‘If he could run’: BBC pundit says one Liverpool player ‘has turned jogging into an art form’

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BBC pundit Garth Crooks says Liverpool’s Thiago ‘has turned jogging into an art form’. It’s a bizarre attack on the player.

Garth Crooks put out his latest Team of the Week for the BBC on Sunday. There is, unsurprisingly, comment on Liverpool and that includes a strange attack on Thiago.

Crooks believes Liverpool fans have it all wrong on who their ‘main man’ is. It certainly isn’t, says the pundit, Thiago.

“Liverpool fans keep telling me that Thiago Alcantara (when he’s fit) is their main man,” says Crooks. “He might be if he could run.

“The Spaniard has turned jogging into an art form. He can’t get up the park and doesn’t have the finishing instincts of Firmino.”

Thiago and his jogging

There have been some surreal Crooks comments over the years – they could easily convince you that he doesn’t actually know what he’s on about – but this is a new one.

For one, Thiago played as a regular last season in a Liverpool team that played the maximum number of games. They won two competitions and finished as runners-up in two more. It’s difficult to see how that’s possible with a midfielder who can’t run.

It’s also strange to pick on Thiago when his level is so unbelievably high. There’s an argument that he was the best passer on the planet last season. Again, no one ever commented that he wasn’t running enough.

We think it’s a bizarre take. Thiago is unquestionably one of the most important players in this Liverpool side and he played a massive part in the success last season. There aren’t many midfielders on the planet who can do what he does and we can’t imagine Jurgen Klopp would swap him for anyone outside of Kevin De Bruyne.

Liverpool’s issues certainly don’t stem from Thiago, in other words.