 29 games.
Fabinho ranked joint-second among his teammates in the league last year for tackles made per game, while he was one of only five Liverpool players to record at least one interception per match, as per WhoScored.
No Liverpool player topped his tally of two interceptions against City, while only Georginio Wijnaldum – who perhaps went under the radar himself – usurped Fabinho’s pass accuracy rate of 83.3% with an exemplary 97.1% among those who started the game.
In fact, given Wijnaldum had the most dribbles and clearances in the Liverpool midfield – as well as a 100% accuracy rate with long balls – it was perhaps the Dutchman who may have been more worthy of praise as an unseen gem, leaving Crooks’ award to Fabinho looking slightly hypocritical as the Brazilian was essentially one of six players who rather predictably made the squad after scoring at the weekend.
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Liverpool fans, was Fabinho one of your star men on Sunday? Join the discussion in the comments below!
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