Thiago Alcantara

[joe_fishfish]

How holding talks about a player we've already signed can save LFC millions.

[DalyanPete]

3 hours ago, Halcyon Days said:

Headline in today’s clickbait Echo.

 

 

I used to buy the Echo night.

One twat of a website. 

[Halcyon Days]

8 hours ago, DalyanPete said:

I used to buy the Echo night.

One twat of a website. 

Same here but now it’s pure aids 

[DalyanPete]

1 hour ago, Halcyon Days said:

Same here but now it’s pure aids 

I don't miss it.

I get everything I need on here.

News, fights, arguments, straighteners, abuse and beans.

[Joey8FrogsLegs]

4-0, great goal.

 

Genius pass from Mo, good run and cross from Henderson and cool finish by Mane. But not least excellent pressing by Diaz gave us the chance in the first place. Brilliant.

[Halcyon Days]

43 minutes ago, DalyanPete said:

I don't miss it.

I get everything I need on here.

News, fights, arguments, straighteners, abuse and beans.

If the Echo was a full English it would definitely be beanless and come with brown bread.

[DalyanPete]

17 minutes ago, Halcyon Days said:

If the Echo was a full English it would definitely be beanless and come with brown bread.

You know your breakfast shit man.

[Scott_M]

[Bjornebye]

Sublime footballer. 

[Halcyon Days]

1 minute ago, DalyanPete said:

You know your breakfast shit man.

Bacon, egg, sausage, mushrooms, black pudding, beans, brown sauce, white bread buttered, tea. Get the magical elements wrong, coffee for tea, red sauce over brown, a hash brown American piece of shit over black pudding etc and it’s fucked, may as well give it to the dog.

[DalyanPete]

10 hours ago, Halcyon Days said:

Bacon, egg, sausage, mushrooms, black pudding, beans, brown sauce, white bread buttered, tea. Get the magical elements wrong, coffee for tea, red sauce over brown, a hash brown American piece of shit over black pudding etc and it’s fucked, may as well give it to the dog.

Salivating just reading this.

[Scott_M]

For somebody who is such a luxury player, he doesn’t half out a shift in and do all the dirty work.

[VladimirIlyich]

11 hours ago, Halcyon Days said:

Bacon, egg, sausage, mushrooms, black pudding, beans, brown sauce, white bread buttered, tea. Get the magical elements wrong, coffee for tea, red sauce over brown, a hash brown American piece of shit over black pudding etc and it’s fucked, may as well give it to the dog.

Holding my vomit back just seeing the word 'beans.'

[El Rojo]

52 minutes ago, DalyanPete said:

Salivating just reading this.

Made me furious too. 

[VladimirIlyich]

A Henderson-esque very neat and tidy performance last night. Can't pay any higher compliment than that.

[Scott_M]

[Halcyon Days]

12 hours ago, VladimirIlyich said:

Holding my vomit back just seeing the word 'beans.'

Bet Thiago loves them in his paella, he knows.

[Reckoner]

Thiago is beginning to make Liverpool tick at just the right time

While his elite technical ability was always clear during his stop-start debut season at Anfield, a settled run of games in Liverpool’s midfield has seen the 30-year-old become pivotal to Jurgen Klopp’s control of matches by setting the rhythm and tempo of their play 

Melissa Reddy @MelissaReddy_

2 days ago

Thiago is enjoying his best spell at Liverpool and changed the game from the bench against Norwich (Liverpool FC via Getty Images)

“Adaptation. Connection. Purpose.”

In Brazil, Valeria Alcantara has shared several vignettes on the early sketches of a football intellect.

The volleyball star that represented her country 25 times would watch in wonderment as her son, only four, would speed into the house collecting shoes to line them up as cones.

Having just returned from watching his father, World-Cup winning Mazinho, train with Valencia, the boy would mirror the drills and dribble through the maze of footwear.

It would amaze Valeria what little Thiago would pick up as he grew, not only from a technical perspective but a professional one: paying attention to what his dad would eat or drink, listening to talks from managers, demanding critique on his sessions or performances.

He could adapt too, adopting cultures and differences, footballing or otherwise, when he shifted between Spain and Brazil, owing to Mazinho’s career.

Thiago, per his mother, didn’t just want to play football: “He thinks it too.” At 13, he was already pinned down as special, with Ureca club president Juan Diaz telling Faro de Vigo he was born for the sport and “towered above everyone, from a technical, physical and maturity standpoint.”

What was true then still resonates now. How it is possible to stand out – to still seem otherworldly – in a Liverpool team that features phenoms at both ends of the pitch like Virgil van Dijk and Mohamed Salah?

To watch Thiago is to see someone operate on a different sphere to others, playing the game in the future and with purpose. He has become absolutely core to how Liverpool want to control matches and it is quite visible that there are contrasting versions of the team with and without him on the pitch.

‘You read the player, and read the play’: Thiago developed an understanding of the game from a young age 

It is insane that a year ago the midfielder was widely being accused of not fitting in at Anfield and “slowing the tempo.” The accusation, erroneous in all respects, suggested Thiago was trying to force Liverpool into a more possession-based approach instead of adjusting to Jurgen Klopp’s requirements. 

The reality is there has been no player more effective in implementing the manager’s evolution of the team more than the 30-year-old. And when asked what characteristics most defined Thiago’s football, a member of the backroom team offered: “Adaptation. Connection. Purpose.”

There can be no surprise that someone born in Italy to a Brazilian World Cup winner, who is a Spain international that has represented Barcelona and was immense for Bayern Munich, is adept at adjusting.

Thiago has spent his entire football life fusing opposing styles, influences and expectations, succeeding regardless of the requirements and the increased speed of the game. “Those of us who are not so fast with our legs have to be faster in our heads,” he previously explained.

At Liverpool, Thiago has been tasked with offering creativity and control centrally, reducing the reliance of that coming from the full-backs, and providing variety. This is a whole new function for a solid midfield that was successful in delivering top silverware, but had to change to provide greater avenues of progressive dominance. Thiago has successfully led the revolution.

Liverpool are a different team without Thiago and the his record alongside Fabinho in midfield is impressive 

There are the eye-widening moments like the 50-yard ‘no look’ pass to Kostas Tsimikas in the build-up to the third goal against Norwich and that goal over Porto, where he ran onto the ball, lent back ever so slightly as he used the cushioning of his right foot to cut straight through it and somehow managed to make it glide just above the grass before nestling into the bottom corner.

But the magic is also in how he effortlessly dictates the tempo and direction, while also looking to play forward at every chance.

Thiago receives the ball by uniquely rolling his foot over it, stopping it dead and causing his marker to slow down before rapidly switching it to one side and away from the opponent. This is a trademark, but he is also well versed to using his first touch to take the ball out of danger.

Thiago’s ability to shift his body weight to create a yard of space or leave an opposition player in his shadow is a thing of beauty and also a product of being sharper in his mind. The momentum of an approaching opponent is ultimately used against them.

The connection with his team-mates is obvious from that pass to Tsimikas but also noticeable with every decision he makes on the ball, the moments that don’t make a highlights clip.

Xabi Alonso, who played with Thiago at Bayern, told his former club Liverpool that they can expect a player who “connects with team-mates very easily and makes the game easier for them. He thinks for you.”

Thiago won the Champions League on his final appearance for Bayern Munich before joining Liverpool 

In an interview with The Independent, Thiago spoke about his process. “You have to understand who you’re giving the ball to, if he’s left-footed or right-footed, and secondly to know the move,” he said. 

“If it’s a move where the defence is very high, and you’re going to open play, it has to be faster and inside the centre-half. It’s two things, you read the player, and read the play.

“I think for every team to understand that intensity of pass is essential. Apart from that, you don’t just give a pass for the sake of it. You give a pass specific to the game, and the play.

“You don’t think of the name. You think of the player he is for who he is. So, you interpret it like a chess piece you have in front of you, that you know what way it can move.”

Adaptation. Connection. Purpose.

The only issue Liverpool have with Thiago is fitness-related. He cannot play every minute and will not start the majority of games in a season. But perhaps the inverse would be too unkind on all the opponents that attempt close him down.

Whenever he is on the pitch, Thiago is a marvel – but more than that, he is Liverpool’s controller and a key to triumph

[El Rojo]

On 24/02/2022 at 11:06, Scott_M said:

He’s been excellent since he came back from injury, but I find that kind of stat borderline insulting to the rest of our world class players all over the pitch. There are a lot of great reasons why we win the vast majority of our games - he’s just one of them. 

[Aventus]

So what happened to him? One minute I see he's in the starting line up, next he's crying on the bench because he picked up an injury during the warm up. 

 

What did he injure and how long is he out for? 

[Reckoner]

2 minutes ago, Aventus said:

So what happened to him? One minute I see he's in the starting line up, next he's crying on the bench because he picked up an injury during the warm up. 

 

What did he injure and how long is he out for? 

All will be revealed, it’s too soon to know but he ‘picked up a knock’ apparently

[TheHowieLama]

Interesting stat on Thiago - Liverpool have won 100% of League Cup games he hasn't played this year.

[an tha]

He's a very, very good footballer.

 

It's so fucking frustrating that he just can't stay fit.

 

I wonder if we might do what we did with Matip last season and rule him out so he can work on getting fit, cleating up whatever problems he has and then having a proper and full pre-season.

[Jose Jones]

4 minutes ago, an tha said:

He's a very, very good footballer.

 

It's so fucking frustrating that he just can't stay fit.

 

I wonder if we might do what we did with Matip last season and rule him out so he can work on getting fit, cleating up whatever problems he has and then having a proper and full pre-season.

Hope not.  Him in midfield is the difference between being a great team and a potentially world conquering team.  We've got 3 more trophies to go for this season.

[niallers]

He was in the celebrations in the dressing room at the end in his gear. It cant be that bad surely? We'll see him for preseason maybe!