Jurgen Klopp has admitted that Liverpool were instantly better following the arrival of Thiago Alcantara against Napoli last night.
Klopp faced up in an interview with BT Sport following the embarrassing 4-1 defeat in Naples. Asked what went wrong for Liverpool, the manager said his team didn’t start counter-pressing until Thiago came off the bench.
“We were not compact either defensively or offensively. Until Thiago entered the pitch I can’t remember one counter-pressing situation,” said the German.
“The reason for that is because we were just too wide. We tried to sort the situation with a little dribbling here or there, cannot really play together, not connected. It was everything obvious. Why it happened? That’s the question I cannot answer now, give me a little bit of time to think about it.”
Thiago makes the difference, but too little too late
It was clear watching the game that Liverpool were instantly better with Thiago in the midfield. This isn’t a surprise, the 31-year-old would improve any team in world football.
But the extent at which Liverpool have missed him recently was laid bare for all to see. It’s absolutely imperative from here on in that everything possible is done to keep the £20m man fit.
If he starts the game last night, the humiliation that Liverpool suffered wouldn’t have happened. It really is that simple.
Unfortunately, there was no way Klopp was ever going to start him. Having just returned from a month out, Thiago has to be carefully managed.
There’s no point pushing him too hard if it’s going to lead to another injury. Having said that, the Spain international showed no signs of any rustiness and was clearly ready to play.
As a result, he simply has to start against Wolves on Saturday. The rest of Liverpool’s midfield options look absolutely dead on their feet. The fact that Fabinho played another 90 minutes last night doesn’t inspire confidence ahead of the weekend, while James Milner cannot be given another start.
Although he struggled a little when he came on, it was also encouraging to see Arthur get his first minutes in a Liverpool shirt. Hopefully he can bring a little freshness to an area of the pitch that has gone so horribly stale.
On a night of pretty much total negativity for Liverpool, Thiago was at least one ray of hope. Along with the performance of Luis Diaz, there’s at least something positive to cling to.
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