Relax! Stay on your feet! Concerned Liverpool fans urge star to take it easy

Concerned Liverpool fans have urged Thiago to take it easy during his approach for the Tottenham Hotspur game.

The Spaniard lunged in on a few challenges during the Spurs fixture, one of which earned him a yellow card – the only player of the half to pick up a caution.

Thiago has been an important part of the side since he returned from injury, and is clearly looking to make up for the lost time. That means he’s been putting in a heroic effort, but is he trying to do too much?

When you’re new and unproven, by Premier League standards, it’s easy to try and force things to show the entire league your quality. Maybe Thiago has been guilty of that at times.

Jurgen Klopp played him a little further forward, with Gini Wijnaldum and James Milner operating next to him, and the Spaniard looked a lot better.

Liverpool and Thiago look better

This advanced role is where he’s had great success in the past, and it’s good to see Klopp give Thiago that license to impact play closer to the opposition goal.

The Reds need their elite players to be at their best, especially after such a bad start to the year. No goals since 2021 broke was vanquished by Roberto Firmino, perhaps the least likely goalscorer of the front three, but this team still has a lot of work to do before they’re back to their best.

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Thiago can be a massive part of that as he’s skilled enough to provide the creativity and the ammunition to Sadio Mane, Mohamed Salah and Firmino.

Will he be able to continue in this role? The suspected injury to Joel Matip and Fabinho’s absence through a muscle strain might require the former Bayern Munich man to play a more defensive role in the next few games – especially if Jordan Henderson will return to center-back.