Thiago Alcantara

[danperkins]

I do not see his pace as a concern tbh.

He does seem a little off it pace wise compared to last season with Bayern, but the guys is in a new country at a new club where the first team has been disjointed for months and is coming off of a bad injury and also from having had covid 19.

Put him in with a fully functional team with movement around him and he will use the ball to be his pace.


Even at Bayern the centre of midfield was never a big goal source so him, Fabinho and Henderson look well placed to be a dominating style centre for us that will allow us to dictate play and both force and protect a high line. Think with that trio in the middle and a back line with the regulars back, we would see the team look a lot more solid and be better equipped to put pressure on iother teams compared to now.


What we do need though, imo, is a few new midfielders to come in over the next transfer window or two and replace Wijnaldum and a couple of the unreliables. That way we still have the quality and experience of the likes of Fab, Henderson and Thiago , but have the younger legs and aggression of Jones and a couple new midfielders.

that's fair enough. I'm more interested in Thiago moving the ball around quickly more so than him being quick across the ground. Quick snappy passes to the front lads & I thought he did that very well vs Newcastle. Our movement to receive the ball imo has been one of the most frustrating aspects of this season as even if you have a pass master, the lads still need to get into positions to receive the ball.

I have been disappointed with his overall performance this season I think I have expressed that. I think most LFC supporters would agree but then again I have been disappointed with most of our lads, so hard to single out anyone in particular. It has just been a really **** season all round, I'm exhausted by it to be honest. When we have all our lads to choose from and maybe a few new additions, then I will judge Thiago & I think we will less less donkey work and more craft from him. This season has just been ****ed so I am going to erase any memory of it from my mind for ever and ever and ever... amen.

[Doc_Piptorious]

that's fair enough. I'm more interested in Thiago moving the ball around quickly more so than him being quick across the ground. Quick snappy passes to the front lads & I thought he did that very well vs Newcastle. Our movement to receive the ball imo has been one of the most frustrating aspects of this season as even if you have a pass master, the lads still need to get into positions to receive the ball.

I have been disappointed with his overall performance this season I think I have expressed that. I think most LFC supporters would agree but then again I have been disappointed with most of our lads, so hard to single out anyone in particular. It has just been a really **** season all round, I'm exhausted by it to be honest. When we have all our lads to choose from and maybe a few new additions, then I will judge Thiago & I think we will less less donkey work and more craft from him. This season has just been ****ed so I am going to erase any memory of it from my mind for ever and ever and ever... amen.

Think of the one thing that Thiago both thrives on and enhances when it is there around him.


Movement.

The guy is brilliant at spotting runs and finding the runners. Does not matter if he has time to think and weigh up the pass or if he takes a one touch pass that flies just ahead of the run so the runner runs onto the pass.

What is the one thing we have had hardly any of since late December?

Movement.

We have been one paced and sluggish up front with pretty much no runners from midfield and our width from the full backs since Decemeber has been patchy at best and awful at worst.


Bayern the last few season were very good against teams that came at them and were pretty good against teams that applied the low block. Quite similar to us at times in how they set up and went at teams.

Thiago is missing from Bayern this season and what is giving them more issues than the past few seasons? The low block teams.

Now Bayern have had the massive advantage over us in that whilst they are missing Thiago they still have had either a full team or very good back ups available, but the low block and the long ball down the middle has troubled them more than in other seasons.

Now that is not me saying Thiago is Superman and was the sole reason that did not happen too often when he was at Bayern, but what I am saying is that Thiago is a the sort of player that becomes the glue in the centre and he allows the better players in the team that bit more time as he finds them quicker with the ball and he sees their clever runs, he also is an outlet for the players that shield and defend as he will show for the ball even when under pressure and be a relief valve of sorts for those defending players.

He is also what I think gets termed as being a multiplier, in that what he does on the pitch, that getting the ball to the better players quicker or being there so a defender can release a ball quicker etc., increases the chances of other players playing to their own highest ability and the knock on effect being the team as a whole all playing better as more and more parts start playing to the best of their ability.

We have also not really seen jim in the role he played in for both Barca and Bayern. In most of his games for us he has been in roles that the likes of Kimmich or Fabinho would play in, and he has no genuine bos to box midfielder to spark off of either like he had in Goretzka and would have had in Henderson. Wijnaldum has shown very few signs of being a box to box guy other than when he is in an orange shirt rather than a red one with the exception of the second leg against Real. Milner does not have the legs to do that job on a regular basis. Jones is still learning and has had a few knocks. Keita and Chamberlain have been either injured or not trusted to do it.

Thiago in many ways is like Xabi Alonso albeit maybe in an even less eye catching way. He does the basics excellently and when he gets a lot of movement around him he will ping passes around like the pitch like a artist putting brushstrokes to canvas. The guy just sees the gaps and runs when they are there.

The flipside of that ability is that when there is no movement, no runs, no clever play and a generaly disjointedness to a team, then he reverts to just doing the basics well and racking up lots of accurate but safe passes and ends up playing down to the level of what is happening around him.

In many ways he is the muse rather than the artist and I think a lot thought when we signed him that he was going to be the artist based maybe on havng heard of him rather than having seen him play.

[frank the tank]

And how many goals come from the fullbacks? Not many, especially from the left.

Goals directly from Robbo it is true - not enough goals.

But assists? Before this season he was up there with Trent.

It is also surely about the organised chaos that it all causes? The protection of Hendo and Fab in the middle (along with Gini or soon to be Thiago) means that the full backs can get forward more and more. And when Virgil and Joe were back providing even more protection, then it was even more so. I think this season we have been ****ed over on many fronts - the defensive injuries meant the midfield re-deployments which ****ed us. But the sudden drop off in attacking potency really compounded the whole thing.

[frank the tank]

I do not see his pace as a concern tbh.

He does seem a little off it pace wise compared to last season with Bayern, but the guys is in a new country at a new club where the first team has been disjointed for months and is coming off of a bad injury and also from having had covid 19.

Put him in with a fully functional team with movement around him and he will use the ball to be his pace.


Even at Bayern the centre of midfield was never a big goal source so him, Fabinho and Henderson look well placed to be a dominating style centre for us that will allow us to dictate play and both force and protect a high line. Think with that trio in the middle and a back line with the regulars back, we would see the team look a lot more solid and be better equipped to put pressure on iother teams compared to now.


What we do need though, imo, is a few new midfielders to come in over the next transfer window or two and replace Wijnaldum and a couple of the unreliables. That way we still have the quality and experience of the likes of Fab, Henderson and Thiago , but have the younger legs and aggression of Jones and a couple new midfielders.

[Tribute]

Thiago's pace is a red herring. Molby was ****ing awesome and he had the pace of a tanker turning. The ability to move the ball quickly into pockets of space up ahead with great movement of the front three is what will (next season, if not this) help us win more games.

The domino effect of injuries has just ****ed the season - defensive injuries, moving midfielders into CB roles, losing midfield press and energy, front three misfiring all over the place. Ali has been back to his best for the last couple of games but he's not been immune to the stutter in form either... he's had far more unenforced errors this season and his kicking mid-season was dire... always going out of play. We've had the 'heebie-jeebies' this season and it's washed right through the whole team.

With big Virg, Hendo and a couple of others back long-term, we should settle into a more stable, high energy outfit again. A couple of signings in the summer and we're good to go.

**** this season right off though... Europa next season would be a 'mare. Would rather finish eighth and have no midweek games in the arse end of nowhere for our lads to get daft injuries again...

[danperkins]

Think of the one thing that Thiago both thrives on and enhances when it is there around him.


Movement.

The guy is brilliant at spotting runs and finding the runners. Does not matter if he has time to think and weigh up the pass or if he takes a one touch pass that flies just ahead of the run so the runner runs onto the pass.

What is the one thing we have had hardly any of since late December?

Movement.

We have been one paced and sluggish up front with pretty much no runners from midfield and our width from the full backs since Decemeber has been patchy at best and awful at worst.


Bayern the last few season were very good against teams that came at them and were pretty good against teams that applied the low block. Quite similar to us at times in how they set up and went at teams.

Thiago is missing from Bayern this season and what is giving them more issues than the past few seasons? The low block teams.

Now Bayern have had the massive advantage over us in that whilst they are missing Thiago they still have had either a full team or very good back ups available, but the low block and the long ball down the middle has troubled them more than in other seasons.

Now that is not me saying Thiago is Superman and was the sole reason that did not happen too often when he was at Bayern, but what I am saying is that Thiago is a the sort of player that becomes the glue in the centre and he allows the better players in the team that bit more time as he finds them quicker with the ball and he sees their clever runs, he also is an outlet for the players that shield and defend as he will show for the ball even when under pressure and be a relief valve of sorts for those defending players.

He is also what I think gets termed as being a multiplier, in that what he does on the pitch, that getting the ball to the better players quicker or being there so a defender can release a ball quicker etc., increases the chances of other players playing to their own highest ability and the knock on effect being the team as a whole all playing better as more and more parts start playing to the best of their ability.

We have also not really seen jim in the role he played in for both Barca and Bayern. In most of his games for us he has been in roles that the likes of Kimmich or Fabinho would play in, and he has no genuine bos to box midfielder to spark off of either like he had in Goretzka and would have had in Henderson. Wijnaldum has shown very few signs of being a box to box guy other than when he is in an orange shirt rather than a red one with the exception of the second leg against Real. Milner does not have the legs to do that job on a regular basis. Jones is still learning and has had a few knocks. Keita and Chamberlain have been either injured or not trusted to do it.

Thiago in many ways is like Xabi Alonso albeit maybe in an even less eye catching way. He does the basics excellently and when he gets a lot of movement around him he will ping passes around like the pitch like a artist putting brushstrokes to canvas. The guy just sees the gaps and runs when they are there.

The flipside of that ability is that when there is no movement, no runs, no clever play and a generaly disjointedness to a team, then he reverts to just doing the basics well and racking up lots of accurate but safe passes and ends up playing down to the level of what is happening around him.

In many ways he is the muse rather than the artist and I think a lot thought when we signed him that he was going to be the artist based maybe on havng heard of him rather than having seen him play.

I wouldn't disagree with any of that & both us and I would imagine most LFC supporters can agree to is that the lack of movement and the lack of desire to create an option for a pass or even to create space has been as glaring as any of the others reasons we have failed this season.

I very disappointed in this season and I am meh about the remaining games if I'm honest. Football and this last 12 months in general have just been utterly exhausting. We don't deserve to make 4th and I have it in my head that we won't either. If we somehow manage to get that champs league spot I will be delighted but we have some serious work to do next season.

[Doc_Piptorious]

I wouldn't disagree with any of that & both us and I would imagine most LFC supporters can agree to is that the lack of movement and the lack of desire to create an option for a pass or even to create space has been as glaring as any of the others reasons we have failed this season.

I very disappointed in this season and I am meh about the remaining games if I'm honest. Football and this last 12 months in general have just been utterly exhausting. We don't deserve to make 4th and I have it in my head that we won't either. If we somehow manage to get that champs league spot I will be delighted but we have some serious work to do next season.

I disagree slightly on that bit or at least maybe on how you phrased it.

It may be more than a bit of a cliche to say, but the league table come the end of a season does not lie.

Wherever we finish, be it 4th, be it 6th be it 8th, then that is what we deserved.

[danperkins]

I disagree slightly on that bit or at least maybe on how you phrased it.

It may be more than a bit of a cliche to say, but the league table come the end of a season does not lie.

Wherever we finish, be it 4th, be it 6th be it 8th, then that is what we deserved.

Normally I would agree that the league table doesn't lie but do you think Man United deserve to finish 2nd? Because imo they have been utterly blessed and have got so many favorable decisions this season... I have lost count. They will finish 2nd place and I just cannot see how it is deserved considering what has gone on. Sure if we finish 4th happy days, I just can't see it to be honest the last two results have killed us imo.

[Kenneth]

Yes, they do deserve 2nd. They’ve been the second best side this season. They’ve not always been pretty but they keep going for 90 mins and adapt well to the opposition, with the ability to dominate games against ****e or play effectively on the counter.

[red g]

Have to agree they have been the least ****test out of everyone behind City.

[BobTheCharmer]

Goals directly from Robbo it is true - not enough goals.

But assists? Before this season he was up there with Trent.

It is also surely about the organised chaos that it all causes? The protection of Hendo and Fab in the middle (along with Gini or soon to be Thiago) means that the full backs can get forward more and more. And when Virgil and Joe were back providing even more protection, then it was even more so. I think this season we have been ****ed over on many fronts - the defensive injuries meant the midfield re-deployments which ****ed us. But the sudden drop off in attacking potency really compounded the whole thing.

Robbo and trent will never hit the heights as far as assists go again imo, the opposition know exactly how we play and they won't get the space to utilise. We need a new attacking plan. A central striker that can run, play and score with headers would add much.

[Kenneth]

I agree Bob. We don’t need to throw the baby out with the bath water, but we need to be less predictable and have other options other than intricate passes through packed defences.

[danperkins]

Leicester deserve 2nd for me, exciting to watch and have had a nightmare with injuries to several key players throughout the season. I think United have been so lucky this season. But yeah I suppose everyone apart from City have been pretty disappointing.

[Norbs]

Based on resources and expectation they probably deserve 1st

[Tribute]

If Utd are the second best team in the PL this season, that’s a measure of just how **** every other team has been compared to last season.

The drop off on quality across the board has been immense this season.