It’s worth remembering that not all of his absences were due to being an injury prone player. Only 2 games into his Liverpool career he sustained a knee injury that would keep him out for months after being on the end of a terrible red card challenge from Richarlison in the Van Dijk Everton game. It’s one of those possible sliding door moments that leaves you wondering if he could have avoided some of those latter nagging injuries if he’d not spent the early part of his time here chasing fitness after a 3 month absence and instead was allowed to build on his pre-season work.
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One of the greatest strikes you will ever see. From the original angle it looks like a computer game. From the reverse angle it doesnt seem to follow the laws of physics
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True. 2000 mins sprinkled over the season and 2000 mins in 2-3 chunks are totally different things.
Years from now, there will be scientific studies costing millions to finally conclude the greatest question of our time. Did it touch the ground?
There’s still a scorch mark in the turf following the line of that shot. The grass does not grow there anymore.
Future generations will talk of dragons and lightning.
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In all seriousness, for me he was an absolute joy to watch. There are, in my opinion very few players of that calibre. Such a shame we didnt get to see more if it.
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I never understood the reverence Chelsea fans had for Zola. He was undoubtedly a very good player, but it always felt like at Chelsea he was elevated to a level above who he was - a peer to the likes of Baggio and Del Piero rather than a back up to them. But he arrived the year I moved to the states and I didnt get to watch very much english football, so what I missed was the experienced of it. I’ve had Chelsea fans explain it to me and it never landed…until we started seeing Thiago play for us.
Caveat, I think Thiago was a level above Zola
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I think for me the true regret would be that he seemed like he genuinely wanted to be here, but it just didn’t work out for him.
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He was great with and without the ball, I always knew how comfortable he was in possession but it was his tenacity and ball winning that impressed me.
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Thiago was a mistake. If he wouldn’t come except with a 4 year 250k contract we should have said nah. Think with Klopp gone we will finally be more ruthless with underperforming sick notes.
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Thought I remembered reading somewhere that he came here on lower wages than he was being offered elsewhere?
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I think Zola was a smashing player. Him being ignored by the Italian national team coaches was criminal , especially seeing as how Italy struggled to score goals.
A very Maradona’esque player and the only blemish on his career is the fact that he signed for Chelsea. He would have been an adored signing for any club.
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Glad for him. He’s had a good career although his time at Liverpool was more of a retirement one (especially the last season).
Hope he does well in the future.
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The game will be poorer without him.
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Give me a training clip of a 5v2 or v whatever rondo:
Thiago, Gundo, Frenkie, Pedri and Gavi.
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