Slot must axe 5/10 Liverpool star who blew his big chance

Liverpool do like to make things hard for themselves, ay.

But it didn’t matter in the end, with brave Southampton defeated at Anfield after a second-half turnaround, Will Smallbone’s opening goal negated by a crisp Darwin Nunez finish and Mohamed Salah‘s brace.

He silenced in midweek, but Salah returned to form ahead of Tuesday’s crunch Champions League second leg against Paris Saint-Germain. The unflappable talisman truly is a special player.

Mohamed Salah keeps on firing

Liverpool now command a 16-point lead at the top of the Premier League, albeit having played two more games than second-placed Arsenal. Still, it’s quite the gap with the final stretch up ahead.

As in Paris, Salah struggled to make his mark for the opening half, but came up with the goods when it mattered here, taking his seasonal total to a rather extraordinary 32 goals and 22 assists

He lost four of his five duels and ceded possession 21 times, but the 32-year-old also provided underpar Liverpool with an inimitable attacking outlet, hailed by transfer journalist Fabrizio Romano for his “unstoppable” efforts this season.

While Curtis Jones and Dominik Szoboszlai‘s half-time withdrawals were perhaps preordained with PSG looming large, Tsimikas was skating on thin ice and might have originally been slated for the full 90.

But he failed his big chance.

Kostas Tsimikas failed his big chance

Liverpool have been the best team in the Premier League this season, but the left side of Slot’s backline has left something to be desired.

Andy Robertson has faced his fair share of detractors this season and you’d think Tsimikas might use his counterpart’s woes to elevate his standing in Slot’s reckoning. But despite a combative display against Southampton, he still flattered to deceive.

The Liverpool Echo branded the 28-year-old with a 5/10 match rating after his meek showing, noting that he wasn’t ‘on the same wavelength’ as his peers while also struggling to contain Tyler Dibling.

That said, it wasn’t all doom and gloom for the Greece international. He won six of his ten contested duels and made five tackles, as per Sofascore, but he also committed a series of fouls and skirted close to the line of a dismissal. Tsimikas left at the interval with a booking to his name.

Ultimately, Tsimikas’ booking and indeed Slot’s decision to bring him back to the bench at half-time makes a firm comment on his standing in the squad. He’s never quite nailed down a starting berth and that doesn’t look like it’s going to change.

With reputable sources such as Romano confirming FSG’s interest in bringing Bournemouth’s Milos Kerkez to the club this summer, it feels like the Greek defender’s day might be done on Merseyside.

He’s been a fantastic servant but this could be a move to further enhance Slot’s project – and after such an electric start to life in the big seat, he deserves backing.

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