So like I mentioned during the match thread, Gini at DM and Thiago at #8 might be a good idea. I think this worked better than anything else we’ve tried with Thiago so far - his ability and confidence to receive the ball in tight spaces made our combination play a lot more potent than it was when the roles were reversed. Thiago is a natural ball magnet and when he’s operating in a more advanced areas, he attracts the ball towards more dangerous attacking areas as well. Spurs were parking a proper bus at times with all 11 players sometimes bunched together right in front or inside the penalty area like in that infamous Mourinho’s Barca-Inter game and yet we didn’t have a problem cutting through them when we needed - and I think Thiago’s incision was one of the major reasons why.
All that said, there is still a lot of room for improvement. Thiago’s major weakness is his lack of mobility, which is more exposed by the quicker and more flowing style of play in England - when we lose possession he knows he has to tackle and maybe foul right away or he won’t catch his man again. He needs midfield partners who will cover ground for him, make attacking runs and rush back into defense when the ball is lost, almost like 2 box-to-box players. Milner did a lot of running and that worked well against Spurs, but I want to see Thiago play together with Hendo and Fabinho. (Of course at this point it’s more likely we’ll see those two together at CB, but one can dream...) Hendo and Fabs can be his Goretzka and Kimmich, running and protecting so that he can dominate the game with his passing and everything else in his locker. Thiago is a special player, but it always takes some adjustment to bring a new element into an established midfield and I think in the Spurs game we were finally on the right path.
All that said, there is still a lot of room for improvement. Thiago’s major weakness is his lack of mobility, which is more exposed by the quicker and more flowing style of play in England - when we lose possession he knows he has to tackle and maybe foul right away or he won’t catch his man again. He needs midfield partners who will cover ground for him, make attacking runs and rush back into defense when the ball is lost, almost like 2 box-to-box players. Milner did a lot of running and that worked well against Spurs, but I want to see Thiago play together with Hendo and Fabinho. (Of course at this point it’s more likely we’ll see those two together at CB, but one can dream...) Hendo and Fabs can be his Goretzka and Kimmich, running and protecting so that he can dominate the game with his passing and everything else in his locker. Thiago is a special player, but it always takes some adjustment to bring a new element into an established midfield and I think in the Spurs game we were finally on the right path.
