Thiago - The real deal
- Thread starter Dreambeliever
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He’s more like Xavi than Xabi in all honesty - playing in a midfield without Busquets and Iniesta to complement him and a team suddenly unsure whether they need to strangle teams with patient possession football or be direct and aggressive. But maybe they are starting to figure this out; if you had watched the Leipzig game, I think you would agree that Thiago played well and was useful.
I meant neglecting Gini in terms of giving him the contract he deserves.
Yes. I was really surprised to see what he's on. He deserves more and the calculations for a 4 yr contract make sense anyway.
He was always Xabi than Gerrard. Gerrard could run 50 yards, and beat 4 or 5 players. Thiago is not that. If we can sell Kieta, may be Klopp can get a taller more robust box-box MF.
You don’t think Jones holds onto the ball too long? I have high hopes for him, he’s obviously super talented, but he slows things down by holding on too long far far more than Thiago.
Nah tomodachi, Jones is a cho baller. I love watching him. Every game he just gets better and better.
Sorry but any Liverpool fan going along with Redcafe about anything needs to have a VERY serious word with themselves.
Spanish Lee Catermerole...I tried my hardest not to find it funny... And but I can't unsee it now
That is a very telling chart.
I watched Thiago (again - since I have an obvious affinity for the man's class) very closely against Chelsea. His passing was one touch or two touches and mostly forwards and almost always to feet (and two superb passes 15-20m forwards whilst going to ground under pressure - out of defence), very rarely more than that. Compared to Gini, Jones, Mane, Robbo etc. who often took 4-5 touches before offloading. And it seems it's Thiago slowing us down .. sheesh.
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Yeah but he holds on to get past players not holding on to slow thongs down. I doubt he even has any mastery of slowing a game down yet.
Not talking about intentionally slowing the game down. Some players are super quick (think past Barca players, Man City players, 80s LFC players, Gerrard, etc) and realize that moving the ball quickly in a counter situation is far better than running with the ball on your own.
At the moment I don’t think Jones is there, but I’m hopeful it can be coached into him.
You do make it obvious what you're really thinking about sometimes.
brilliant stats there. Just proves what we have been saying all the time. Fabinho in midfield is must and at the same time just stick to the frricking Nat-Kabak partnership. People need to get over this fact of Fabinho in defence, ever changing and chopping that back line. It not only gives us headache in defence and has direct influence on our attack
It was genuinely a treat to watch the two of them dominate midfield. Two world class midfielders in tandem. The question is what type of third midfielder would complement them; although this might change from game to game. Winning that midfield battle takes so much pressure off the centre backs.
Yeah he was brilliant last night and that's where his industry is ok. When he's trying to be the DM he just doesn't have the natural defensive reading of the game like Fabinho does, but to give him his due he does get stuck in and break up opposition attacks, he can just do that more as a process of chipping in to help the midfield, than being the one the defensive onus is on.
He was great anyway, let off the leash and he played some brilliant balls, linking well with Salah in particular.
He was great anyway, let off the leash and he played some brilliant balls, linking well with Salah in particular.
If Gini leaves, I think a purchase of Bissouma gives us great options in regards to which teams we play and which players are available.
Going on the stats from Binny's post (below) :
..................... Fabinho
...................................... Thiago
................ Keita
All three have good to great defensive stats and would be a nightmare for most teams' midfields, then Keita and Thiago (and even Fabs) provide the ammunition for the front three.
I remember the infamous game at Everton which was the first time we got to see Thiago and Fabinho play in midfield together..........who knew it would also be the last time until last night! The Everton game was very disappointing (I would have said "hugely disappointing" but at that stage we didn't know how bad VVD's injury was) dropping 2 points, the late equaliser for Everton, the even later disallowed winner by Hendo etc BUT the Thiago/Fabinho fulcrum blew me away to the extent that overall I was more than happy after the game.
You can have top level CM'ers who complement each other's game Gerrard/Alonso, Keane/Scholes, Lampard/Essien etc but it's very rare to find a top level CM'er pairing whose talents seem to perfectly gel and they play as a pair..........the best examples are Viera/Petit and Xavi/Iniesta (I know Busquets/Xavi was ostensibly the CM but in practice Busquets dropped back and Iniesta drifted towards the centre.
I know it was only 90 minutes (against Everton) but Fab & Thiago gelled from the 1st minute, had an uncanny understanding when in possession; hunted for the ball as a pair when not in possession and seemed to really enjoy playing together.
Last night we witnessed more of the same although with slightly added pressure as they were having to protect an inexperienced CB pair. I could be wrong (I rarely am 🙂 but I think this partnership has the potential to be the best in Europe.
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