Fabinho is massive loss but not irreplaceable: Klopp
JURGEN Klopp is confident Liverpool can cope without the presence of influential midfielder Fabinho after injury ruled out the Brazil international until the new year.
The 26-year-old, who has started 18 of 19 matches this season, could be sidelined for between six to eight weeks with ankle ligament damage sustained in Wednesday’s 1-1 Champions
League draw with Napoli, ruling him out of at least 11 matches in the most congested period of the season.
But Klopp believes the options he have means Liverpool can absorb Fabinho’s loss, despite his record of having never been on the losing side in all 32 Premier League matches he has started.
“Losing a player with the quality of Fabinho is big, massive, really bad. But we are not the only team in the Premier League with injuries,” he said.
“We have solutions for the position, we have to replace him, we can replace him, we have played without him, we have played good without him.”
“Will it be exactly like Fabinho? Of course not. Nobody is like the other one. But it will be a good one.
“It’s an opportunity for somebody else. Hendo (Jordan Henderson) played in that position, Gini (Wijnaldum) played in the position already. Adam Lallana played in the position.
“It’s not that they aren’t as good as him, it’s that they are different, have different qualities. We just have to make it work. That’s always the job.
“Fab couldn’t have played all the games from now until March, that was clear anyway.”
Fabinho would have missed today’s game against Brighton anyway as he was serving a onematch suspension.
Victory would see Liverpool record their 14th successive league win at Anfield to equal a run second only to their longest unbeaten sequence of 21 consecutive home league games in 1972.