Liverpool midfielder Thiago Alcantara has come under an unjust amount of criticism this season.
While it’s true the Spain international hasn’t entirely lived up to the hype, there are a lot of factors to consider.
Adjusting to a new team, the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, injuries to key players, including himself, and being played out of his natural offensive midfield role – just to name a few.
Senior BBC journalist Phil McNulty took to Twitter at lunchtime on Monday to pile on Thiago, stating Liverpool’s No.6 has no assists to his name, and it didn’t go down well.
Led by Liverpool.com writer Joel Rabinowitz, supporters of the Reds hit back at the experienced journalist, backed up with facts and logic.
He provided two assists for Bayern in the whole of last season. Not sure that's a particularly useful metric to judge his influence by.
— Joel Rabinowitz (@joel_archie) April 26, 2021
There are plenty. He makes more progressive passes per 90 than any other Liverpool player. Top for tackles + interceptions, ranks very highly for ball recoveries, pressures, carries etc. He absolutely should have started vs Real Madrid.
— Joel Rabinowitz (@joel_archie) April 26, 2021
I think there's bit more nuance to it than that.
— Joel Rabinowitz (@joel_archie) April 26, 2021
Thiago is still Liverpool's most creative midfielder this season though, just ahead of Jones. Also tops the league for progressive passes. When it comes to Liverpool's problems this season Thiago's quite far down a long list.
— James Nalton (@JDNalton) April 26, 2021
Did you ever watch Thiago play for Bayern Phil?
— Dan Kennett (@DanKennett) April 26, 2021
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What’s made clear by McNulty’s tweets is that he hasn’t seen much of Thiago actually playing football, or perhaps he’s falsely assumed the midfielder racks up the assists.
Much like Gini Wijnaldum over the last few years, with a dash more success – to be fair, Liverpool’s No.6 is the player who finds the pass before the assist – he breaks up the play and builds counter-attacks.
Labelling Thiago a ‘massive disappointment’ is bold, but if the former Bayern Munich star has disappointed anyone, it’s not as clear-cut as “Thiago bad.”