liked for your second para… he’s a deep lying playmaker… and he’s a great in that… he just needs a devastating striker like suarez etc for liverpool to get the benefits. Salah , as great as he is , isn’t a natural goal scorer…-
1 Like
To be honest, I was referring to his injury record prior to joining Liverpool. It’s still a big ask of him to play 30(+) league matches, though not being assaulted by an Everton thug would certainly help!
I kind of hoped he would be that deep lying playmaker but after seeing what he can do further forward, with Fabinho watching his back, I think I’ll accept that as his new role - as long as he’s fit and playing like he has over the past two months.
2 Likes
Only thing bad about Thiago is that he makes me remember Xabi Alonso. 
2 Likes
That’s where a double pivot in the midfield suits him the most. either a 4-2-3-1 or a 3-4-3 … He’s gonna be the most crucial player for liverpool the next season,
1 Like
some of his moves are so xabiesque
2 Likes
There’s so much in his singing and his guitaring that i could diss… but then he’s singing about thiago…
2 Likes
The fans were singing his name today too. 
3 Likes
And a few of our followers who also questioned him
4 Likes
He’ll be the PFA player of the season next year.
1 Like
6 Likes
What’s your guys rating on his first season with us? I’ll either go 6.5 or 7/10.
1 Like
I could agree with that seven
3 Likes
Don’t forget Hendo. Them 2-3 central midfielders will probably battle with that new CM signing + other midfielders. We didn’t see enough of the Fabinho, Hendo and Thiago (at LCM) partnership. Maybe back to that unfortunate Everton away game.
2 Likes
I just couldn’t put a number on it. I feel the injury he suffered at the hands of that bitter made his task extremely difficult. His efforts defensively when he came back were OTT in the sense he was trying too hard. We can now see that he has calmed down and is in fact very good at picking up second balls (created mainly by Fabs the DM he wasn’t able to play with often enough) but other contributions as well. I also think he needs to be positioned more to the left to help his passing accuracy even so his passing is great particularly in this run in where his passing to Trent and Robbo became more conservative.
One can not tell what would have happened if that injury hadn’t happened but he’s no injury prone player (appears quite tough to me). During the run in he came into his own and if I were to give him a number it would be from what I saw during this time and it would be 8 or 81/2 definitely our most consistent and best player over these last games.
I just feel he is showing us the promise so many where expecting (not me of course I didn’t know anything about him living in my cave in my LFC shell).
2 Likes
To be fair he was underwhelming will all the praises before he came.
But in the last 10 games or so, he has become more influential and assert his authority in the areas where he is good in. I have earlier said that in order for Thiago to play to the best of his strengths, you need the other midfielder who can run and run and cover all the spaces. Because Thiago is not at his best when you require him to run and run from left to right, top to bottom like Hendo and Gini does just to hound players down. Don’t get me wrong, he has that attitude to win balls back and is hardworking enough, but probably does not have that stamina to do that in long stretches of the game, so I am excited to see him this coming season because I think he is just gonna get better and better.
6 Likes
Agreed. Think it was disappointing given the hype. I had never watched the lad before and I was nearly expecting some Kevin De Bruyne type player. He was average at first, played in defensive mid but couldn’t tackle so I was disappointed. Was out for a good chunk with injury so I was dissatisfied. But then last 8 or so games Ive seen a brilliant footballer, hopefully he can have a healthy 2021/22 season with the lads and we can see his best.
2 Likes
He needed to settle, god knows how he flipped the switch on those tackles.
They were dreadful. Now he looks settled and I think he has been in my top 3 players in pretty much all of the last 10 he played.
3 Likes
All this saying that Thiago can’t tackle and can’t run, I bet his stats show something a lot different, his ball recoveries would IMO be the highest on average in our team and that’s without me seeing stats.
But hey ho the pundits said things and people believed them.
He came in to his pomp at the end because our players got used to him and against CP & Burnley the interplay down the right between Trent, Thiago & Mo was pure filth.
7 Likes
No, no, I definitely expect Hendo to make that third spot but I guess I’m being extra careful with his fitness (that and hoping that Klopp and Edwards will sort out the midfield options in the summer, maybe there will be someone who will properly challenge him and Alcantara). I really wish he and Alcantara would sit out the Euros and come back for the pre-season, though, but that’s me being selfish.
1 Like
Yes, he has been great the last few games. Before that, and by his own admission, he had not been great. Pretty underwhelming I’d say although you could say that about the whole team up until that point.
His fitness was carefully managed. He missed a lot of games where you would think he was an obvious starter and taken off when he was playing OK but I’m guessing the injury from the Richarlison assault took a long time for him to fully recover from. I’ve no problem with JK being careful with him this season if it means he’s fully fit and ready to go next because we clearly have a top class player on our hands here. One of the many reasons to expect we will do much better next season.
3 Likes