Fabinho's passing range has been hailed with the Liverpool midfielder always trying to find a team-mate with a “cheeky” ball.
The Brazilian produced a man-of-the-match display against Tottenham Hotspur last weekend on the first anniversary of his first Premier League start and with game highs of four tackles, three interceptions and 11 possession regains, it was another dominant performance from a player who has become one of Jurgen Klopp's main men.
Liverpool assistant manager Pep Lijnders was particularly taken by Fabinho's showing.
He told Liverpoolfc.com: “I think our game forces this development.
“He needs to be the one who protects us constantly, he is controlling a very important space for counter-attacks.
“He does that as nobody else, that’s why I called him ‘the lighthouse’ – he guides us. He controls that space as nobody else.
“In the first 30 minutes they could get pressure on him; that was one of their main ideas because in the system they play he was our free player, but they jumped constantly. But he was smart enough and quick enough to switch.
“What I really liked about it was that throughout the game, further and further, he searched constantly for the cheeky passes in behind, for the disguised passes. Even the goal from Henderson was him lifting [a pass into the box].
“Our game, if you want to dictate, if you want to play in the opposition half, if you want to win the ball back quickly, that forces individual development and he is making steps, like all the others in my opinion. Yes, he had a good game!”
