Thiago Alcantara

[Shooter in the Motor 7,887]

On 21/02/2021 at 00:43, Josef Svejk said:

Flop. Biggest disappointment to me (relative to expectations) since... Harry Kewell? 

 

I mean, he passes the ball effectively enough. Slowly. Without creating much. He doesn't look like scoring or contributing to dead ball situations. He gets stuck in, but usually out of position and off the pace, resulting in fouls and cards. 

 

It's unbelievably frustrating, because he's obviously talented. But I can't see it happening. Playing alongside a fit Henderson and Fabinho may save him yet. But I'd swap him for Alaba in a heartbeat... 

Keita surely has that accolade... 

[Bjornebye 26,622]

Sean Dundee

[Barrington Womble 9,225]

5 hours ago, Halcyon Days said:

Can we at least reserve judgement until we have something halfway resembling our first 11?

How close to a first XI does it need to be? There was 8 of what I would call our first XI that started the derby. Surely you can't expect him to only be successful if every single player is fit? In fact imo if every single player was fit he wouldn't start. So at what point can we judge him? 

[Barrington Womble 9,225]

2 hours ago, Shooter in the Motor said:

Keita surely has that accolade... 

Nah, thiago has been more of a disappointment, because he is supposedly a world class talent. Keita was only supposed to be on the way to that. Personally I think you could put morientes in the same bracket and as @Josef Svejk said, Kewell. 

[Josef Svejk 4,829]

1 hour ago, Barrington Womble said:

Nah, thiago has been more of a disappointment, because he is supposedly a world class talent. Keita was only supposed to be on the way to that. Personally I think you could put morientes in the same bracket and as @Josef Svejk said, Kewell. 

They're all contenders. But Thiago may turn it around. I doubt Keita will at this stage... 

[fungus 620]

Jesus, 10 games

[Halcyon Days 240]

2 hours ago, Barrington Womble said:

How close to a first XI does it need to be? There was 8 of what I would call our first XI that started the derby. Surely you can't expect him to only be successful if every single player is fit? In fact imo if every single player was fit he wouldn't start. So at what point can we judge him? 

You’ve just answered your own question. He shouldn’t be playing this amount of games and wasn’t brought in to be our saviour in the sense some fans are expecting right now. Just as too many fans were eulogising him over a couple of promising outings early on, we definitely shouldn’t be giving up on him as the wheels come off the entire system. The time to judge will be when we have a semblance of a squad to pick from again, unfortunately for the impatient fans out there this won’t be anytime soon.

[TheHowieLama 11,077]

2 hours ago, fungus said:

Jesus, 10 games

What are you asking for? Faith?!

[Josef Svejk 4,829]

3 hours ago, fungus said:

Jesus, 10 games

Players with much less experience have been judged far more quickly. 

 

Anyway, it's just a fucking opinion, often expressed in the heat of the moment, on a football forum. Why do people (other than you!) get so worked up about these things?

 

Some online strangers don't share my current opinion of whatever-the-fuck...

 

 

 

 

[Barrington Womble 9,225]

8 hours ago, Halcyon Days said:

You’ve just answered your own question. He shouldn’t be playing this amount of games and wasn’t brought in to be our saviour in the sense some fans are expecting right now. Just as too many fans were eulogising him over a couple of promising outings early on, we definitely shouldn’t be giving up on him as the wheels come off the entire system. The time to judge will be when we have a semblance of a squad to pick from again, unfortunately for the impatient fans out there this won’t be anytime soon.

I agree it's not ideal he's playing every game. I agree if he was no more than a squad player in a normal season, he'd probably be fine. He might also be like Shaq and minamino barely getting on the pitch. I would be shocked though if it was the intention of either the club or the player for him to come in as a squad player after he was in FIFA team of the year last year. 

9 hours ago, Josef Svejk said:

They're all contenders. But Thiago may turn it around. I doubt Keita will at this stage... 

I am weirdly looking forward to keita coming back. I'm not really sure why, probably because he's a little more direct than any of our midfield players (unless you count shaq as one of them). And I'm hoping this break we've given him has allowed his body to recover and maybe he won't fail quite so quickly and he'll see the season through. I've no real expectation though, but I've no real expectation of thiago either. I think thiago is just the wrong player for our team, keita has seemed afraid of the premier league since the moment he came in. Perhaps being needed for the 1st time since he's been at the club might change that mentality a little - but I think that's just me hoping it will, there's clearly no evidence for that. 

[Jennings 3,434]

“These kind of things are just bullshit, let me say it like that! They are just not right.”

[Baltar 896]

The complaints about Thiago are over the top. You could put a prime Messi or Maradona into this Liverpool team and even they'd struggle without the rest of our injured regulars. I'll judge Thiago only once he plays a good number of games alongside Henderson and Fabinho with VVD and Gomez at the back and Jota up front. 

[johnsusername 2,397]

6 minutes ago, Baltar said:

The complaints about Thiago are over the top. You could put a prime Messi or Maradona into this Liverpool team and even they'd struggle without the rest of our injured regulars. I'll judge Thiago only once he plays a good number of games alongside Henderson and Fabinho with VVD and Gomez at the back and Jota up front. 

The way things are going that'll be 2022, with some luck and a fair wind.

[Moo 716]

He has been poor so far however it is too soon to judge, but those suggesting he shouldn't be judged until he plays with specific midfielders are being too soft.  He needs time to settle in yes but if he's a good enough player he shouldn't have to wait until both Henderson and Fabinho are fit.  Wijnaldum has been as important as those two in our success so he should work out how to play with him and he should have the experience to guide Jones also.  I'd usually think half a season is enough under Klopp but due to the cluster fuck of this season he probably needs longer.  But he'd be dropped as soon as the other two are available (or if Jones gets some consistency) and have to learn on the training pitch like most other new players do.

[Bjornebye 26,622]

The only thing that does my head in about him is his penchant for leaving a foot in. A fair few times now I've been shaking my head after 20 minutes just waiting for him to get himself sent-off. His reactions with the refs will make him a target. 

[johnsusername 2,397]

I hope we kept the receipt.

[Moo 716]

Need the Scooby Doo gif with Thiago peeling his face off to reveal Jay Spearing.

[Barrington Womble 9,225]

Another poor performance from him tonight, but he wasn't the only one to be fair. But he's in our bottom 3 performers every match for me. Keita is fit. Milner is fit. Take him out for a while - or for at least 60 mins till keita breaks down. 

[Duff Man 1,724]

Reckon it's only fair to judge him next season when hopefully the team's more settled, but I do wonder if he's the right type of midfielder for the way we play.

[Stickman 7,546]

Last time I listen to Twitter over a player...

 

Got to be honest I hadn’t heard of him till we were linked with him but after reading and listening to everything about him I was expecting some sort of Xavi , Inesta type player who would dictate the pace and flow of every game with nobody able to lay a glove on him.

What I’m seeing is a guy who struggles every game and more often that not is slow and ponderous on the ball and like the rest of the team looks a yard off the pace.

As has been said maybe judge him next season but even last night we looked slightly better when he went off which admittedly isn’t saying much.

[johnsusername 2,397]

I just find it a bit odd that we're waiting for the perfect conditions for him to be any good. Klopp clearly loves him. 

[Daisy 29]

It is saying something when you'd rather see Keita play the next game. Jesus

[Barrington Womble 9,225]

45 minutes ago, johnsusername said:

I just find it a bit odd that we're waiting for the perfect conditions for him to be any good. Klopp clearly loves him. 

I've said many times on this thread, he seems to be the footballing version of a tropical fish. 

[Mark M 1,533]

8 hours ago, Duff Man said:

Reckon it's only fair to judge him next season when hopefully the team's more settled, but I do wonder if he's the right type of midfielder for the way we play.

The way we play now he’s perfect. 

[HolyHank 35]

I'm starting to think that he may be our Juan Seb Veron: World class player, mysteriously out of depth in the Prem.