Kostas Tsimikas was keeping an eye out from the sidelines as Liverpool won 3-1 over Spurs at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Thursday night. This is a must-have job for the left-back since receiving £ 11.75m from Olympiakos last summer.
His first five months in England have been missed by misfortune. An advanced coronavirus test put him on his own ahead of the season’s opening weekend and since then he has been ruled out with timeless injuries to his thigh and knee. As if it were hard enough to compete for a place with Andrew Robertson.
Tsimikas has been limited to just four appearances as a result, one in the 7-2 win over Lincoln in the Carabao Cup back in September and the others against Atalanta and Midtjylland in the League of Nations. Heroes. His performances were encouraging in those games but this was not the first time he or Liverpool had expected.
“It’s a difficult start but for me this one was very, very difficult and difficult because I had never been injured in my previous team,” he says. Sky Sports.
“I was unlucky, this is happening in football, but okay, I’m always looking forward. I’m a progressive guy and I keep going. I fell. I’ve been down twice but I’m here again, 100 percent decent and ready to help my team. “
That idea was part of the draw for Liverpool as they try to deepen their left-back position at the end of last season – “I like his mind,” said Jurgen Klopp when the securing approval – but it was his ability and potential for development that led him to give the club a five – year contract.
Liverpool’s recruiting team looked at the 24-year-old, a dynamic offensive specialist described as more of a “defensive winger” than a full-back by Greek national coach John van ‘t Schip, and Klopp liked what he also saw.
“They beat me for about a year and watched all the games I played with Olympiakos,” he says. “I couldn’t believe it when I heard about the interest until I spoke to the manager and he said, ‘We want you here’.
“We talked about the team and my abilities. He said I liked my abilities and what I had done in the games I played for Olympiakos. When you hear this manager talking about your positively, you just want to come here and do your best for the team. I was excited and very happy. “
3:08
Look at what Liverpool won from Tottenham
Tsimikas had a taste for beating England with Olympiakos last season, playing against Tottenham in the Champions League and earning praise for his performances against Arsenal and Wolves in the Europa League .
But having been an unused substitute in Liverpool ‘s last three games, he now wants to make his final try in the Premier League.
“When I’m on the bench I signal as if I’m playing but of course every player wants to play,” he says.
“The Premier League is the most competitive league in the world. I haven’t had a chance to play yet because I was injured but there are some really good players here and that’s why I was interested. to come.
“I’m waiting for my chance. I just want to be as fit as I can be every day and give it my all in training when I’m on the field. – and the hope that I will not be hurt again. “
Tsimikas delivers the final line with a cuckoo but there were trial times during his time out and he is thankful for his family, who have moved to Liverpool with him, and his two dogs, Maui and Fuerte, who feature prominently on his Instagram page and who, in his words, are “loved as kids”, want to help him through it.
“We’re all here, my family and my dogs, and we’re very happy, we really like it,” he says. “The lock-in situation means we don’t have time to visit the city but I hope that when everything is open again we can do it and enjoy it too.”
Tsimikas has received a lot of support from Liverpool as well – “everyone here has been very friendly and very nice to me,” he says – and it also helps that the move was not England his first overseas. As a young player at Olympiakos, he had loan spells with Esbjerg in Denmark and Willem II in the Netherlands.
They helped him develop as a player as well as a man.
“The Danish league was very physical, which helped me a lot,” he says. “After that, Holland helped with the offensive game. Everything I have done along the path that I have followed so far has helped me come here and be competitive and ready for this challenge. “
0:33
Jurgen Klopp says Liverpool are looking for the ‘right player’ to help resolve the defensive injury crisis but insists there is no £ 80m compensation to sell.
Tsimikas needs to change to another new style of football as well as a new country in Liverpool and admits that Klopp’s approach, which puts a lot of pressure on both backers, has taken time to grow. used to it.
“At first it was a bit difficult to understand how they play but now, after several months, I know exactly what the coach wants and the plan he has,” he says.
Klopp’s personal massage has helped.
“We talk a lot about careers and how I want to play and contribute,” says Tsimikas. “He’s the best coach in the world every day. the training I am always learning.
“Whatever he tells me, I need to listen and learn from him.”
He has also tried to learn from his partner Robertson.
“He’s a really good player and a really good guy too,” Tsimikas said. “Of course it helps me because he ‘s played for a number of years in the Premier League and in England. When I see him in the games and even in training, he’ s very passionate, like me.
“I think I have the ability to be fast, I have a good cross and I’m very good at defense, but I’m also very passionate about what I do on the pitch and I want to help the team achieve as much as I can. “
Tsimikas is already very popular around the club despite his limited involvement in the first half of the season and has built a very close relationship with Mohamed Salah.
“He is very friendly and a very good boy,” he says. “We spend a lot of time here in the training field. We drink coffee and talk together. He’s a good friend of mine. We’re always together and it has really helped me to to the team. “
All that is left for Tsimikas now is to seize his chances when he gets them. Robertson has played more minutes than any other Liverpool player in the Premier League this season and as the games go up, the need to rotate will increase. “I will be ready,” said Tsimikas, “and I will take everything.”
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