Dude - rather than being so aggressive about this, you could have read on a little, and you would have noticed that there had been a polite discussion about this, and that @Yagami looked up the actual stat and corrected himself:
@GhastlyHun & @B20
I just looked up that game on whoscored and surprise, surprise I was wrong! He made 148 passes but played the whole game! That was nearly 8 years ago to be fair to me...
This is what I'll never understand about all the praise for that performance, Chelsea had no man to press him so his job was essentially just pass with zero pressure. We know he's a good player but it was nothing special and nothing bad, just what you'd expect from any player in that role against ten men. Keep the ball moving, tire out a team who are a man down sitting deep and be alert to counters.The hyperbole for a performance against a 10-men Chelsea who are still trying to find some form.
Imagine how this thread will look like once he actually plays a full game for Liverpool against 11 men!
I don't understand the part in bold. Who else would have played in the CL final?
The bold part here was one of the major things Flick addressed. We move the ball forward quicker and spend less time in our half playing low risk passes around
If it's just a decent performance, why aren't we seeing more midfielders averaging 90+% passing accuracy and 100+ passes per game? Ironically, you don't need to do something special to have a special performance in midfield, IMO. He kept it simple, distributed the ball well and on top of that played a few opening passes between the lines and many switches of play (10 long balls according to WhoScored). That's exactly what I want to see from a midfielder. I don't need them to assist or score themselves. As I said, for me it's more about getting the easy things right 99 out of 100 times and he did that very well. It's also about the quantity by the way. If you play 45 minutes and have 75 contacts, 90% passing accuracy and 10 long balls, you've had a very dominant game in terms of time on the ball. You need to position yourself very well to do that, always be available for a pass etc.
I'd still want another young CB or experienced CB to be available if I were a supporter that wants to push on on all fronts and go for a treble.
Except Pep took a year sabbatical in New York between Barca and Bayern.
Kimmich had to cover RB since Pavard was injured. Basically Thiago Goretzka midfield was the only option available for the entire CL knockout otherwise we would have gone with Tolliso Cuisance or Javi. Or Odriozola at RB
Get a fecking grip, you sound like a fanboy.
Seriously, given the context of the game - Chelsea were playing with 10 players and after the quick one-two they had zero bite, he did nothing outstanding. Chelsea's plan seem to be to exploit an inidividual error from Liverpool (tsk, tsk Thiago conceding a penalty) or some sort of last minute dead ball situation to score a goal. They didn't try to play, or impose their game on the midfield. Waxing lyrical about passes or pass accuracy in such a context seems fcuking weird. Are you desperate to play up any Bundesliga imports as some sort of unmitigated success?
Well, I am. And salty.
Except he is just about the best player in the world when it comes to do something meaningful with the ball under pressure.
So you guys are clueless by association? No wonder he left.
Terms?
How often will that happen at Liverpool though? They spend the entire game pressuring the other side.
Terms of the bet?
It's normally not a big deal however against the big teams in the CL that's where his contribution will be most felt and against most of the big sides in the league.
This isn't untrue, but it describes the past rather than the present. Thiago's development into a world class player was a long and rocky one, accompanied by many injuries and on-pitch disappointments. But since around 2018 he has put his phlegm aside and unlocked his full potential. There is a certain irony to the story in that we kind of developed a player for Klopp, who's now set to get more Thiago prime years than we did. His reactions certainly did reflect it
Wtf? Is that a combination of phlegm and smegma?This isn't untrue, but it describes the past rather than the present. Thiago's development into a world class player was a long and rocky one, accompanied by many injuries and on-pitch disappointments. But since around 2018 he has put his phlegma aside and unlocked his full potential. There is a certain irony to the story in that we kind of developed a player for Klopp, who's now set to get more Thiago prime years than we did. His reactions certainly did reflect it
Wtf? Is that a combination of phlegm and smegma?
Sorry, accidentally used the german term hereWtf? Is that a combination of phlegm and smegma?
Great word
The hint's in the name, mate. Football FAN. We're all fanbois. You won't see much more passionate fans of anything on the planet than in football.
I understand that it may come across like that but it really isn't the case. I just like debating players I like/dislike and know one or two things about. Obviously that is the case primarily with Bundesliga players but you can find similar posts of me about players like Neymar, Messi, Hazard, Modric, Puig etc. This season, there are simply a lot of (former) Bundesliga players in the focus due to signings or transfer rumors.
Does it really describe the past though? I recall a stupid flick against Lyon last month, and 5 seconds later Memphis Depay was one-on-one with Neuer. A more cynical striker would that put that away and it's a long night for you. I don't claim to watch Bayern as much as you do, but in most CL games I've seen he's bound to do something odd.This isn't untrue, but it describes the past rather than the present. Thiago's development into a world class player was a long and rocky one, accompanied by many injuries and on-pitch disappointments. But since around 2018 he has put his phlegm aside and unlocked his full potential. There is a certain irony to the story in that we kind of developed a player for Klopp, who's now set to get more Thiago prime years than we did. His reactions certainly did reflect it
I grew up on Serie A watching Platini and Maradona threading balls to Boniek and Careca so I'm biased toward technique and the right decision making over slide tackles and box to box playing. I get your point overall.
At 5-0 he's allowed to go full Neymar and do a seal dribble if he fancies.
This is how I will describe Thiagos time at Bayern as well. I think moving him deeper did wonders to his game. iirc, Juup was the first one to try him as the DM in a CL game vs MadridThis isn't untrue, but it describes the past rather than the present. Thiago's development into a world class player was a long and rocky one, accompanied by many injuries and on-pitch disappointments. But since around 2018 he has put his phlegm aside and unlocked his full potential. There is a certain irony to the story in that we kind of developed a player for Klopp, who's now set to get more Thiago prime years than we did. His reactions certainly did reflect it
He is not perfect, no player is but he has improved significantly from what he used to be,
Didn't Pep start him in the deepest position/as the regista initially? I remember being surprised that he didn't use Thiago as an 8 after Bayern signed him.
Something like this...
No, Pep used him variably. Lahm was the no. 6 in Pep's first season. Than Alonso came. Pep usually played a 4141. Thiago usually played an 8.
I know a lot of Bayern Friends who said similar nonsense about Kroos, or Ballack. It seems hard for some to judge midfielder performance.
Oh come on he is a world class player. A player comfortable with the ball, changes direction, vision, and will split you apart if you aren't switched on. The fact that klopp has him is bad news for us.
When did anyone suggest he wasn't? It was more that he was getting a huge amount of praise and people waxing lyrical about him for his debut when they were playing against ten men & he gave away a penalty. He's a great player but I just didn't get why people felt the need to go so overboard in that particular match.
Reports that he could be out until after international break.. don't know how true this is though. Looks like it's already started his injury woes. Did we get a receipt?
