Thiago Alcantara

[Baltar]

Anyone that doubted his quality needed their heads examined. He's pure class.

[rubble-rouser]

9 minutes ago, Baltar said:

Anyone that doubted his quality needed their heads examined. He's pure class.

I’ve not doubted his quality. I have doubted his fit for this team and I still do up to a point, although he has been excellent recently.

 

There’s undoubtedly a shift from having a number of midfielders who are essentially interchangeable, can press and can cover one another and are equally comfortable anywhere in the midfield 3 - which broadly speaking we’ve had under Klopp - and having a player who needs to have a mate playing a ball-winner role alongside home in order to prosper. The evidence of recent weeks suggests that the trade-off may well be worth it, but what happens when Fabinho isn’t fit?

 

It’s good to have another option, and I’m more than happy for it to be option A. Fair play to him.

[Joey8FrogsLegs]

47 minutes ago, Baltar said:

Anyone that doubted his quality needed their heads examined. He's pure class.

This. It was all casual and lazy criticism. A lot of it factually incorrect.

 

Top class player, has been good in most games for is, and was brilliant yesterday. Him and Trent dictated the game yesterday and were head and shoulders above the rest. 

[joe_fishfish]

32 minutes ago, rubble-rouser said:

I’ve not doubted his quality. I have doubted his fit for this team and I still do up to a point, although he has been excellent recently.

 

There’s undoubtedly a shift from having a number of midfielders who are essentially interchangeable, can press and can cover one another and are equally comfortable anywhere in the midfield 3 - which broadly speaking we’ve had under Klopp - and having a player who needs to have a mate playing a ball-winner role alongside home in order to prosper. The evidence of recent weeks suggests that the trade-off may well be worth it, but what happens when Fabinho isn’t fit?

 

It’s good to have another option, and I’m more than happy for it to be option A. Fair play to him.

We sign another ball winning midfielder to replace Wijnaldum and this becomes less of an issue.

[TheHowieLama]

55 minutes ago, rubble-rouser said:

but what happens when Fabinho isn’t fit?

 

[3 Stacks]

24 minutes ago, Joey8FrogsLegs said:

This. It was all casual and lazy criticism. A lot of it factually incorrect.

 

Top class player, has been good in most games for is, and was brilliant yesterday. Him and Trent dictated the game yesterday and were head and shoulders above the rest. 

The worst part of the criticism, besides him being the sole reason we were not playing well obviously, was "he's not arsed". 

 

You'll struggle to find a player that is more arsed than this guy, honestly. Only thing I still want to know is why the hell he was left out twice against Madrid. That was still absolute lunacy and shook my faith a bit. 

[dockers_strike]

Thought the lad has looked a lot better in the last couple of games. He's not getting carded as often either.

[Joey8FrogsLegs]

45 minutes ago, joe_fishfish said:

We sign another ball winning midfielder to replace Wijnaldum and this becomes less of an issue.

Thiago makes four times as many tackles as Wijnaldum in the PL. He also makes more than twice as many interceptions. They win about the same amount of aerial duels, but Thiago is involved in more of those.

[Numero Veinticinco]

28 minutes ago, 3 Stacks said:

The worst part of the criticism, besides him being the sole reason we were not playing well obviously, was "he's not arsed". 

 

You'll struggle to find a player that is more arsed than this guy, honestly. Only thing I still want to know is why the hell he was left out twice against Madrid. That was still absolute lunacy and shook my faith a bit. 

Your faith in what? Klopp? Who won the league last season and the CL the ye are before? I mean, maybe he saw something you didn’t or just made a wrong call. I think he has faith in the bank at this point. 

[Ronnie Whelan]

Really impressive the last few weeks and beginning to look the world class player we hoped for when we signed him 

 

This year has been a clusterfuck, but the last few weeks, we have begun to resemble the team we love. Still not quite ourselves, but I'm going to feel a lot better going into the new season than I would have several weeks ago. A big part of that is Thiago. 

[Joey8FrogsLegs]

32 minutes ago, dockers_strike said:

Thought the lad has looked a lot better in the last couple of games. He's not getting carded as often either.

One of the many myths. He’s got 5 yellow cards in 33 games for us this season. 4 of those in the PL.

 

Stupid fouls in dangerous areas is another one. Which he made a few of. And which midfielder doesnt? Fabinho made a very poor challenge right outside our box towards the end of the first half yesterday. Gave away a needless free kick on a very dangerous position. He’s one of the best in the business in his position, but he still makes those on a regular basis. If Thiago does that there is a meltdown. You couldnt make it up. 

[3 Stacks]

11 minutes ago, Numero said:

Your faith in what? Klopp? Who won the league last season and the CL the ye are before? I mean, maybe he saw something you didn’t or just made a wrong call. I think he has faith in the bank at this point. 

Did I say Klopp? Where is this coming from haha? No, faith in why we signed Thiago.

[TheHowieLama]

I think the fact that he mistimed some challenges that were on the deck in the first few months made it an issue.

Don't mind a midfielder taking yellows tbh - he hasn't been run yet. 

[Numero Veinticinco]

7 minutes ago, 3 Stacks said:

Did I say Klopp? Where is this coming from haha? No, faith in why we signed Thiago.

You did not say Klopp, hence my questions. Thanks for clarifying. 

[Bjornebye]

Player of the year next year. 

[LFC 6 Times]

Probably lost in the chaos of yesterday a bit. But he was absolutely fantastic, that’s the player we knew we were buying.

 

He was playing a different sport out there. The guile and technique was a joy to behold. Going past players like they were cones, winning the ball back moving the ball quickly and with purpose.

 

Excellent the last month or so, bodes well for next season.

[Barrington Womble]

He's played about 20 games for us since he came back into the side. He's played well about twice. In his best game (yesterday against probably the worst midfield in the league), he dominated the game, but actually created little and we needed the goalie to score to win. It's absolutely inevitable this thread would be bumped with a "see he's fucking brilliant". He's been poor for most of his time here. Even players like Shaq and keita have the odd good game, it's just the law of averages. I've seen nothing that suggests he's a good fit for us. He'd probably be great playing down the 62 for ADC. 

[TheHowieLama]

4 minutes ago, Barrington Womble said:

He's played about 20 games for us since he came back into the side. He's played well about twice. In his best game (yesterday against probably the worst midfield in the league), he dominated the game, but actually created little and we needed the goalie to score to win. It's absolutely inevitable this thread would be bumped with a "see he's fucking brilliant". He's been poor for most of his time here. Even players like Shaq and keita have the odd good game, it's just the law of averages. I've seen nothing that suggests he's a good fit for us. He'd probably be great playing down the 62 for ADC. 

Yea, on the owners this one. FSG my fat ass.

Signing a world class experienced player on high wages. WTF?? Very clever.

[Barrington Womble]

1 minute ago, TheHowieLama said:

Yea, on the owners this one. FSG my fat ass.

Signing a world class experienced player on high wages. WTF?? Very clever.

What are you talking about? Are you suggesting I'm blaming the owners? They'd be the last people to blame as they don't know a footballer from a mouse mat. 

 

He's just not the right fit. He won't be the 1st top class player not to work out somewhere. It happens. 

[VERBAL DIARRHEA]

He can be very good next season. Hopefully we can strengthen midfield more getting rid of Keita and Chamberlain in the process.

[m0e]

9 minutes ago, Barrington Womble said:

He's played about 20 games for us since he came back into the side. He's played well about twice. In his best game (yesterday against probably the worst midfield in the league), he dominated the game, but actually created little and we needed the goalie to score to win. It's absolutely inevitable this thread would be bumped with a "see he's fucking brilliant". He's been poor for most of his time here. Even players like Shaq and keita have the odd good game, it's just the law of averages. I've seen nothing that suggests he's a good fit for us. He'd probably be great playing down the 62 for ADC. 

There is a legitimate case that he's shown more quality in the last two games than Keita and Shaq have in their entire time here combined.

 

Also, Wijnaldum, Henderson and Fabinho largely do fuck all against the worst midfields in the league.

 

That's why he's here, and that's why he's going to be instrumental next year.

 

I'm 100% convinced now.

[Bobby Hundreds]

I've shown more quality than Keita the fucking heritage market shown more quality than Keita!

[3 Stacks]

I don't think there's much point quoting Barry in this thread anymore. 

[Joey8FrogsLegs]

24 minutes ago, Barrington Womble said:

He's played about 20 games for us since he came back into the side. He's played well about twice. In his best game (yesterday against probably the worst midfield in the league), he dominated the game, but actually created little and we needed the goalie to score to win. It's absolutely inevitable this thread would be bumped with a "see he's fucking brilliant". He's been poor for most of his time here. Even players like Shaq and keita have the odd good game, it's just the law of averages. I've seen nothing that suggests he's a good fit for us. He'd probably be great playing down the 62 for ADC. 

Your posts are often a good read Barry, and I reckon  you do know your football. But on the subject of Thiago you’ve for some reason resorted to pure trolling. I accept that you have a different opinion on him than me, which is fair enough, but your posts in this thread is just a waste of time.

[Barrington Womble]

29 minutes ago, m0e said:

There is a legitimate case that he's shown more quality in the last two games than Keita and Shaq have in their entire time here combined.

 

Also, Wijnaldum, Henderson and Fabinho largely do fuck all against the worst midfields in the league.

 

That's why he's here, and that's why he's going to be instrumental next year.

 

I'm 100% convinced now.

That Gini, Henderson and fabinho (plus the others who came in and out) midfield lost 4 games (2 of which were dead rubbers) across 2 seasons and amassed nearly 200 points and exceeded twice our best points tally in the history of the club. I reckon they did just fine against all types of opposition. So the idea they did largely fuck all is nonsense.