Thiago Alcantara

[S-RED]

when's he back, any updates?

[Exiled_red]

He's undoubtedly a good player who starts when he's fit, the problem is his limited availability is frustrating

[Tribute]

He's undoubtedly a good player who starts when he's fit, the problem is his limited availability is frustrating

Bang on. Both Thiago and Naby when they're on song are a joy to watch... the problem is injuries and fitness for both of them. Far too often they're not available and that really scuppers our midfield dynamic and ability to break teams down in a low block.
Thought Curtis and Neco did ok when they came on yesterday - tried something different and were getting some results, but the miss when Thiago's not in there with Fab is enormous.

[Buzzo]

To think there was some chat that he made us worse. We miss him an insane amount, he's so much better than every one of our midfielders bar Fabinho.

https://twitter.com/SamMcGuire90/sta...61386204934148

None of us have a clue.

[frank the tank]

we ended up getting 3rd last season because we had Thiago and Fab available for the majority of the run-in.....

Plus due to the fact that we had Ali Becker knocking in some sweet headed injury time winner against WBA too..... it actually might have been an idea to bring on Queeeve for Bobby last night and put Ali up top!!!

[Exiled_red]

we ended up getting 3rd last season because we had Thiago and Fab available for the majority of the run-in.....

Plus due to the fact that we had Ali Becker knocking in some sweet headed injury time winner against WBA too..... it actually might have been an idea to bring on Queeeve for Bobby last night and put Ali up top!!!

Are you Stuart Pearce?

[Irishnev]

To think there was some chat that he made us worse. We miss him an insane amount, he's so much better than every one of our midfielders bar Fabinho.

https://twitter.com/SamMcGuire90/sta...61386204934148

[ame="https://twitter.com/henryjackson87/status/1481912831389929473"]https://twitter.com/henryjackson87/status/1481912831389929473[/ame]

[Fredo]

How we won the league without Thiago I don’t know.

[Kenneth]

Hendo was still good for a start.

[Exiled_red]

https://twitter.com/henryjackson87/s...12831389929473

I think these stats highlight the dilemma we have with him. They show the good but read between the lines and you see the bad. Seemingly we have a perfect record when he plays, but we have played 31 games in all competitions this season (26 in PL & CL), so he has started about a third of them. He's a great player and probably one of the first names on the team sheet when he's fit, but if he misses more games than he starts that's a problem. If he could play nearly every week we'd be right up there with City, the problem is he doesn't, How do you handle this situation? Hope that you can get enough games out of him that you stay in contention and accept that there is a drop down in quality when he doesn't play?

[Irishnev]

How we won the league without Thiago I don’t know.

We won the league by being boring and controlling games with multiple ways to score. We’ve gone back to the basketball type approach of scoring for fun but giving up too much at the back..... We also had consistency in selection all over the pitch - now we can never get a settled midfield to control games the same way.

The amount of games where we broke the deadlock from a set piece meant teams came at us which suited us. Now we have “another **** corner”...... Robbo and Trent barely got the ball off the ground last night. And some of players have just aged and got off the boil.

I hate comparing to City but they give up so few chances and their defence is rock solid against most sides. They control games and can rotate at will and not drop quality

Thiago is absolutely brilliant and we are so much better with him in the team.... we might win a champions league if he stays fit

[baitman]

Have you noticed that when a player is unavailable and we play **** then the stock of the said player seems to escalate dramatically

[fabinho]

Have you noticed that when a player is unavailable and we play **** then the stock of the said player seems to escalate dramatically

So true. He's a decent player when fit, but let's be honest, he's hardly hit the heights we were all expecting. Rival fan forums were saying how it was game over when he signed for us, now when he's mentioned, it's more like he's okay but not the game changer they were expecting.

Still better having him and fab in the middle over everything else though.

[danperkins]

Have you noticed that when a player is unavailable and we play **** then the stock of the said player seems to escalate dramatically

this is actually spot on

[Irishnev]

We need to get him fit and keep it that way…….

[ame="https://twitter.com/btlvid/status/1488569437154328581"]https://twitter.com/btlvid/status/1488569437154328581[/ame]