‘Terrible’: Roy Keane left shocked by £20m Liverpool player’s display against Arsenal
Roy Keane says Liverpool’s Thiago was ‘terrible’ defending against Arsenal on Sunday. The Spaniard looked ill-prepared for the Gunners.
Roy Keane didn’t have anything positive to say about Thiago as he discussed Liverpool’s 3-2 defeat to Arsenal for Monday Night Football. The Reds’ midfielder was caught out for all three goals – even if the third was very unfortunate.
“Thiago was terrible, I think, for the first two goals,” said Keane. “Midfielder’s reaction there, not great.
“It’s no good having all of that experience if you’re not going to use it. Some of the decision-making for all the goals from Liverpool’s point of view [was] so poor.
“It’s actually hard to believe what you’re watching there. Really, really bad position play from such experienced players.”
Thiago defending labelled ‘terrible’ v Arsenal
All three goals made the midfield look weak. The second and third, in particular, involved Thiago. He failed to stop Gabriel Martinelli on the edge of Arsenal’s box, allowing a counter-attack from the Gunners. The Spaniard then gave away the penalty on the third – though, we don’t blame him there.
In truth, everyone defended poorly against Arsenal except Joe Gomez. The midfield, in particular, looked vulnerable but there’s a good reason for that.
We said after Jurgen Klopp switched to a 4-4-2 that Arsenal’s players could beat it. Martin Odegaard, for instance, thrives on playing between the defensive lines. You’re always vulnerable to that when playing a flat midfield, especially in a two.
That’s exactly how the first goal happened. Yes, the midfield looked weak but they needed to shuffle across to cover the left-back spot. Once that happened, Odegaard easily found space to create a chance for Martinelli.
The third goal was relatively similar in that Arsenal made their way through Liverpool by playing between the lines. That’s where the space was, as it will be in a 4-4-2. You can always mitigate that by using defensively-sound, versatile centre-midfielders but Thiago isn’t that. He’s a possession player – someone who controls teams with the ball, rather than without.
Liverpool will naturally run into these problems, then, when up against top players. It was less evident against Rangers but Arsenal were exactly the right team to exploit someone like Thiago.
Yes, he defended poorly but Liverpool didn’t help with their system.
Receive a digest of our best Liverpool content each week direct to your mailbox
