Jurgen Klopp says he has no doubt in Fabinho's quality maintaining the midfielder needed time to blend
Following his arrival to Liverpool from Monaco in the summer, Fabinho did not make his debut until mid-September when he came off the bench in the 89th minute of the Champions League opener against Paris St Germain.
Since then he has made two further outings as a substitute and one start, in Liverpool's Carabao Cup defeat to Chelsea.
The Brazilian was offered a full 90min show in Wednesday's Champions League clash with Red Star Belgrade at Anfield with Jorda Henderson and Naby Keita both out injured.
Prior to Liverpool's 4-0 win over Reds Star Belgrade, Jurgen Klopp was asked if it could be a chance for Fabinho to start on Wednesday night, the Red boss replied: "It's his birthday [on Tuesday] by the way, so it would be a nice present, eh?
"I didn't make the line-up for tomorrow, how we will start, but of course it is very important for us that he's now been here for a few months, got used to all the things.
"[He has had to] adapt to the style of play.
"If you watch Fabinho playing at Monaco, [he was] full of confidence. You come to a new club and it depends a bit on your personality.
"He's not the loudest person on the planet, it's not that he's come in and said 'sit down all of you and I'll explain to you how we played at Monaco because we were in Champions League semi-final the year before and became French champions'.
"He is looking, watching and it always takes a little bit of time. That's how it is. But on the pitch, he is back now and that's good. So, all fine."
"No doubt about Fabinho's quality. "You only have to watch a few YouTube videos of him, the summaries - I don't know which season of Monaco but it's not too important because he was good in all of them.
"You see all the qualities. Hard challenger, good in one-on-one situations, offensively, defensively quick, good shooter, fantastic set-pieces, good header, all these things. Strategically good in the right moment.
"But, in a different system, and a different way we play, just different, and that's what then always needs time to adapt, that's all."