‘Thiago doesn’t play the Liverpool way’ – Liverpool boss sent surprise warning about his world class midfielder
Spanish superstar Thiago Alcantara doesn’t play the Liverpool way, according to Dietmar Hamann.
After deciding that he wanted a fresh challenge in the game after seven successful seasons at Bayern, it was Liverpool that won the race for Thiago in the transfer window, and managed to secure a transfer deal for just £27 million.
But After offering glimpses of what he is capable of in early appearances, a bout of Covid-19 and an unfortunate injury have kept the experienced star stuck on the sidelines, which has deprived the fans of seeing the brilliant star pull the strings in the middle of the pitch
But he has been back for a couple of weeks now and he has started Liverpool’s last two Premier League matches, including a 0-0 draw against Manchester United on Sunday.
Despite the former Bayern star showing flashes of his quality in that game, Hamann does not think the Spaniard’s style suits Klopp’s current set-up and is concerned that the German head coach will have to alter a winning formula to accommodate him.
“He slows things down and doesn’t really play the way Liverpool play,” The ex-Liverpool midfielder told talkSPORT.
“Liverpool in the past have had hard-working midfielders, they were not as skilful as Thiago, but they gave the ball to [Sadio] Mane and [Mohamed] Salah early.
“If you get the ball early on the wing, and these guys can run at players they are very hard to stop.
“I just feel with Thiago, everyone was raving about him coming to Liverpool, he’s hardly played. He came on against Chelsea and had the most passes in the second half, against a Chelsea team that was down to 10 men.
“He came on against Newcastle in the last 25 minutes, Newcastle were dead on their feet, everyone was raving about how good he is.
“I can tell you, he’s a good player, a skilful player. But there was never a time in Munich where people said, ‘oh he’s the first on the teamsheet’. So I’d be very cautious when it comes to Thiago.
“And the other thing is, as other people alluded to earlier, he plays a different style of football. He likes to be in possession.
“Liverpool were always good when they weren’t in possession, won it and played quickly forward.
“He’s not that type of player, so it will be very interesting when he does play more often now how it’s going to change the dynamics of the team.”
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