Arne Slot surprised a few people with his starting XI selection to face RB Leipzig on Wednesday.
The Reds are in the middle of a really tough run of fixtures and coming sandwiched between games against Chelsea and Arsenal, Slot had been expected to rotate.
Despite the impending clash with the Gunners, though, the Liverpool head coach made only three changes to the team which beat Chelsea.
Cody Gakpo kept his place despite Luis Diaz only featuring from the bench at the weekend, while one of the changes saw Kostas Tsimikas come in behind him.
That gave Liverpool a new-look left-side which caused Leipzig some real problems. Gakpo’s performance was praised by TNT Sports, while Tsimikas eventually ended up with the official man of the match award.
And speaking after the game, Gakpo took time out to praise the left-back who occasionally flies a little under the radar.
Cody Gakpo reveals Kostas Tsimikas ‘connection’
Tsimikas could easily have been sold over the summer. The 28-year-old has never been a regular starter at Liverpool and there was a feeling that his time could have been up.
Nevertheless, having eventually stayed put, Tsimikas has been involved a lot under Slot.
The RB Leipzig game gave the Greek his third start of the campaign, while he’s featured another five times from the bench.
For each of his three starts so far, Tsimikas has had Gakpo playing ahead of him on the left wing.
READ MORE: Frank Leboeuf raves about ‘very special’ Liverpool player after win over RB Leipzig
And speaking to LFCTV, the Dutch attacker suggested that he’s enjoying playing with Tsimikas and is building a ‘good connection’ on the left side.
“I think Kosti did very good,” said Gakpo. “I play together with him on the left, I think we have a good connection. He makes the overlap, I try to play him in, sometimes I go inside.
“Also with the goal I got the ball and he made a good run, I gave it to him, then great cross and a good header from Mo and then Darwin scored.
“He was very involved and also defensively, he stood his ground,” added the 25-year-old. “So, a very good performance from him. He got man of the match so that says it all. Very happy with him.”
Jamie Carragher agrees with Cody Gakpo
It stands to reason that two players playing together in close proximity more often than not are going to build up an understanding of each other’s games.
For Liverpool’s most successful years under Jurgen Klopp, Andy Robertson and Sadio Mane were linking up on the Reds’ left. They worked together beautifully.
Since Mane’s departure, it has been a bit more difficult for Robertson to build that connection again. Luis Diaz has spent a lot of time there, but Gakpo, Darwin Nunez and even Diogo Jota have played, too.
When rotation happens it makes it more difficult for players to develop those wirings. That makes Tsimikas’ link-up with Gakpo all the more impressive.
Interestingly, Jamie Carragher has also noted Gakpo and Tsimikas’ partnership. Carragher hailed the work the two did during the Carabao Cup win over West Ham in September and things have evidently got even better since then.
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