11 - Thiago Alcantara

[barcetia]

if Thiago can eliminate those little lapses of concentration from his game he will definitely be one of the world's best over the next 5-10 years...

yup.

[FCBarca]

if Thiago can eliminate those little lapses of concentration from his game he will definitely be one of the world's best over the next 5-10 years...

Definitely and, unfortunately/predictably, he still had those moments of poor concentration tonight too...Hope he's ready for Pep barking at him for 90 min

Couldn't see tonights match. How would you all rate him in this game?

Had the assist on the 2nd goal along with Montoya...Generally, he was terrific...He was MOTM, for me, although Mata was equally as dangerous...Thiago, Munain & Mata were virtually unplayable really

[stokebarca]

Cheers FC. 3 good performances in a row, very consistent

[CesDel]

Couldn't see tonights match. How would you all rate him in this game?

MOTM for me, great trough ball for the 2nd goal, slipped through a pass to mata who was fouled inside the penalty area, was milimeter away from scoring after connecting with bojan, and made a brilliant pass to put bojan 1 on 1 with the keeper just for bojan lose the ball in the last moment..

[zanela]

Don't get y people are always nitpicking and focusing more on his negatives than the positives while reviewing his performances. Especially in a match where there was much of the latter on display. He orchestrated their midfield, central to everything good Spain created. He had a role in all 3 goals. It was his forging run and through ball to Montoya that got them the sec and his telling pass to Mata leading to the peno. His tracking back and interception helped Spain retain possession. He made forward runs when he saw an opportunity and offered an option in the final third. All in all, it was a balanced performance from the lad. Infact he was less wasteful than his other teammates (Iker, Ander and Javi) who lost the ball far more.

Just missed a shot off a nice find from Bojan!

Lets not forget it was his pass to Bojan that set it up in the first place. Another one towards the end which put him through on goal but the serb totally messed up. You knock a MF for going off target, yet a CF (whose job is to score) looked impotent in front of goal is not subject to any criticism.

[CesDel]

Don't get y people are always nitpicking and focusing more on his negatives than the positives while reviewing his performances. Especially in a match where there was much of the latter on display. He orchestrated their midfield, central to everything good Spain created. He had a role in all 3 goals. It was his forging run and through ball to Montoya that got them the sec and his telling pass to Mata leading to the peno. His tracking back and interception helped Spain retain possession. He made forward runs when he saw an opportunity and offered an option in the final third. All in all, it was a balanced performance from the lad. Infact he was less wasteful than his other teammates (Iker, Ander and Javi) who lost the ball far more.



Lets not forget it was his pass to Bojan that set it up in the first place. Another one towards the end which put him through on goal but the serb totally messed up. You knock a MF for going off target, yet a CF (whose job is to score) looked impotent in front of goal is not subject to any criticism.

That's what impressed me the most with him. I wonder how many ball he won back!

[jamrock]

Don't get y people are always nitpicking and focusing more on his negatives than the positives while reviewing his performances. Especially in a match where there was much of the latter on display. He orchestrated their midfield, central to everything good Spain created. He had a role in all 3 goals. It was his forging run and through ball to Montoya that got them the sec and his telling pass to Mata leading to the peno. His tracking back and interception helped Spain retain possession. He made forward runs when he saw an opportunity and offered an option in the final third. All in all, it was a balanced performance from the lad. Infact he was less wasteful than his other teammates (Iker, Ander and Javi) who lost the ball far more.




Lets not forget it was his pass to Bojan that set it up in the first place. Another one towards the end which put him through on goal but the serb totally messed up. You knock a MF for going off target, yet a CF (whose job is to score) looked impotent in front of goal is not subject to any criticism.

+1

[FCBarca]

Yeah, Thiago did win a fair number of balls back I have to say

[Metaphysical]

his best performance yet.

so much talent.

[caseballs89]

Don't get y people are always nitpicking and focusing more on his negatives than the positives while reviewing his performances.

I think the guy will be great but he does need to improve on them mistakes.

Its not the fact hat he gives the ball away, everybody gives the ball away sometimes even Xavi. Its how and where he gives it away. Two examples to illustrate my point of the top of my head, one in the first game against England he had the ball in the centre and played a pass first time without looking to Montoya and he hit either Welbeck or Sturridge right in the chest and then that forward launched an attack (nothing came of it but thats not the point) and then tonight in the first half he got closed down by one of the midfielders and tried to roll the ball backwards to turn the defender and lost the ball and then Ukraine were able to launch an attack. Now IMO there is nothing wrong with losing the ball in the attacking third when trying a through ball or something, it happens all the time in football but there are certain situations where keeping possession and doing something simple like playing a 5 yard pass to a teammate is better, the second example up there is one of those. Dudyk or whatever the left backs name is had moved past thiago (out of postion for himself defensively but in good position for an attack) and when something like that happens it is paramount that possession is kept, if the opposition wins the ball there defenders will find themselves in a position where they are outnumbered on the counter attack.

Now nothing came of either of those mistakes but in the CL and against Real the margin for error is very small and mistakes like those end in goals. But of course these are mistakes that young guys make and mistakes that as they get more experienced they stop making so I'm not hating on him it's just what I think is stopping him from moving from the good young player that he is to a great first team player (or world class player) that I think he will be.

Sorry for the long post

[barcetia]

I think the guy will be great but he does need to improve on them mistakes.

Its not the fact hat he gives the ball away, everybody gives the ball away sometimes even Xavi. Its how and where he gives it away. Two examples to illustrate my point of the top of my head, one in the first game against England he had the ball in the centre and played a pass first time without looking to Montoya and he hit either Welbeck or Sturridge right in the chest and then that forward launched an attack (nothing came of it but thats not the point) and then tonight in the first half he got closed down by one of the midfielders and tried to roll the ball backwards to turn the defender and lost the ball and then Ukraine were able to launch an attack. Now IMO there is nothing wrong with losing the ball in the attacking third when trying a through ball or something, it happens all the time in football but there are certain situations where keeping possession and doing something simple like playing a 5 yard pass to a teammate is better, the second example up there is one of those. Dudyk or whatever the left backs name is had moved past thiago (out of postion for himself defensively but in good position for an attack) and when something like that happens it is paramount that possession is kept, if the opposition wins the ball there defenders will find themselves in a position where they are outnumbered on the counter attack.

Now nothing came of either of those mistakes but in the CL and against Real the margin for error is very small and mistakes like those end in goals. But of course these are mistakes that young guys make and mistakes that as they get more experienced they stop making so I'm not hating on him it's just what I think is stopping him from moving from the good young player that he is to a great first team player (or world class player) that I think he will be.

Sorry for the long post

sorry for the long post?! stop it right there... i'd rather have people trying get their analysises right which you learn alot from, instead of hitting one liners and smilies. i agree with you especially the bold part.

[FCBarca]

Definitely hit the nail on the head there, caseballs89...Caseballs?...Really?

[caseballs89]

Definitely hit the nail on the head there, caseballs89...Caseballs?...Really?

I don't know what you are getting at with this?

[USWAY]

Lets not forget it was his pass to Bojan that set it up in the first place. Another one towards the end which put him through on goal but the serb totally messed up. You knock a MF for going off target, yet a CF (whose job is to score) looked impotent in front of goal is not subject to any criticism.

Not criticizing him. Just pointing out what happened. I also think people are a bit over critical of him. He's playing like the best player on Spain's U-21 right now and has most likely had the least La liga experience on the squad which is damn impressive. But it's not like what they're saying isn't true. But that stuff comes with experience so it's to be expected.

We've seen everything that's wrong with Bojan already, that's why he's almost sure to get loaned out.

[iookram]

Amazing performance so far in all 3 matches. As you guys have said, he just needs to cut out/minimize his mistakes.

Only 1 possible negative point(vs Ukraine) really, after effectively sealing off the match, Thiago seemed a little too casual and passed a ball way out of play and Ukraine had a throw in. BUT yeah he bucked up and returned to his top level after that moment.