Thiago Alcantara

[Bobby Hundreds]

That pass with the outside of his boot its absolutely disgusting.

[Leyton388]

The free kick where he lobs it over the,wall for Muller is amazing. Our front 3 are going to love him. 

[KMD7]

I think this signing changes everything.  No one in the fucking media (not that it ever really mattered) can hang on to the dubious claim that midfield is our weak point any more and still point to city being the best team in the league despite it being pretty fucking obvious that we've overtaken them.  We have no weaknesses in our starting 11 now and theres absolutely no doubt now that we're the best team in the league and probably the planet

[Johnlj]

Poor mans Christian Poulsen according to Hodgson.

[kop77]

 

[Arnaud]

1 hour ago, KMD7 said:

I think this signing changes everything.  No one in the fucking media (not that it ever really mattered) can hang on to the dubious claim that midfield is our weak point any more and still point to city being the best team in the league despite it being pretty fucking obvious that we've overtaken them.  We have no weaknesses in our starting 11 now and theres absolutely no doubt now that we're the best team in the league and probably the planet

Our midfield has never been a weakness, it has been the corner stone of our style, leaving creativity and assist to unproven young lads ..

 

Hendo was voted Press whatever player of the year ? Media darling ?

[KMD7]

2 minutes ago, Arnaud said:

Our midfield has never been a weakness, it has been the corner stone of our style, leaving creativity and assist to unproven young lads ..

 

Hendo was voted Press whatever player of the year ? Media darling ?

Plenty of pundits have claimed it to be a weakness in comparison to City. Plenty. Hendo is one midfielder and if we hadnt won the league he wouldn't have got a look in with the press.

[sir roger]

Comments decrying our midfield come from the sort of journalists who assume you could win the League and CL by buying the top priced 11 players on FM and throwing them on the pitch together.

[Section_31]

I think the comments on our midfield being our weak link have been fair to be honest, they barely score and we didn't have a lot of creativity, they're all grafters, they're fucking good at it but they're much of a muchness. You'd rarely get excited if we were a couple of goals down and we brought a midfielder on. 

 

This guy though is a different animal. He'll be able to control the pace of the game, slow it down and pick a pass as well as chip in with goals. We haven't had that since Alonso. I'm calling it now, he'll be our player of the year.

[Leyton388]

The only Midfielder at City I would have is KDB. 

[Bobby Hundreds]

Having someone central for teams to be really concerned about whilst also thinking whose watching Robertson, Mane whose watching Trent and Salah and what about Bobby can only be a good thing.

[Barrington Womble]

49 minutes ago, sir roger said:

Comments decrying our midfield come from the sort of journalists who assume you could win the League and CL by buying the top priced 11 players on FM and throwing them on the pitch together.

I do think because there's so much coverage of football, people need to find something to talk about and just saying "well Liverpool have hit nearly 200 points in 2 seasons, so are fucking amazing" doesn't make much of a conversation. So people pick at things like "the midfield isn't creative enough/scores enough goals and they're too dependent on assists from the full backs". Without thinking while city might have a really creative midfield, their full backs are fucking shit and not only contributed little going forward, contribute little going back. Our midfield is less creative than most title winning sides, but we're not an uncreative team, we make chances from other areas. The same people who claim our midfield isn't up to it are the same who say we're vulnerable to teams who sit in deep (or inevitably "low block" as they'd say to try and sound clever). Quickly forgetting nearly everybody defends deep against us at anfield and last season we won 18 out of 19 games and the one we didn't win was after we'd won the league anyway. 

 

Everyone needs to look for weaknesses in great teams when they're commentating on football because that's their job. The easy answer is pick on our midfield because it doesn't look like an indetikit league winning midfield. 

[3 Stacks]

The midfield is and has been good, but it was still easily the part of the team that could be improved the most in terms of quality. 

[Arnaud]

The midfield was not creative, but it was on purpose, it was built and used to create the right balance In the team.

[Duff Man]

4 hours ago, Bobby Hundreds said:

That pass with the outside of his boot its absolutely disgusting.

Pure filth.

[Baresi]

5 hours ago, Section_31 said:

I think the comments on our midfield being our weak link have been fair to be honest, they barely score and we didn't have a lot of creativity, they're all grafters, they're fucking good at it but they're much of a muchness. You'd rarely get excited if we were a couple of goals down and we brought a midfielder on. 

 

This guy though is a different animal. He'll be able to control the pace of the game, slow it down and pick a pass as well as chip in with goals. We haven't had that since Alonso. I'm calling it now, he'll be our player of the year.

He’ll be the player of the year. 

[Bobby Hundreds]

The midfield is only considered the weak link of the team because well look at the rest of the team. There's only VVDs partner you could debate.

[Joey8FrogsLegs]

2 hours ago, Arnaud said:

The midfield was not creative, but it was on purpose, it was built and used to create the right balance In the team.

This. Wijnaldum is the perfect example, the job he does in midfield is really special, even if it isn’t very spectacular, and not many players could around could do it better. This job is one of the main reasons our full backs are allowed to contribute as much in attack as they do. As seen for Holland Wijnaldum can and will produce both goals and assists when given more freedom. It’s all about the system and the balance, and just adding a more creative player doesnt automatically mean the team will be more creative, at least not without something else suffering.

 

That said I do think Thiago is a world class player, a great addition to the squad, and will offer something different.

[3 Stacks]

3 hours ago, Arnaud said:

The midfield was not creative, but it was on purpose, it was built and used to create the right balance In the team.

It's good to evolve, though. Our midfield has been good but it has had the weakness of being one-dimensional too often. Almost none of them are threats to be creative, and some of that is by design as you say but we needed new ways to buildup than through the fullbacks and we'll be able to do that now with more play through the middle.

[Barrington Womble]

5 hours ago, 3 Stacks said:

It's good to evolve, though. Our midfield has been good but it has had the weakness of being one-dimensional too often. Almost none of them are threats to be creative, and some of that is by design as you say but we needed new ways to buildup than through the fullbacks and we'll be able to do that now with more play through the middle.

No issue with evolving, but as @Arnaud and @Joey8FrogsLegs said, it was the strength of our team and it allowed others (such as the full backs) the freedom of the park. So it was never a weakness of the team, it did its job by design. Now we're going to change a bit with thiago but we might have to find some other things will have to change. 

[3 Stacks]

17 minutes ago, Barrington Womble said:

No issue with evolving, but as @Arnaud and @Joey8FrogsLegs said, it was the strength of our team and it allowed others (such as the full backs) the freedom of the park. So it was never a weakness of the team, it did its job by design. Now we're going to change a bit with thiago but we might have to find some other things will have to change. 

The midfield is not really a weakness but there's ample room to be more expansive and versatile. That's the point. Our attacking tactics these past few years have been brilliant but also undoubtedly one-dimensional. We don't have to change the way we play because we sign Thiago, it's just that now on top of what we already do, we have a midfielder who is as good as it gets in terms of building the play up. So now we're hard to defend on the flanks and through the middle. There's nothing teams can do. That's why he's a transformative signing.

 

And I don't think we need to change much either to stay solid. Thiago is one of the most accurate and busy passers in the world. If he helps us lose the ball less and have more possession, that's a very effective form of defending. Knock on wood he's fit and plays lots of games. 

 

 

[Barrington Womble]

1 minute ago, 3 Stacks said:

The midfield is not really a weakness but there's ample room to be more expansive and versatile. That's the point. Our attacking tactics these past few years have been brilliant but also undoubtedly one-dimensional. We don't have to change the way we play because we sign Thiago, it's just that now on top of what we already do, we have a midfielder who is as good as it gets in terms of building the play up. So now we're hard to defend on the flanks and through the middle. There's nothing teams can do. That's why he's a transformative signing.

 

And I don't think we need to change much either to stay solid. Thiago is one of the most accurate and busy passers in the world. If he helps us lose the ball and have more possession, that's a very effective form of defending. Knock on wood he's fit and plays lots of games. 

 

 

Well I think it remains to be seen if we change our style of play. I feel we almost certain we will. We're a team that likes to go from back to front as quickly as possible and often do this by bypassing the midfield. By the nature of going through thiago (which I assume we will), it will change how we play, likely slow us down in the process. We don't know what that impact will be on the rest of the team and the way we create chances. I think it's way too simplistic to think it's as easy as dropping in thiago for one of the normal midfield 3 and just because he has better attributes it means it just has to be better. 

[3 Stacks]

9 minutes ago, Barrington Womble said:

Well I think it remains to be seen if we change our style of play. I feel we almost certain we will. We're a team that likes to go from back to front as quickly as possible and often do this by bypassing the midfield. By the nature of going through thiago (which I assume we will), it will change how we play, likely slow us down in the process. We don't know what that impact will be on the rest of the team and the way we create chances. I think it's way too simplistic to think it's as easy as dropping in thiago for one of the normal midfield 3 and just because he has better attributes it means it just has to be better. 

You're not wrong, but it can be as simple as instead of van Dijk hitting diagonals, it will be Thiago dropping in between the CB's and doing it. Klopp's not totally going to change us into a team that builds up slowly. Jota signing is more evidence of that. It's not like he can't play any other way, but he's very much a direct, counter attacking player. Thiago can do whatever you ask him to, but he's another string to the bow. He'll allow us to be more dangerous through the middle and build up more deliberately if we want. 

[Tj hooker]

I know Klopp doesn't normally throw the new boys into the mix this early  but do you think he will change that and play him from.the off tomorrow? 

[Section_31]

Just now, Tj hooker said:

I know Klopp doesn't normally throw the new boys into the mix but do you think he will change that and play him from.the off tomorrow? 

Deffo, he's 29 and done it all in the game.