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Although the sentence has become a cliché for any transfer of a midfielder from one team to another; But according to the statistics that we will delve into, it seems that Thiago Alcantara is the “missing piece” that Jurgen Klopp was missing.
After agreeing to divide the value of the transaction and pay it in installments; Thiago came close to moving to Liverpool from Bayern Munich; In a transfer that can change the identity of the English Premier League midfield.
Liverpool’s successful years with Klopp have been associated with three strong midfielders, who put heavy pressure on competitors. However, they are not as good at creating chances as they are at getting the ball out.
The trio of Jordan Henderson, Fabinho and Jorginho Vinaldom plus alternate Naby Keita; On the way to change, since Vinaldom can leave Barcelona after signing Thiago; To complete the triangle of the middle line.
What will change with the departure of Vinaldom and the entry of Thiago?
Before indicating the expected change; Let us explain something to you about the gaming industry in Liverpool.
In the 2017-2018 season, Premier League teams did not treat Liverpool as a dangerous team on the offensive side; They took the initiative and attacked leaving large areas on their defense lines.
Against Liverpool in this way; It was making Klopp happier because it would allow his team to extract the ball in advanced parts of the field; Then send it straight to Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane to the front.
Therefore, we find that Salah, Firmino and Mane themselves provided 62, 53 and 45 chances to score in the Premier League; They were followed by Felipe Coutinho -he left for Barcelona in January 2018- James Milner and Alex Oxlade Chamberlain with 41, 38 and 32 chances, and Emery Chan and Trent Alexander Arnold followed them with 25 chances each, then Andrew Robertson with 24, Henderson with 23, then Vinaldum with 22.
With Liverpool reaching the Champions League final this season; The teams began to play in a different style against Klopp’s team. There was no longer a chance to push because the middle and youth teams in particular were no longer attacking.
Liverpool are competing more and therefore teams are defending more.
Conglomerate of competing teams; Klopp was forced to rely more on his back to create opportunities.
Alexander Arnold, at the end of the 2018-2019 season, provided 48 chances to score, almost double his previous number, while Robertson provided 52 chances, more than double. The bilaterals were second and third in providing chances behind Salah, who held his position with 68 chances to score.
It took a generous introduction to explain the change Liverpool went through after taking the podiums, and now let’s explain the importance of Thiago.
With Bayern Munich, Thiago Kartutz plays in a midfield duo behind a playmaker with Hans Dieter Flick. In Liverpool, Thiago is expected to play in place of the Vinaldome, alongside Henderson, behind Fabinho, the focal point.
In 40 games with a total of 2,973 minutes that Thiago played in all competitions, Thiago was, on average, 90 minutes, 73 assists correctly out of 81 attempts.
Thiago passes almost twice as much as Vinaldom, who has participated in 47 games with 3,664 in all competitions, and completes 43.7 assists out of 48.3 in 90 minutes.
But the magnitude is not in the number of passes, but in what happens before or after receiving the pass.
Thiago is a target for passing Bayern players. The Spaniard receives 69.1 passes from his teammates during the 90 minutes, while Vinaldom receives only 49.1 passes.
Thiago does not move permanently to be available to receive only passes from Bayern players, but he always receives the ball 96.6 better compared to 87.6 from Vinaldom.
This is what Thiago does before moving on; He moves between the lines and appears to his teammates, so what does he do after receiving the ball?
During the 90 minutes, Thiago controlled the ball 66.3 times, compared to 44.7 for Vinaldom, and this figure does not include the number of dribbles.
Thiago’s control of the ball causes him to walk the ball forward and towards the goal to a total of 150.0 meters in the 90 minutes, while Vinaldom is only 112.8 meters ahead, and the difference in Vinaldom may be playing in position by in front of Thiago.
The places where Thiago touches the ball may be the solution to Liverpool’s crisis as it relies on both backs to create opportunities.
Thiago touched the ball in the 90 minutes, with 89.0 touches, of which 60.4 in the center of the field and 15.5 in the last third of the field.
Wijnaldum Wilmsha is 57.1 times in the 90 minutes, of which only 35.4 are in midfield and 17.5 in the last third.
The following statistic explains why Thiago’s many touches in midfield would be good for Liverpool.
Thiago offers 1.15 chances to score in the match, compared to 0.61 for Vinaldom.
The number of goals expected to build for Thiago reached 0.9, compared to 0.5 for Vinaldom. But overall Thiago scored twice and Wijnaldum didn’t score.
Thiago also provided 3.06 passes in the game, in which he produced a save for his teammates’ shots on goal, compared to 1.47 passes from Vinaldom in the 90 minutes.
The teams rallied against Liverpool, prompting Klopp to ask his players to change stadiums and move the ball from right to left to clear the opponent’s players and find a gap for the player.
Thiago changed stadium 3.97 times, against Vinaldom 0.93 times.
The numerical difference illustrates how Thiago can provide passes that allow his teammates to reach the opponents’ goal, allowing Liverpool to rely on depth to create opportunities rather than directing the ball to both sides of the field to reach the goal.
These were Thiago’s passing stats compared to Vinaldom in chance creation. What about defensive interventions?
Thiago manages to tackle the ball 2.42 times per game, from the following places: 0.85 from a third of his defensive team, 1.52 from the midfield, 0.33 from the last third of the field.
Wijnaldum serves the ball at a rate of 0.91 per game from the following places: 0.39 from a third of his defensive team, 0.57 from midfield, 0.20 from the last third of the field.
This abstract figure needs to be explained; Because Liverpool depends on pressure. How do Thiago and Wijnaldum act when putting pressure on the rival? Is the pressure from a Bayern Munich player positive?
Thiago puts pressure on his opponent 14.2 times in the match, and he does so only 5.39 times, or 38.1%. As for the places of pressure, they are: 3.27 of a third of his defensive team, 8.27 of the midfield of his team, 2.61 of the last third of the field.
As for Vinaldom, it presses the rival 15.0 times in the match and achieves it in 5.26, 35.1%, and the places of pressure are the following: 3.88 from a third of its defensive team, 7.79 from the midfield, 3.29 from the last third from the field.
Additionally, there were 1.64 interceptions by Thiago versus 1.08 by Vinaldom.
In aerial battles, Thiago won 43 balls by 50.6% compared to 48 by Vinaldom by 44.9%.
Detailed statistics show the quality difference between Thiago and Vinaldome, considering that Thiago was playing slightly behind the Spanish midfielder.
In the end, however, Thiago’s outstanding statistic does not confirm his success in England because there are other factors that are not measured in numbers like adaptation to the environment that can prevent him from shining on Anfield Road.
