Ian Wright believes Liverpool badly missed Thiago against Crystal Palace in their 1-1 draw. The Reds struggled to break Palace down.
Liverpool have already dropped four points, then. After a poor performance against Fulham last week, they’ve struggled against Crystal Palace at Anfield. Some absolute magic from Luis Diaz saved a point but Liverpool are once again disappointed.
Ian Wright, doing punditry for Premier League Productions, feels Liverpool badly missed one player, in particular. If they’d had Thiago, he feels, things would have been different.
“Getting the ball through midfield, I think they’re struggling with that,” said Wright. “Harvey Elliott didn’t have any space to really move in. To try and move the ball into areas where they can commit players in the middle and force their way in.
“Everything of Liverpool has to go out wide. Without Thiago, we see when Thiago’s not playing they’re not as potent. And they need that midfielder to get the ball into areas where they commit players. That’s what they missed tonight.”
Liverpool miss Thiago in Crystal Palace draw
Well, they’ll miss him for a few more games to come. At least four, it seems, and possibly even more.
There’s little doubt that Wright is on the money here, given how Thiago’s importance has grown over the last year. Though, Liverpool did enough to win this one regardless. Darwin Nunez and Mohamed Salah both had great chances to score and simply missed the target.
There were plenty of nearly moments, too, as Trent Alexander-Arnold created a few good opportunities. It just wasn’t to be, really. On another day, Liverpool score three or four.
Perhaps Nunez will become more clinical as time goes on – he looked nervy out there, even before the red card – but Liverpool will put this down as an unfortunate one. Thiago coming back will be a plus (likely in October) but this team should have beaten Palace.
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