It is incredibly difficult for a young player to succeed at any level of professional football, but to make your name with one of the world’s biggest clubs is a gargantuan task. Any opportunity, no matter how infrequent, must be seized upon.
Having appeared in 16 of Liverpool’s 22 matches prior to the World Cup, Fabio Carvalho was featuring regularly, with four starts in the Premier League and one in Europe to his name. He has largely been glued to the bench since, though Jurgen Klopp confirmed ahead of the FA Cup replay with Wolves that there had been no problems with the player.
“There are no, from my point of view, personal situations or stuff like this,” Klopp said. “He’s behaving well. It’s just sports decisions that you make for the moment.”
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And in fairness to the 20-year-old, he has delivered in his recent games. In his final start prior to the mid-season pause (against Derby in the Carabao Cup), Carvalho created his first clear-cut chance for Liverpool, only to see Layton Stewart fire over the crossbar.
He scored in the friendly loss to Lyon as the Reds prepared for the resumption of domestic football, then far more notably netted at the Etihad when Liverpool’s defence of the League Cup came to a close. By these standards, Carvalho’s efforts at Molineux were relatively low key but there were certainly reasons to be optimistic about his performance.
The number 28 almost scored, for one thing. Carvalho did have the ball in the net following a through ball from Naby Keita in the first half, but their timing was a little awry, meaning the former was offside. Nonetheless, with his record of a goal every 211 minutes played this season, only Mohamed Salah (137), Darwin Nunez (139) and Roberto Firmino (153) have better records.
He offered a creative presence too. In the ninth minute, the youngster and Thiago Alcantara combined in a press to win the ball in the final third. Carvalho then passed to Cody Gakpo, who had the Reds’ first shot on target of the match (and their only one on the night which was not converted).
Harvey Elliott’s superb goal followed shortly afterwards, with Carvalho playing a pass earlier in the move. Three minutes later he teed up Kostas Tsimikas for a drive which flashed over the crossbar, to take his shot involvement total to three; per OptaAnalyst, only Elliott and Gakpo (with four) had more and the former played the whole match where Carvalho got 66 minutes.
His key passes made it the first Liverpool game in which he created two chances. This was a big part of Carvalho’s game with Fulham last season, with only four players in the Championship assisting shots with a higher expected goal total (per FBRef).
At Wolves, he was also Liverpool’s joint-most fouled player, suffering two of the 10 infringements referee Andre Marriner decided the home side committed. The first occurred as he looked to launch a counter attack following a spell of pressure, the second when he beat reported Reds’ transfer target Ruben Neves to the ball to win a free-kick in a dangerous area.
Due to his diminutive 170cm stature, it will always be difficult for Carvalho to impose himself physically in the Premier League. But if he can pick up fouls then his presence can serve a purpose at both ends of the field.
As can his skills for being on hand to pick up loose balls. The seven recoveries he made at Molineux were only topped by Thiago, with eight. It matched Carvalho’s season's best (from the win at Rangers) and was way above his per 90 minutes average for the campaign. With most aspects of his game in decent order, Klopp is going to need some very compelling sporting reasons if he does not give the youngster more opportunities soon.
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