De Bruyne's recent performance has been very amazing, each game has to send several "rainbow threat passes", on the major platforms "Tintin" historical straight plug sense of smell and footwork, in the era of short video, known and recognized by more fans.
Most fans will recognize De Bruyne as the best midfielder in the world, and Thiago has also been a top midfielder who has been baptized by Guardiola, and Thiago's recent performances have also been extremely brilliant.
Let's take a look at the personal data of the Liverpool midfielder in the Champions League this morning, 99 successful passes, the pass success rate is as high as 96%, of which 9 of his long passes are all accurate to find teammates, in addition to the defensive end he contributed 4 breaks and 1 successful tackle. In addition, Thiago's two shots from outside the box were equally lethal, especially the blast that hit the goal frame.
After the game, Crouch also praised Thiago: "I think sometimes these statistics can be misleading, the players with a pass success rate of 96% and 98% usually pass the ball mostly from 5-10 yards, but after Thiago gets the ball, he can pass the ball 30-40 yards away (9 accurate long passes from Villarreal), he is not the kind of person who can only pass the world." He's created a lot of stuff, he's been able to complete the pass every time, and there's no doubt that he's gone up several levels in the last three or four games. ”
In the last four games, Thiago has shown the strength of the world's top three midfielders.
In the last four games, Thiago has only conceded 11 passes, and with the exception of Manchester City, which has a pass success rate of "only" 90%, his pass success rate in the last three games has been above 96%, and in each of these three games, he has tried more than 100 passes, and he is the most passed player in liverpool.
On the sofascore ratings network, we've seen Thiago score high scores of 7.6, 7.4, 8.2 and 7.9 in the last four games. Thiago is going through his best form since joining Liverpool.
In Liverpool's second season, Thiago showed leadership
Last season was a failure for both Liverpool and Thiago. In the summer of 2020, Thiago, whom Klopp admired, joined Liverpool, but shortly after the start of the season, he contracted the coronavirus.
Half a month later, Thiago returned, and after playing just one Premier League game, he suffered another injury in his knee. It is also reminiscent of his first season with Bayern, when he suffered a serious injury to a torn cruciate ligament in his knee in the second half of the 2013-14 season, which cost him aside and missed the 2014 World Cup.
Fortunately, this knee injury was not so serious, and after two months of absence, Thiago finally made a comeback at the end of the year. However, at this stage, Liverpool are in a very bad state.
In the 12 Premier League games since Thiago's return, Liverpool have won just three of them and lost seven, the worst period since Klopp took charge.
Van Dijk's season reimbursement is naturally one of the main reasons for the poor record, but Thiago's delay in integrating into the team's tactical system has also become a factor criticized by fans.
On 4 March 2021, three days after Liverpool's defeat to Chelsea, Klopp put Thiago on the bench in a Premier League match against Fulham and didn't give him any minutes to play, but the team lost. Perhaps this game also made Klopp firm in his determination to reuse Thiago.
In the last 10 league games, Thiago started all of them. With Fabinho's return and Thiago's progression, the team achieved an unbeaten record of 8 wins and 2 draws, showing good form.
In an interview with Liverpool's official team newspaper last May, Thiago expressed the rhythm of the Premier League that he needs to keep up with, "I definitely have to keep up with the rhythm of the game to fit into Liverpool's tactical system. I feel that the league I have been in before can occasionally catch my breath in the middle of the game, but in the Premier League, I really don't want to rest for a minute, which is the difference between the Premier League and other leagues. But fortunately, there is now a VAR, and the referee can take a break when watching the replay. ”
Thiago spent almost a season adapting to the rhythm of the Premier League and Liverpool's tactical system, but in the end he succeeded.
Through the comparison of squawka's data every 90 minutes, we can clearly feel Thiago's improvement this season: performance ratings, shooting percentage, chance creation book, pass success numbers, cross accuracy rate, high ball competition success rate, ground confrontation success rate, Thiago's data in the Premier League is all due to last season.
Let's take a look at the data comparison of Liverpool's four major midfielders every 90 minutes this season, Thiago is the best of the four in terms of OPTA performance points, opportunities creation, pass success, pass accuracy and long pass accuracy, especially the long pass success rate, Thiago reached 71%, and the other three are not more than 60%.
Matip's Thiago, who plays art football, naturally brings more creativity to Liverpool.
Klopp is an important pawn in upgrading tactics
"I feel like I'm still a little different from the midfield he's used before. I'm a different style, and the coach probably wants to try my type of player and play a little more passing. But in the previous few years, Liverpool have also played well with physical superiority and fast attack, so the team also asked me to adapt to this. Thiago's interview last year revealed why Klopp signed him.
In the 2013-14 season, Thiago faced Borussia Dortmund for bayern for the first time, and he had assisted teammate Robben to score, and it was Klopp who was in charge of Dort at this time, and he must have been impressed by Thiago. By the time he bought Thiago 6 years later, Klopp was naturally well aware of his tactical significance.
As early as the Mainz era, Klopp favored technically capable midfielders, Slovenian midfielder Miroslav Karhan had a good performance, and German central defender Markus Feulner was also Klopp's favorite, and he also followed Klopp to Dortmund. During the Dortmund era, Shaheen, Shinji Kagawa, Götze and Msitaryan, the highly skilled and creative midfielders, were all reused by Klopp.
So when Klopp was tired of heavy metal rock football at Liverpool, Thiago showed up, the Spanish midfielder who had played in Germany for 6 years and had a good German language, which was the player Klopp desperately needed.
I think there are two aspects to the importance of Thiago to Liverpool, first of all, when the weaker opponent swings the bus, Thiago finds a gap and delivers a high accuracy of threatening balls in the first time, while his excellent long-pass ability is conducive to the team's high-altitude bombing, in addition to his excellent long-range shooting ability, in short, Thiago can create more opportunities for breaking the dense defense, just like against Villarreal in the early hours of this morning.
On the other hand, in strong dialogue, such as facing a team with the same strong ability to oppress and transfer the ball like Manchester City, a technical midfielder like Thiago can quickly dominate and handle the ball, regardless of the direction of long pass transfer, control the ball to stabilize the rhythm, and directly find a gap to pass the threatening ball, as the midfield brain only has a short time to make a choice, and maintain a high success rate.
When Klopp relies on a bunch of high-intensity runs from sapper midfielders to grab the ball for the striker and win the Champions League and the Premier League for Liverpool together, the enthusiasm of the midfielders may decline, they lack the motivation to pursue glory in the first place, and they may not be willing to risk injury 100% and continue to run crazy and painfully. Thiago's integration into the squad has brought this Liverpool back to life this season, his control and creativity, his artist's possession, dribbling and passing, as if he were five years younger, Modric.
Bayern, after losing Thiago, have not been able to reach the final four of the Champions League for two consecutive years, and Klopp, who owns Thiago, is striding towards the fourth Champions League final of his career. (Supine Braces/Qiu Yixi)