Ian Rush: Robertson Red Opens Up The Door For Tsimikas and Owen Beck
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Liverpool’s draw at Tottenham has been talked about as one of the games of the season but I was disappointed the Reds couldn’t hold on for three points.
It was a good game between two good teams but I think some of the key decisions went Tottenham’s way to be honest. I thought Liverpool should have had a penalty and I thought Harry Kane should have been sent off.
Some people were saying Kane got off the hook because of who he is – the England captain – but I don’t think that’s quite right, I think it just boils down to a bad mistake and VAR should have overruled the yellow card in favour of a red.
I don’t have any complaints about the Andy Robertson red card though, I thought that was just, even if Kane should have gone long before.
Robertson is the type of player who always gives 100% and sometimes that commitment can boil over. I don’t think he’s going to change the way he approaches the game and nor would I want him to, these things just happen.
He only gives as good as he gets, that’s in his make-up, and he wears his heart on his sleeve. The only problem is he now has a three-match ban at a crucial stage of the season and as our stand-out left-back that is a big blow.
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But I always try to be positive in these situations because when one first-team player becomes unavailable, that gives someone else a chance to impress and make a name for themselves. Kostas Tsimikas will come in and in fairness to him he’s done well when he’s played this season.
This is another chance for him to show his worth to the squad and maybe even give Jurgen Klopp a selection headache when Robertson returns from suspension. He might have to fight a little harder to get back in the team when he becomes available again.
Young Owen Beck may also come into the squad as back-up to Tsimikas and it would be great experience for him to be in and around the first team.
Beck is actually very similar to Robertson – he doesn’t hold back, he’s very skilful, comes alive when he’s going forward – he’s got great potential. When he was 14 he was playing for Wales as a number 10 and it’s only since he’s been at Liverpool that he’s changed position.
And to be fair to the club, he’s absolutely thrived as a left-back. He really knows how to get stuck in like Robertson and also a bit like the great Joey Jones, a Liverpool and Wales legend of course.
Jones wasn’t the biggest left-back in the world, but he was one of the toughest tacklers going. Beck reminds me of him, but with a bit of skill thrown into the mix as well.
League Cup
The League Cup is looking a bit more interesting this season with Manchester City out of the way having won the competition four years on the trot.
Winning this tournament so many times in a row illustrates just how strong their squad is, but with West Ham having dumped them out there’ll be another name engraved on the trophy this year.
It’s a competition I’m very fond of, having won it four times in a row with Liverpool myself – five times in total – and having captained the club on one of those occasions. It’s a trophy we always wanted to win back in the day and I think this Liverpool squad are taking it seriously too.
Given the talented youngsters at his disposal, Klopp’s squad is stronger now than it was two or three years ago in my opinion and I think there’s a real opportunity to win it this year.
The Leicester game is a big one though, a tough one too. But if we can win that then we’re one step away from a trip to Wembley and the supporters would love that.
As things stand the semi-finals remain a two-legged affair but I would hope the Football League reviews that this year given everything that’s going on with Covid. There will have to be sacrifices here and there and I think a two-legged semi-final in the middle of all this is unnecessary.
Even if there’s a coin toss to decide whose ground they play at, if they can’t arrange a neutral ground, that would be fine with me – it’s in everyone’s best interests to settle the semis over one night in light of everything that’s going on at the moment.
Boxing Day Games Go Ahead
In last week’s column I called for a winter break to be introduced to help curb the impact of Covid on the Premier League, not just for the players but for the fans too.
Crowd wise, the Boxing Day schedule is one of the biggest days of the Premier League season. Everyone loves to get out and about and the stands are usually full at all grounds up and down the country, but everyone will have to be as careful as they can.
I think going ahead with the games puts everyone at risk so I still believe it would have been the perfect time to have a two-week break, like the rest of the big leagues in Europe. But the decision has been made to continue and we’ll just have to see where we are in the New Year.
With all these games coming up, it’s a big boost for Klopp to have Jordan Henderson back from illness. I’m sure Klopp won’t want to rush him back into the side as it’s important to protect the players.
When you’re playing so many games at a high level over the Christmas period it’s difficult to stay fit, but Henderson will be raring to go now he’s shrugged off his sickness.
Leeds Visit Anfield Next
It seems like a good time to play Leeds with the way their results have been going lately. They’ve been extremely unlucky with injuries this season, to be fair to them, and when you play entertaining football as they do you’re always liable to get a hammering every now and then.
But that’s the type of football that brought them back up to the Premier League and kept them there last season. The problem Marcelo Bielsa has now is that he’s got so many injuries and he’s having to bring in players to do someone else’s very specific job – it’s not easy to make that work.
And because of that they’re conceding a lot of goals. It might be best for them to go back to basics for the time being until they get their key players back, but I’m not sure Bielsa has a Plan B as such. He’s an excellent manager, but when you have so many injuries you have to adopt and change things up.
I don’t think you have to go all out attack all the time, it’s ok to mix things up and play defensively when you don’t have your best attacking players available. You can always go back to your preferred style of players when the right players are available.
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If you keep losing by heavy margins it kills your players’ confidence, which is hard to get back. If they attack Liverpool too soon, then I think they’ll lose, no question. They should take a leaf out of Aston Villa’s book, who came to Anfield and nearly snatched a point with a solid defensive display.
Is it in Bielsa’s blood to turn up with a gameplan like that? I’m not so sure. If he does suffer another heavy defeat, I hope it’s not curtains for him because he’s done a brilliant job at Leeds and he does have a valid excuse this season with the injuries they’ve had.
In the end, it’ll probably come down to what the supporters think and how they react if results don’t improve. I know they love him, but there comes a point when fans think enough is enough and call for change. I think we’ll find out how they feel over their next few games at Elland Road.
Liverpool Transfer Talk
There are a lot of things to be decided in January and whether or not the Africa Cup of Nations goes ahead may well dictate some of Liverpool’s transfer activity.
I’ve read all sorts of rumours already, from Joe Gomez to Real Madrid to Philippe Coutinho coming back to Liverpool.
The Coutinho one is interesting. Sometimes, when you leave Liverpool – like I did when I went to Juventus – you quickly find out that the grass isn’t always greener on the other side.
Liverpool made a lot of money off the sale of Coutinho. Being Brazilian, he had always dreamed of playing for Barcelona, which is fair enough, but I think if he was given the opportunity to come back he would jump at the chance.
I think the Liverpool fans would welcome him back too. We got good money for him when he left and we went on to achieve great things without him, so he left on good terms as far as I’m concerned.
He was fantastic for Liverpool so if he was to come back I’d welcome him with open arms, even if it was only on loan. He’s still a high-quality player, and he’s a lovely lad, never causes any trouble, he just wants to play football.
So from my point of view, I’d like to see him back at Liverpool.
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