Klopp Talk: Fabinho Likes Playing Centre-Back

Much more than right-back, apparently.

Fabinho was clearly the man of the match last night against
Ajax. The Brazilian put in a well-rounded commanding performance,
highlighted by a goal-saving acrobatic clearance to give the Reds a
winning start to their European campaign. Strangely enough, the
only games Liverpool have kept a clean sheet in, are the two
games that Fabinho has started at centre-back.

Speaking after the game, manager Jürgen Klopp had some kind
words about Fabinho and Joe Gomez’s partnership, and revealed something
about the former right-back’s preferences playing across the
defence:

“This combination had not played together so they need to get
used to each other, the verbal commands, what you need to say to
the midfield. Fabinho can play the position, he likes playing it
actually. If I asked him to play right-back I don’t think he would
enjoy it as much. I’m not surprised Fabinho plays in the position,
otherwise I would have thought about a different solution. It was a
good performance but there is a lot to improve, that is good. It
was absolutely good tonight and we’d like it to carry on. We are
not dumb enough to think we didn’t need a bit of luck as Fabinho
needed to make a proper stretch to get that ball from the line and
they hit the post. A clean sheet is one information but we could
have done better. I don’t care in the moment as we wanted to win
the game and we have done that.”

Vice-captain, and fellow man-who-plays-all-over-the-pitch,
James Milner was also effusive in his praise
for the Brazilian:

He’s a top player. Top players can adapt and he did that. He’s
played there before and done it extremely well. Unbelievable
clearance as well, obviously. I thought it was a good team
performance, it was very tough out there; they’re a good team, it
was a physical battle as well, the conditions were tricky. It was a
bit like an old-fashioned English game, really. We managed to grind
out the win and that was the most important thing tonight – to make
sure we got the three points.

Fabinho will certainly be featuring in defence a lot more this
season, with the addition of Thiago to the our midfielder making it
less of a scary proposition. Having dependable and versatile
players like Fab, Wijnaldum, Jota, Minamino and Milner in the squad
will definitely go a long way in ensuring the squad stays fresh and
able along the course of what will be a physically-testing
season.

Scores of Lagosians have broken into a warehouse in the Amuwo
area of Lagos State where COVID-19 palliatives were being
stored.

Viral videos on social media on Thursday showed people packing
out bags and cartons of the palliatives which were ought to have
been shared by government to cushion the negative impact of the
COVID-19 pandemic on the economy.

Also spotted in one of the videos, was a van belonging to a
joint Internal Security Operational platform, OP MESA, with people
loading the vehicle with the palliatives.

In a swift reaction, the state government has, however, debunked
reports that the palliatives had been stored in there for
months.

Chief Press Secretary to Governor Sanwo-Olu, Gboyega Akosile, in
a tweet described the comments as ‘falsehood and inciting’.

“The government didn’t lock the food packs in. They’re in
warehouse for distribution,” he said.

According to him, the governor only received the palliatives on
September 22, less than a month ago.

Akosile further explained that Governor Sanwo-Olu had used his
personal and state resources to get food palliatives for vulnerable
Lagosians even before the contributions from the Coalition Against
COVID (CA-COVID).

This is coming amid the chaos, series of destruction and looting
that has occurred in many areas of the state.

Major malls, shops, businesses and even vehicles have been burnt
down – part of an aftermath of shootings that occurred on Tuesday
at the Lekki Toll Gate area of the state.

Peaceful protesters had gathered despite a curfew imposed to end
spiralling protests over police brutality and deep-rooted social
grievances.

At the Lekki Toll Gate which has been one of the major
converging points, peaceful and unarmed protesters, however, defied
the curfew and stayed put, hours after it was to have
commenced.

The situation took a turn for the worse around 7:00 pm when the
security operatives stormed the area and started shooting
sporadically.

“It wasn’t to drive us away, it was to kills us,” one of the
protesters who said he saw the armed soldiers, told Channels
Television.

According to Amnesty International, at least 12 people were
killed in the deadly shooting.