Klopp terms Fabinho 'smart footballer'

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp praised Fabinho by calling him a very smart footballer.

"He plays like he played at Monaco, but he needed time to adapt to the different rhythm and tempo in the league. That's it," the club's official website quoted Klopp as saying.

"But at the moment when that happened, when he got used to that, since then he can play like he plays because of his quality. A very smart footballer and, of course, really skilled in all defensive things. These individual defensive things are really difficult to learn," he added.

Klopp also said that it's about Fabinho's game intelligence which makes him a player he is now.

"It's like if you have a sensational right foot or a sensational left foot for a specific shot, or if you have these skills in one-on-one situations - it's a skill and he used that pretty well," he said.

"But this alone would not make him the player he is, it's about all his game intelligence. It's really good and that helps all of us," Klopp added.

Liverpool sits on the top position of the Premier League's points table and will now compete against Chelsea on September 22.