This, exactly. 
And I think a lot of the criticism he gets is due to unawareness about his role/skill.
His movements and positioning will block one of the channels for opposition attacks. But he isnโt a DM (or one of those CM) who can intimidate with their crunching tackles. He will not rake up assists because he isnโt an AM. But his pass will rattle the opposition, create spaces for that killer pass from someone else.
I think criticism of Thiago should not lay any doubts on his world class abilities but actually its more about the balance of the team. The midfield trio, Hendo, Gini, Fab, that won us everything was not world class on paper but yet gave us that critical balance. TAA and Robbo could attack with abandon because they know Hendo and Gini will run all day to cover their asses and failing which, Fab is there. Thiago for all his vision just struggles to keep up with runners and he jumps into tackles. That is not his fault, its just the kind of player he is and he does give his all. But that is also why you see TAA and Robbo having tentative runs upfront because they are not so sure anymore.
Of course, Thiago is hardly a problem, our problem is having so many options out that Klopp never had a chance to try to find that balance with Thiago in the side.
I look forward to next season when hopefully we have better luck with injuries and we can see the full extent of Thiagoโs impact for us.
Donโt think anyone on T.I.A. was more against this signing than me.
Now we have him and if Iโm trying to defend our player Iโm saying jury is still out on him. We wonโt see him at his best without our best CBs and Henderson in the side.
But the harsh truth is that without them we are getting NOTHING from him.
Iโd clearly drop him for the next few PL games.
Could be said about a fair few of them but you are right, Iโd probably play him in Europe but not against Fulham.
Can we afford to drop him as Gini is really poor at the moment as well and deserves dropping. Also I think Thiago could be good for CL games so keeping him match fit is surely to our advantage.
I wonder if Keita could play 60 mins here and there?
6 minutes would be a start.
Better than Gini again though.
Getting more out of him than anyone else currently playing in our midfield other than Jones. Some of our players heโs passing to in dangerous situations are showing awful ball control when trying to receive his passes.
Letโs have a serious conversation about Thiago. Just honest conversation. Name callers, histrionics, and sarcastic replies not necessary.
I get the sense that not many Liverpool supporters actually watched Thiago play for Bayern before he came here. Iโm not saying the supporters here at TAN, just in general, around the socials and so forth. I literally cringed when I read a lot of the stuff people were writing on the socials bc the player we were getting was not at all who many thought we were getting and Iโm not sure where or how that all started. What was expected of him by many of our supporters is not who he is or ever was. He is literally the same player here that he was Bayern.
Is Thiago world class? Iโm asking genuinely how anyone feels, Yes or no. Is he world class? World class players make those around them better. They make the side better, they make the tactics better. They donโt need player x, y, z to be in place to make their own game better. I donโt buy that. Even a little bit. Thiago makes no one around him better. Heโs just another guy. And if he needs better players in place around him to make his own game work, what in the world does that say about him?
Heโs not been deployed in any special or unique way here at Liverpool. Heโs just been a garden variety 6. Maybe an 8? Where is all of his creativity and passing in breaking down low block sides that was so heavily touted. The reality is he never really did that at the end of his time at Bayern either. He had what, 6 or so assists his last 2 seasons there?
IMO it was a really odd signing for our club. 4 year deal for a 29yo at ยฃ192k/wk wages is a fairly significant deal. My guess is he was brought in to replace Gini 1:1 and do that particular job, but heโs a misfit piece at the moment and he does not at all makes us a better side nor does he make us tougher to play against. That is not a critique, itโs an observation.
I think he was bought to play with Henderson and they havenโt yet had a minute together in the middle I donโt think.
Again another one that we will probably see the best of next season.
Agreed.
I think that the idea was to have a midfield trio of Thiago and Henderson in front of Fabinho, but that plan obviously went tits up this season.
Our players would also need to have greater off the ball movement for Thiago to have an impact. Our front 3 especially used to be very fluid and this dragged the opponents all over the pitch. Now, they seem to play it safe and Thiago has hardly anyone to pick up.
Iโve actually seen Thiago Fizz in some great balls that would really open up the opposition but Mane and Firmino are in awful form and the balls arenโt brought under control, misplaced, run ahead of them etc. itโs been disappointing as theyโve been times when the opening was there if the ball was brought under control. Or itโs gone to Gini who has resisted the temptation of the opening the ball was to exploit/create and slowed played down looking for someone to recycle the ball too. Thereโs a time and a place for ball recycling but it seems all Gini does anymore.
Fixed it for you.
The Bobby/Sadio bashing to distract from Salahs poor form is getting embarrassing. 
Salah has been receiving the ball fine actually. Itโs not bashing, theyโre in awful form. Theyโve got lower than 1 goal every 4 games scoring rates. Same on assists. Everything they try to do these days seems to go wrong.
Some of Thiagoโs vertical balls are really good world class the problem is the recieving player doesnโt know how to use it as they are so used to silly soft passes from Gini.
His longer balls to the flanks are wank mind, too floated, however I have noticed he is cutting that out more and more playing better balls that TAA and Robbo can actually use.
Defensively he tries hard but ends up doing boggall. Along side Gini thatโs just not good enough. I feel here he should calm down a bit get back and try reading the game, put Milner alongside him rather than Gini imo would help. Gini is best at getting onto the 2nd ball (and shies away from the physical side of the game) Thiago just doesnโt provide 2nd balls so Gini Thiago pairing just hasnโt any balance.
He could be a good player for us but coming from the Bundesliga worried me a lot and that worry has been confirmed heโs a long way to go to be effective for us in the EPL.
That sounds so much like our whole playing squad at the moment (except infront of goal) a decent action here and there and nothing stringing together. Wish it would end, I had such high hopes after beating SU but we canโt carry good things on.
I was totally fine with his Chelsea performance, thought he was one of our rare players who found really good passes between the lines. Probably our best player when I was thinking at HT, had a look at his numbers and it was confirmed to me that heโs playing well. The double-six we played in possession is more what he was used to at Bayern. No doubt heโll be an important player for us next season. Hopefully has an injury-free summer with Euroโs and all that.
Might be given a rest tomorrow, he had his best game for us in the first away leg. 