I know I'm not the only one that expected a bigger impact from Thiago this season who just turned 21.

He has shown he is capable of doing some solid defensive work and putting in good tackles but otherwise he has been slightly disappointing imo.

I still have complete faith in him and that he will realize his potential and become a top player by the way. Personally i think he will do big things in his second season with the first team. i think Pep will give him more time with Keita hopefully on his way out.

thiago has been great, his technique has improved, doesnt score as many screamers but has nice touches overall. His best attribute that has increased is his pressuring of the referee. And I think he can become even better

This real madrid fan is pretty pathetic...

On the question.. Not really. He has had his ups and down but you have to remember that he is just 21 years old.

Thiago is a player I like but his style is not suited for Barcelona. The truth is I don't want him to change his instinct and nature of play because he has plenty of qualities that a lot of teams would largely benefit from. I think he should go to Italy. He would succeed in a team like Milan - big time.

To be able to succeed in Barcelona, you need to have a great awareness of the play; look at Xavi, whether he is in possession of the ball or not, he is always looking around, for players, for spaces. Also you should be good at passing and his passes were very bad today, always miss-hit either too strong or too slow. And it is obvious he wants to play further up the pitch. Tonight, as a CM he didn't make himself available for the players to pass to as much as I would have liked him to.

For Barça, Javi Martínez would be a better suit.

I don't believe he has disappointed, does get good touches and passes just not Messi/Iniesta/Xavi level, if he were to stay at this level throughout his career he wouldn't be completely useless just a nice sub to have.

No, because I didn't actually expect Thiago to get much playing time this season with Cesc's arrival. He just had one of his worst matches, so it's perhaps not the best time to judge him objectively. I honestly didn't expect world class performances from a 20 year old.

Im slightly (almost majorly tbh) baffled by this thread.

I felt he had a very good game, better than Xavi, better than Cesc, better than Iniesta, better than Busquets.

And I feel he has had a very good season on top of that, showing a defensive edge I had no idea he had. 9 times out of 10, when he plays he does very well and the level in the midfield barely drops.

Very composed on the ball, today too and makes passes and doesnt take too much time on the ball, looking to move it quickly.

Again, im very confused by this thread. Perhaps someone can explain what he did wrong today and overall how he hasnt had a good season.

Nope, because I don't expect much from him, I call him Legrester. He is used to give rest Xavi, Iniesta and I'm fine with that. He lacks vision and has poor final ball. I don't think he will be superstar in the future, good squad player, maybe starter, but not a star. I'm very happy that we bought Cesc, who no matter what alexjanosik and the rest of haters will say is a much better player than Thiago. For now, Thiago is good legrester, did fine job tonight to give some rest to Don, now for Chelsea and Madrid games there is fine place to him - Bench.

matpol wrote:Nope, because I don't expect much from him, I call him Legrester. He is used to give rest Xavi, Iniesta and I'm fine with that. He lacks vision and has poor final ball. I don't think he will be superstar in the future, good squad player, maybe starter, but not a star. I'm very happy that we bought Cesc, who no matter what alexjanosik and the rest of haters will say is a much better player than Thiago. For now, Thiago is good legrester, did fine job tonight to give some rest to Don, now for Chelsea and Madrid games there is fine place to him - Bench.

\

Wow :/

Just for enquiry what position did he play today?

The Franchise wrote:Im slightly (almost majorly tbh) baffled by this thread.

I felt he had a very good game, better than Xavi, better than Cesc, better than Iniesta, better than Busquets.

And I feel he has had a very good season on top of that, showing a defensive edge I had no idea he had. 9 times out of 10, when he plays he does very well and the level in the midfield barely drops.

Very composed on the ball, today too and makes passes and doesnt take too much time on the ball, looking to move it quickly.

Again, im very confused by this thread. Perhaps someone can explain what he did wrong today and overall how he hasnt had a good season.

This... I don't get this thread. I thought he was our best player today. He was much better than Cesc, did fantastically. He's been good all season too. He hasn't shone like a beacon, but he hasn't looked out of place either. When the players you are fitting in with are Xavi and Iniesta, that is quite an achievement. He is better defensively than both of them too and controls games better than Cesc.

The Franchise wrote:Im slightly (almost majorly tbh) baffled by this thread.

I felt he had a very good game, better than Xavi, better than Cesc, better than Iniesta, better than Busquets.

I personally felt he was imprecise when he needed to be decisive. He had two very clear chances early in the game, and gave the ball away to Kone which resulted in their best chance the entire game, and probably would've scored had it not been for Puyol. In addition to that I seem to recall some imprecise passes, but he was very composed on the ball. I personally felt like this wasn't his best game in a while, but he wasn't terrible by any means.

I think you guys are making a bit much of a couple poor headers to be honest.

What Dani said lol, plus he's just a kid his finishing aside which is far from the most important thing as a CM he's been great IMO.

Also he was better than all the midfielders as Dani keenly pointed out.

Another id like to point out before Iniesta came on he was better than Messi tonight who was average until Iniesta came on.

Seriously i wonder what goes through peoples minds sometimes..... Cesc? he's utterly useless for Barca if he doesnt score.

I would really like to know what more you expected from Thiago? he's been great imo.

Also one more thing what was Xavi and Iniesta doing at Thiago's age?

Yh that's what i thought.

The Franchise wrote:Again, im very confused by this thread. Perhaps someone can explain what he did wrong today and overall how he hasnt had a good season.

He missed 3 very good chances before Levante scored and didn't care. He looked just like in Milan game in 1/4 of UCL when he missed sitter - yeah, who cares we will win anyway. I don't like his attitude. Some sloppy passes, give away ball to Kone, who would have scored if Puyol didn't stop him. His last really good game was at San Siro UCL Group stage vs Milan, he is average for months with no end product and sloppy passes. He will give rest one of Xavi/Iniesta/Cesc during Rayo game when he will probably start, now 3 games in the row of riding the bench for him. Legrester :dance:

P.S When Busquets arrived, I knew that he will make it and be a starter in this team. With Thiago I don't feel it. Hopefully he will prove me wrong, but I think of him as a squad player. I wouldn't be surprised if he moves to the other team in 4-5 years due to still not being starter there. Hopefully he will prove me wrong and justify hype surrounding him.

Pretty much agree with all of matpol's post except I believe he can be a starter in a different team. He's better than most young midfielders in Serie A.

I'm sure Xavi at Thiago's age didn't have the chameleon eyes and awareness that we know him for now. Give Thiago time, he'll develop it.

For the record I don't think Thiago will be a Xavi replacement(no-one can really do that tbf) but I think he offers something completely new(like Cesc).

Also, he had some great games this season, while he had some bad ones. The players are not machines, you can't expect them to maintain a very high intensity week in/week out(as we have seen this season)

shinigami99 wrote:I'm sure Xavi at Thiago's age didn't have the chameleon eyes and awareness that we know him for now. Give Thiago time, he'll develop it.

For the record I don't think Thiago will be a Xavi replacement(no-one can really do that tbf) but I think he offers something completely new(like Cesc).

Also, he had some great games this season, while he had some bad ones. The players are not machines, you can't expect them to maintain a very high intensity week in/week out(as we have seen this season)

Majority of the fans didn't think that much of Iniesta in his early 20's, not everyone is a messi/neymar/sergio busquet.

BarrileteCosmico wrote:

The Franchise wrote:Im slightly (almost majorly tbh) baffled by this thread.

I felt he had a very good game, better than Xavi, better than Cesc, better than Iniesta, better than Busquets.

I personally felt he was imprecise when he needed to be decisive. He had two very clear chances early in the game, and gave the ball away to Kone which resulted in their best chance the entire game, and probably would've scored had it not been for Puyol. In addition to that I seem to recall some imprecise passes, but he was very composed on the ball. I personally felt like this wasn't his best game in a while, but he wasn't terrible by any means.

This.

I'm not going to overcomplicate my feelings or how I think people should feel about him.

If you were expecting much more, you have had too high expectations. I on the other hand have been more than satisfied.

EDIT: I thought he had a very average game. While on average he had some better touches and all than Fab, Iniesta, or even Xavi, he almost gifted a goal and had a couple opportunities himself he failed to convert. Other than that, great, but still a very average game imo

This thread has nothing to do with todays game first of all, which I wasnt too impressed with by the way. Just because he was better than Messi doesnt mean he was good himself. messi was poor today, not hard to see.

Anyway I guess I'm the only one who had higher expectations from him this season here, but I know I'm not alone with this opinion. Dont get me wrong though I dont think he had a below par season, I just thought he would breakthrough.

Like Fabregas, Thiago needs time and Im sure Pep knows that. He knows that he hasn't got the full potential of Fabriago and he will be working of those two hopefully next season (if he signs an extension contract, which he should). He definately will improve more as a player in seasons to come and hopefully wioll be the player everyone is expecting.

The Franchise wrote:Im slightly (almost majorly tbh) baffled by this thread.

I felt he had a very good game, better than Xavi, better than Cesc, better than Iniesta, better than Busquets.

And I feel he has had a very good season on top of that, showing a defensive edge I had no idea he had. 9 times out of 10, when he plays he does very well and the level in the midfield barely drops.

Very composed on the ball, today too and makes passes and doesnt take too much time on the ball, looking to move it quickly.

Again, im very confused by this thread. Perhaps someone can explain what he did wrong today and overall how he hasnt had a good season.

This and more.
Another game with Cesc and another game in which he out performs Cesc The Lost Lamb Fabregas.
In every single game the 2 of them have played Thiago has out performed Cesc and yet supposedly Thiago has disappointed.
Yesterday imo Thigao was our best player after Cuenca.Since when did we start judging our midfielders by missed chances.By that reckoning matpol your favorite player Iniesta is an average one.
Thiago is passing at 93% for the season(thats better than Xavi),completes over 80 passes a game and has shown that he is a terrific defender in midfield.He has shown exquisite skill when called upon and has been far better at controlling the midfield than the Lost Lamb.
He has been brilliant this season.So I dont think he has been disappointing in the least.

I think some Barca fans have a bad complex about Cesc. The OP didn't even mention him and yet he somehow gets bashed.

Thiago is a fantastic player.He outperforms Cesc every game who by the way offers nothing but scoring goals which he hasnt done in a period of time.Danjyr thats utterly stupid.Thiago would start in Arsenal,Chelsea,United,City,Inter,Milan and maybe in Juve over marchisio.

vivabarca38 wrote:Thiago is a fantastic player.He outperforms Cesc every game who by the way offers nothing but scoring goals which he hasnt done in a period of time.Danjyr thats utterly stupid.Thiago would start in Arsenal,Chelsea,United,City,Inter,Milan and maybe in Juve over marchisio.

No he wouldn't start over Song, Arteta and Wilshere.

urbaNRoots wrote:I think some Barca fans have a bad complex about Cesc. The OP didn't even mention him and yet he somehow gets bashed.

No. Alex has a complex about Cesc.

The rest of us just compare the two because its the natural thing to do. They are our two backups and many see them as our 2 future mids.

Oh, and I'm sure he would play loads of games if he was at Arsenal. In fact, now that I think of it... He'd definitely start over Arteta...