Kostas Tsimikas impressed for Liverpool on Tuesday night as he created five chances in the 2-1 win over Ajax.
Liverpool simply had to win this game.
Last week’s 4-1 thrashing at the hands of Napoli left many worried with Liverpool’s direction and their Champions League hopes.
It wasn’t easy, but Liverpool did get back to winning ways with a very late Joel Matip winner.
Mohammed Kudus had cancelled out Mohamed Salah’s opener but Liverpool managed to bang down the Ajax door and secure the late win.
Kostas Tsimikas impressed for Liverpool
This still wasn’t vintage Liverpool but Jurgen Klopp won’t care – he just needed a win to get Liverpool’s Champions League campaign up and running.
A number of players turned in strong performances though and one of them was left back Kostas Tsimikas.
The Greek defender was given a start because Andrew Robertson has suffered a knee injury and wasn’t available.
This felt like a big opportunity for Tsimikas; almost entirely seen as Robertson’s deputy, Tsimikas had a chance to show his quality going forward.
You have to say that Tsimikas did that.
Opta’s Michael Reid has tweeted that Tsimikas racked up five created chances against Ajax – a new record for him in a single game for Liverpool.
One of those chances created was for the winning goal as Tsimikas crossed for Matip to score.
That tweet adds that Tsimikas is now averaging an assist every 74 minutes this season, which is a hugely impressive record.
The 26-year-old is piling the pressure on Robertson now.
At a time where Liverpool are maybe searching for new ideas and approaches to try and get back to top form, Tsimikas is closing that gap to Robertson rapidly.
Tsimikas is making himself hard to ignore and if this kind of creative form continues, he may find himself really pushing Robertson for first-team action.
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