Liverpool fans were fairly excited when we signed £12m Kostas Tsimikas in the summer to bolster our defensive ranks.
He’d looked great in the Europa League and seemingly had the attributes to take the considerable burden off Andy Robertson’s back.
But midway through April, Tsimikas has played a pitiful five minutes of Premier League football, and only a small part of that absence now can be explained by his injury and contracting of covid-19.
James Pearce of the Athletic has discussed the situation in length – and explained how the Greek would have likely played more if we’d have had our trusted central defenders and not stand-by options.
“Earning the manager’s trust clearly remains a work in progress. Tsimikas isn’t the first Klopp signing to require a lengthy bedding-in period and staff point to the injuries, which impacted on how much training time he’s had. They continue to work with him on his positional play and insist he’s making progress. He’s a popular character with his team-mates and has struck up a particular friendship with Salah,” he writes…
“Klopp’s reluctance to use Tsimikas is also linked to the club’s upheaval at centre-back this season. With so much chopping and changing at the heart of the defence, he hasn’t felt that the time was right to throw in a left-back who is still learning the ropes.”
Whatever why it’s been painted, Tsimikas would have played if Klopp thought he was good enough – it’s not rocket science.
It’s the same reason Ben Davies hasn’t played a minute of football for Liverpool and might leave before he ever does so…
We actually thought Tsimikas looked alright when deployed in cup competitions, but when the team is bereft of leadership due to the injuries of Jordan Henderson and Virgil van Dijk, you can’t be taking Robbo out as well.