Midcourt upgrade! What is Diego's magic that fascinates Liverpool so much?

On September 19, Liverpool officially announced the signing of Bayern midfielder Tiago alcantara, and the transfer fee of 20 million pounds plus 5 million pounds made the deal very cost-effective. What role will Tiago play in klopp's tactical system? What changes can he bring to the midfield of the Red Army? Through the analysis of this article, we will try to understand whether Tiago's joining Liverpool is beneficial to both sides.

The highlight of Tiago's game comes from his impressive passing ability. The midfielder usually sits deep, and he has enough ability to send a threatening long pass near the arc top of the middle circle, just like his short pass. In the next game picture, we can see that Tiago almost fell in the position of the defense line with Davis, Alabama and Kimic. When Schalke was forced to withdraw the defense line, Bayern's midfield was almost on the same level as the front line, so their number on the offensive end was basically the same as that of the other side.

This situation is largely due to the opponent's fear of Tiago's passing ability. The Spaniard's pass can directly bypass the midfield and enter the last third area, which will immediately put pressure on the opponent's defense, so the opponent will intensify the compression of the defensive line and midfield formation. However, Tiago's precise long pass makes the opponent's tactics of compressing formation very dangerous, because he will use the space caused by the opponent's retreat to send a more threatening long pass.

In the above game between Bayern and Hoffenheim, we once again witnessed his excellent passing ability. Tiago made sure he was in the best position before catching the ball at half-time. The 29-year-old Spaniard had four or five options to pass the ball back, but he soon found the winger at the top of the picture running on the flank. This position is very similar to that of Salah and Manet in Liverpool. Obviously, Tiago's passing ability will provide more offensive options for these two prolific strikers, which will mean that Liverpool can transfer the ball to the weak defensive side to attack opponents in a wide range after having Tiago.

Considering that Tiago is usually in the backcourt, we need to know his defense and dribbling ability. Tiago in front of the central defender often retreats to the back line, which means that he will also play a vital role in defense. If the team attacks from the backcourt, he must rely on his personal ability to get rid of his opponent before finding the passing route, and then his ability to hold and push the ball becomes very important.

In the Champions League match between Bayern and Chelsea, Chelsea effectively created a three-on-three situation in the frontcourt. They just need to pass the ball again and get an excellent chance to score. But Tiago predicted this situation in advance. He knew that Bayern would probably be scored by the other side if he didn't return to help defend. In the end, Tiago's timely withdrawal successfully interfered with the opponent's pass. In this very difficult situation, his ability to assist defense through timely withdrawal was impressive, which also showed that he had never given up his defensive duties.

In another Champions League match between Bayern and Red Star Belgrade, we once again saw Tiago's wisdom in defense. He is in a good position in midfield and can pass and turn easily. When Tiago felt danger, he moved from the back line to the midfield to help stop the opponent from advancing the attack. Although Tiago's midfield teammates gave the opposing players room to attack (black area in the picture), the Spaniard had already entered this area in advance, and his accurate prediction and active defense completely stifled the possibility of the opposing team's attack moving forward.

Although we saw his impressive defensive ability in a deeper position, Tiago also has the ability to hold the ball and advance the attack. In the game picture above, we can see that Tiago has successfully bypassed the four defenders of Mainz, thus creating a space for teammates to catch the ball in the penalty area. He also created space for himself at the front of the restricted area (black area in the picture), allowing him to cut into the middle horizontally, posing a greater threat to the opponent's defense. Tiago's excellent footwork technology enables him to easily defeat his opponent, and a series of actions in the picture also prove that he can create offensive opportunities for himself and his teammates alone, which undoubtedly increases his threat on the offensive end.

Next, let's take a look at the data comparison between Tiago and other Liverpool midfielders in attack and defense, which will help us to analyze what Tiago can bring to Liverpool more intuitively and systematically. The pace of the Premier League is faster, and the Bundesliga is one of the leagues with the highest scoring data in Europe. The Premier League needs players to find a balance between technology and physical fitness, while the Bundesliga is more inclined to the influence of players' skills. Tiago has moved from the Bundesliga to the Premier League. We don't expect him to copy the Bundesliga data directly, but through his data in the Bundesliga, we will at least have a general judgment on Tiago.

In the defensive confrontation, Naby Keita obviously performed better. He can contribute 8.48 confrontations every 90 minutes, with a success rate of 69.88%. Although the Guinean has limited time to play for the Red Army, as long as he is on the field, his work efficiency and ability will attract everyone's attention. Tiago ranked second with a success rate of 67.4 1%, and was behind Keita, Fabio and Henderson with 6.48 defensive confrontations per game.

In air confrontation, Tiago is far ahead of other Liverpool midfielders and can contribute 3.89 air confrontations every 90 minutes. Although the success rate of Tiago's 4 1.98% air confrontation is not too high, it has shown that Spaniards are not afraid and shy to compete with each other for air balls. Among the current Liverpool midfielders, Fabinho leads other players with 2.76 aerial confrontations every 90 minutes, with a success rate of 65.22%. Although the Brazilian's success rate is far behind Tiago, he is still far ahead of other midfielders. Vienna is closest to Fabio with 2.25 air confrontations every 90 minutes, Chamberlain ranks third with 2.2 1 confrontation every 90 minutes, and Keita (1.63) and Henderson (1.44) are 1.63 and 6544 respectively.

Tiago can contribute 8.39 interceptions per game, only Keita's 7.9 1 is close to him, followed by Fabio's 6.99438+0. Although Chamberlain played less time than Henderson, his 6.69 interception was obviously more efficient than Henderson's 5.9. Vijnadum, who played the most time, didn't perform well in this competition. He contributed the lowest 5.22 interceptions for Liverpool.

Chamberlain leads 4.03 times every 90 minutes, but his success rate is only 44.44%. Although Tiago only has 3.93 passes every 90 minutes, his success rate of 62.2% is second only to Keita (2.66 passes every 90 minutes, with a success rate of 73.08%). The success rate of other Liverpool midfielders is between 45% and 50%, while Fabinho is not good at passing the ball, with only 0.68 passes every 90 minutes.

Tiago's excellent passing ability is also reflected in his statistics. The number of passes made by Spaniards to the penultimate area every 90 minutes is 13.43, and the accuracy rate is 84.64%. Followed by Keita (83.8 1%) and Vijnadum (90.95438+0%), the success rate of both Liverpool midfielders exceeded 80%. In terms of passing times, Henderson passes the ball to the last third area 12.29 times every 90 minutes, which is very close to Tiago. Keita behind Henderson passes to the penultimate zone every 90 minutes 10.73 times. Among the remaining players, Venadoum has the highest accuracy, but he can only contribute 5.72 passes to the last third every 90 minutes, which is the lowest.

In terms of gradual passing, Tiago is far ahead of other Liverpool midfielders with passes every 90 minutes 13.58. Henderson, ranked second, only contributed 10.32 times, and the accuracy rate of 84.25% was still lower than that of Tiago's 86.57%. Keita once again ranked first with a success rate of 92.05%, but his gradual pass every 90 minutes was only 8.99 times.

The last indicator we want to compare is the expectation of assists every 90 minutes. In this data comparison, Keita ranked first with 0.22 expected assists every 90 minutes. Although Henderson ranks second, his expected assists per 90 minutes are only 0.09, and other players' expected assists are even lower. Surprisingly, Tiago's expected assists are only 0.02 at the bottom. Considering that both Liverpool and Bayern have strong scoring ability, it is really surprising to see that a midfielder's expected assists are so low. But if we analyze the play style of the players of the two teams, maybe we can find out the cause of the problem. Liverpool attack with wingers and full-backs, so does Bayern. In this case, the defensive midfielder often has to retreat to provide more cover for the central defender, while the full-back is responsible for advancing the attack. Although players like Tiago have excellent passing data, we should understand that their passing does not always translate directly into goals, which is why they don't have high expectations for assists. We can also understand that their contribution to the offensive end will not be fully reflected in these statistics.

Through the above analysis, we not only know Tiago's playing style, but also compare him with other Liverpool midfielders. We have seen his performance last season, and according to the available data, why Liverpool signed the Spaniard seems to be a problem that needs no further consideration.

The 29-year-old Spanish midfielder has proved himself to be a world-class midfielder. He only needs to spend 25 million pounds for Liverpool, which is undoubtedly a good deal for the club. At the same time, if Vijnadum can successfully transfer to Barcelona, he will also compensate the club for the transfer funds. Tiago's arrival has once again improved Liverpool's midfield, and klopp no longer has to worry about the impact of Venadoum's departure on the club's midfield.