An immediate wince and a raised hand was all that was needed for Fabinho to get his message of apology across at Brighton on Sunday afternoon.
After lunging into a late challenge that saw him rake his studs down on to the ankle of Evan Ferguson, the Reds man instinctively knew he was in the wrong. The Brazil international's reaction suggested there was no malice in the intent but that will have cut little ice with the young striker, who saw his afternoon curtailed early as a result.
Fortunately for Liverpool, Fabinho avoided seeing red, with referee David Coote opting instead to just caution the former Monaco man and he appeared as though he couldn't believe his luck following the decision.
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Had Fabinho been on the pitch any longer, he might well have been dismissed but only Coote will know how much of a factor that was in the decision to go only with a yellow card just moments after the Liverpool man had entered the fray.
Just a few seconds earlier, Fabinho's introduction to the game, which was delicately poised at 1-1 upon his arrival, saw him take a heavy first touch to bring about the breakdown of a Reds' attack. That particular phase of play ended with Brighton threatening down the other end on the counter-attack as a result.
For such a short cameo, given he replaced Stefan Bajcetic with 85 minutes on the clock, it was perversely impressive how he managed to shine further spotlight on his ongoing malaise.
It's been a season to forget in general for Jurgen Klopp to date and the deep-rooted problems within the psyche of a squad that went so close to sweeping the board last season can be traced back to their struggles in midfield, according to some.
Virtually everyone in that particular department has a huge question mark over their long-term ability to contribute towards getting the Reds back to where they have been in recent years under Klopp.
Naby Keita and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain are into the final months of their Anfield contracts with no resolution seemingly imminent, while the same applies to 37-year-old vice captain James Milner. Thiago Alcantara and Jordan Henderson have performed with distinction for years at the top end of European football, but at the respective ages of 31 and 32, questions are being asked about their propensity to continue doing so in the coming weeks and months, never mind years.
Harvey Elliott, Curtis Jones and Fabio Carvalho are on the other end of that particular age-based sliding scale, with all three still taking their fledgling steps towards a lengthy career at the elite level.
All of those issues around the rest of Liverpool's midfield department leave Fabinho as something of a unique player. At the age of 29 and having penned a contract extension in the summer of 2021, there should be, in theory, few concerns about his long-term contribution.
At a time when there are so many uncertain aspects about the rebuilding of Liverpool, particularly in that area, Fabinho should be the one beacon of consistency that Klopp is able to point towards for the years that will follow. The Selecao international is offering no such assurances at present though as his performances continue to come in for serious and legitimate scrutiny.
Interest in Aurelien Tchouameni would have given the No.3 genuine competition but it was quickly established, when contact was made, that the then Monaco man only had eyes for Real Madrid later that summer. Perhaps what is most interesting about that particular transfer tale is that Klopp felt the need to recruit a young defensive-minded midfielder in the first place.
"I didn’t hear too much about transfers," Fabinho himself said during an interview with a handful of publications that included the ECHO in August. "Of course there are always players linked with the club because the club has to look forward and try to be better.
"It is normal that good players are always linked with the club. I didn’t hear about Tchouameni. I heard about Bellingham because he is young and a really good player but he didn’t come. It is normal. Liverpool is a big club and want to keep fighting with the best so it is normal that they will buy new players."
Despite Liverpool's inability to bring in anyone new into the centre of the park in the last two transfer windows - Arthur Melo and his 13-minute cameo at Napoli in September aside - Klopp has still tried to adjust the makeup of his midfield in recent weeks, with Bajcetic emerging as an increasingly serious option.
The teenager, whose progress was rewarded with a new long-term contract last week, became the youngest player to start three successive games in a Liverpool midfield on Sunday when he was named in the team for the FA Cup defeat to Brighton, aged just 18 years and 99 days.
A £200,000 academy recruit who was initially earmarked to play as a centre-back is surely not what Klopp had in mind when he thought about the renovation of his engine room but Bajcetic is in the team on merit just now while an underperforming, high-profile international continues to kick his heels on the sidelines, for the most part.
"I think the midfield is the place where we have more options [than any other department]," Fabinho added earlier this season. "I think now we have two or three midfield players with injuries and we still have a lot of options - so although I think I'm not the right man to say whether we need another player or not - but in my opinion we have really good players already in this sector.
"I think I have a big responsibility in the team because I consider myself an important player fgr the team so I want to always play my best football and be at a high level. It doesn't matter who plays with me, I just want to help the team-mates next to me, I don't think there is more responsibility if you have an injury to Hendo or Thiago, the players who play more often with me."
Not since the £40m signing debuted in September 2018 have there been three consecutive games where neither he or captain Henderson have both not started, prior to Sunday's trip to Brighton. That statistic alone highlights Klopp's current discontent with how the centre of the pitch has become a weak point at Anfield.
A key issue for Klopp to wrestle with now is what to do with Fabinho. At a time when it is becoming more widely accepted that it is an area in need of major surgery, will he be trusted to eventually reach the sort of levels that made him one of the outstanding defensive screens in European football once more? Or is the rapid decline now irreversible?
On top of the other problems plaguing Liverpool in the short and long term, it's a further headache Klopp could well do without.
READ MORE:
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- De Zerbi makes Fabinho claim and sends Caicedo message after beating Liverpool
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