Jurgen Klopp has said it is just as well that Thiago Alcantara’s critics don’t run Liverpool after saying there was no doubt he would suit their style of football.
The Spain international is in the finest form of his career at Anfield after excelling in Tuesday’s 4-0 thrashing of Manchester United.
But he endured a difficult debut year at Anfield, missing 10 weeks with a knee injury caused by a Richarlison challenge in his first Merseyside derby, and struggling as a holding midfielder when Liverpool’s defensive injuries meant Fabinho had to play as a centre-back.
Thiago was accused of slowing Liverpool’s game down and conceding too many free kicks and suggestions he did not fit in with their high-tempo football but Klopp said the former Bayern Munich and Barcelona player always had the footballing intelligence to adapt.
“People were questioning if he suits our football?” said a surprised Klopp. “Thank God these people don’t make decisions.
“If a player is calming a game down in moments due to a lot of reasons - one of them is just to have a look, or whatever - it is of course nothing we thought.
“It is more important Thiago wanted to join us and he knew how we played. He is a real football person and thinks a lot about football. He knew how we played and he knew he we would fit in and we knew it as well.
“It is always about being fit and staying fit and getting used to the slight differences to the former club, whatever these things are in different teams. Then you can go from there. Thiago had only one problem, he was injured and it started with an Everton game, to be honest. That didn’t help. It was never a question if he would suit us. We only signed him because we knew he would help us.”
Naby Keita has also excelled of late after another injury-hit Liverpool career but Klopp harked back to their time in Germany to illustrate why he signed them.
“When Naby was fit and Naby could get some rhythm he was always really good, unfortunately he could not get as much rhythm as he wished and as we wished in the past. Maybe that’s over now,” he said, knocking on the wood of the desk.
“Hopefully the future is bright for him, he is a great player. The year before [Keita signed] it was Keita and Thiago were the two best midfielders in the Bundesliga by a distance. So to first get Naby and then Thiago, was obviously a good idea.”
