Jurgen Klopp has spoken out in defence of Thiago Alcantara, who has been the subject of criticism for his performances in recent weeks.
“He came in late, which is just the nature of some transfers, then he got COVID, got injured, and still had to adapt to a new team and a team which was not exactly flying with no problems at all,” said the Liverpool boss.
“We’ve had to rebuild the team pretty much every three days because of changing the last line and changing a lot of things, so that’s just really unlucky for Thiago.
“But he has played some exceptional games and had some exceptional moments on the pitch, and he is so respected in the squad.
“It’s just a public perception. ‘Oh, Thiago is in and we don’t perform well anymore.’ These kind of things are just bullshit, let me say it like that. They are just not right.
“Everybody needs time to adapt. Bayern played a different style, in a different league, and were much more dominant in the Bundesliga than any team can be in the Premier League.
“So, that’s all different, but thank God, we are all smart enough to judge the situation correctly here. Thiago can play better football, yes, of course, but we all can play better football. No doubt about it.”
