Jurgen Klopp has offered some insight into why he substituted Liverpool left-back Kostas Tsimikas at half-time last night.
Tsimikas was one of three players hauled off by Klopp with the Reds trailing Brentford 2-0 at the break. Harvey Elliott and Virgil van Dijk were also taken off, for different reasons. And speaking to Sky Sports via LFCTV, the manager explained the thinking behind changing his left-back.
“On the left side it was different – we needed a left-back going in behind, you could see from the first situation of Robbo going in behind we get a corner. These things we should have done more [in the first-half],” he explained.
Liverpool were noticeably more dynamic down the left when Robertson entered the fray. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough, as Brentford punished more sloppy defending to seal their win.
Tsimikas drawing negative attention
This is something that was actually really evident during the first-half. With Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain also unwilling to go past his man, quite a few attacks broke down on the Liverpool left.
Still, there were a couple of occasions where Tsimikas did manage to get in-behind. He should have done better with a chance that could have levelled the scores, and found himself well place in the Brentford area once or twice more, too.
Clearly, Klopp had seen enough, though.
Given the energy that Robertson brought, it had looked like possibly being a key change by the manager. But after an early flurry Liverpool just couldn’t test Brentford enough.
What it did show though, is that the Scotland captain is still very much Liverpool’s first choice left-back.
Last night was a good opportunity for Tsimikas to prove otherwise. But between this comment here and the post-match mention of his missed chance in the first-half, he seems to have caught Klopp’s eye in a negative way.
As a result, it may be a little while until we see the 26-year-old back in the starting line-up in the Premier League.
However, Tsimikas should still be given chances to turn things around. Liverpool have an FA Cup game this weekend, and that will likely give the Greek the perfect stage to put last night’s performance out of his, and Klopp’s, mind.
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