Thiago Alcantara

[Captain Howdy 1,912]

He’s clearly out and given we now only have a half fit Fabinho I think you would have to think Madrid are now favourites. This is a hammer blow

[stringvest 14,148]

Gutted if true.  

[an tha 8,432]

6 minutes ago, stringvest said:

he's irreplaceable.  The drop off from him to everyone else bar Fabinho is massive.

Our squad is fucking boss....but our midfield back up is IMO our one area where we can and need to really improve.

[3 Stacks 3,405]

18 minutes ago, Captain Howdy said:

He’s clearly out and given we now only have a half fit Fabinho I think you would have to think Madrid are now favourites. This is a hammer blow

Yeah, if they manage to slow the game down with Modric and Kroos and we fail in pressing them, we'll be in massive trouble. Our midfield will have to be perfect as we won't have the technical quality to match them. 

 

It's why we need to buy a more technical player in midfield. The Tchouameni and Sangare stuff is a bit weird stylistically.

[Joey8FrogsLegs 1,048]

1 hour ago, Baltar said:

Really worrying. If Fabinho is also out for Saturday then we are totally fucked in midfield. 

Hard to disagree. I rate Keita more than most on here, but he’s more efficient when we boss games and push the opposition deep into their own half. 
 

Fabinho and Thiago are the only top class midfielders we have, and without them we’re not the same team.

[gkmacca 1,396]

2 hours ago, Baltar said:

Really worrying. If Fabinho is also out for Saturday then we are totally fucked in midfield. 

Why this desperation to call him unfit fot the final? Klopp said he'd be okay for the final over a week ago. Hopefully the players will retain more belief than some of the fans on here. 

 

 

 

Fabinho has now ruled himself fit for the Champions League final in Paris.

“Yes, I will be there... to play,” he told AS . “We are working and recovering to be ready for that final. I am very calm and very confident that I will be there, so we have to keep working and resting to be at the best physical level for May 28.”

[an tha 8,432]

If you look at the games when we dropped pts this season they are nearly all when our midfield had to rely on the back up players....

 

Chelsea 1-1 - Elliott, Fabinho, Henderson

Brentford 3-3 - Jones, Fabinho, Henderson

Man City 2-2 - Jones, Fabinho, Henderson

Brighton 2-2 - Keita, Henderson, Jones

West Ham 2-3 - Oxlade, Fabinho, Henderson

Tottenham 2-2 - Morton, Milner, Keita

Leicester 0-1 - Oxlade, Fabinho, Henderson

Chelsea 2-2 - Milner, Fabinho, Henderson

 

The two recent draws with Man City and Tottenham are the only 2 of the 10 games we have dropped pts in where the 3 is Thiago, Fabinho, Henderson

 

In short when we start a 3 of Thiago, Fabinho and Henderson we almost always win, when Thiago is missing and or we have to field the back up/when we are making changes in there we win less.

 

It is a real blow we can't start that 3 in the biggest game of them all.

[TheDrowningMan 720]

18 minutes ago, an tha said:

If you look at the games when we dropped pts this season they are nearly all when our midfield had to rely on the back up players....

 

Chelsea 1-1 - Elliott, Fabinho, Henderson

Brentford 3-3 - Jones, Fabinho, Henderson

Man City 2-2 - Jones, Fabinho, Henderson

Brighton 2-2 - Keita, Henderson, Jones

West Ham 2-3 - Oxlade, Fabinho, Henderson

Tottenham 2-2 - Morton, Milner, Keita

Leicester 0-1 - Oxlade, Fabinho, Henderson

Chelsea 2-2 - Milner, Fabinho, Henderson

 

The two recent draws with Man City and Tottenham are the only 2 of the 10 games we have dropped pts in where the 3 is Thiago, Fabinho, Henderson

 

In short when we start a 3 of Thiago, Fabinho and Henderson we almost always win, when Thiago is missing and or we have to field the back up/when we are making changes in there we win less.

 

It is a real blow we can't start that 3 in the biggest game of them all.

Silver Lining: Doesn’t look as though we’ve dropped any points with a three of Fabinho, Keita & Henderson…

[Nelly-Matip 8,489]

Curtis Jones is due one of his long range efforts flying into the top corner. 
 

Just saying…

[Mil-ing Around 417]

1 hour ago, 3 Stacks said:

Yeah, if they manage to slow the game down with Modric and Kroos and we fail in pressing them, we'll be in massive trouble. Our midfield will have to be perfect as we won't have the technical quality to match them. 

 

It's why we need to buy a more technical player in midfield. The Tchouameni and Sangare stuff is a bit weird stylistically.

I think either of those players is to replace Henderson/Wijnaldums legs that we missed this season. Could also add Kieta into that too, we just can't cover the ground in midfield to press anymore.

 

I reckon we are going to use a mix of Elliot and Carvalho to cover the technical ability we lose when Thiago is out. Either that or we are buying two midfielders this summer (I hope)

[Baltar 1,049]

At the risk of signing like a broken record - we really needed to replace Wijnaldum. He had flaws but he was available for every single game. Difficult to replace that consistency that Wijnaldum provided without going into the transfer market.

[TheHowieLama 13,004]

Wijnaldum - fuckin hell man.

[3 Stacks 3,405]

18 minutes ago, Mil-ing Around said:

I think either of those players is to replace Henderson/Wijnaldums legs that we missed this season. Could also add Kieta into that too, we just can't cover the ground in midfield to press anymore.

 

I reckon we are going to use a mix of Elliot and Carvalho to cover the technical ability we lose when Thiago is out. Either that or we are buying two midfielders this summer (I hope)

Yeah, I think that's the strategy, but Carvalho and Elliott are so young and unproven. If one of them breaks out, we'll be in a good spot, but that's never a given.

[DJLJ 562]

Any update on his injury yet?

[Section_31 25,122]

No Fabinho or Thiago leaves us with a Villa level midfield. The thought of Keita wandering around like he's just survived an armoured car heist is, frankly, terrifying. 

 

 

 

[Jairzinho 25,369]

4 minutes ago, Section_31 said:

No Fabinho or Thiago leaves us with a Villa level midfield. The thought of Keita wandering around like he's just survived an armoured car heist is, frankly, terrifying. 

 

 

 

 

Henderson/Keita/Milner, which presumably is what would get picked, isn't good enough to be playing against Real Madrid.

 

If neither can play...fuck knows. Just have Milner and Henderson sit and play Bobby as a number 10? No idea, I don't get the feeling we'd be tactically flexible enough and it isn't exactly ideal trialling it in a European Cup final against the biggest club in the world. But the aforementioned three won't have the legs to press against them anyway. 

 

Not good. We need Fabinho to play.

 

 

[chrisbrand 76]

"Thiago has an Achilles problem. The problem is not serious but he will need to respond to treatment quickly this week" according to Paul Joyce. 

[Trumo 16,190]

5 minutes ago, chrisbrand said:

"Thiago has an Achilles problem. The problem is not serious but he will need to respond to treatment quickly this week" according to Paul Joyce. 

 

That makes more sense given his last play before limping off. It was a crossfield ball to Trent that he completely shanked into the Lower Kenny. Granted, Trent was more in-field than he needed to be to receive a pass, but the pass was extremely wayward anyway.

[MegadriveMan 1,278]

Hopefully we can get 45 to 60 minutes out of him. its our last game and as it's five subs in Europe, it would make sense to try it if there's any possibility of him being fit.  

[TheDrowningMan 720]

I’m shocked he’s in with a chance. 

[coachpotato 695]

Pump him full of Morphine, PED’s, Guinness, anything, and send him out there, he can have the whole of the summer to recover, but we need to have our best players, playing at their best, against Madrid on Saturday.

 

[Captain Howdy 1,912]

3 hours ago, Section_31 said:

No Fabinho or Thiago leaves us with a Villa level midfield. The thought of Keita wandering around like he's just survived an armoured car heist is, frankly, terrifying. 

 

 

 

Keita can’t be anywhere near this game.

[lifetime fan 12,575]

9 minutes ago, coachpotato said:

Pump him full of Morphine, PED’s, Guinness, anything, and send him out there, he can have the whole of the summer to recover, but we need to have our best players, playing at their best, against Madrid on Saturday.

 

The only problem would be if he ended up rupturing his achilles in the final. Hopefully he hasn't got a small tear and it was just a knock to it. 

[Barrington Womble 10,946]

18 minutes ago, lifetime fan said:

The only problem would be if he ended up rupturing his achilles in the final. Hopefully he hasn't got a small tear and it was just a knock to it. 

It just sounds to me like we know he's not playing, but we're not helping Madrid with their planning. 

[Daisy 20]

Just now, Barrington Womble said:

It just sounds to me like we know he's not playing, but we're not helping Madrid with their planning. 

Reckon thats it