The long-term absence of Andy Robertson with a shoulder injury suffered last month opened the door for Tsimikas at left-back having been restricted to just eight starts in the previous 12 months.
However, the 27-year-old posted a series of under-par performances culminating in a poor mistake that sent Toulouse on their way to a shock 3-2 Europa League success a fortnight ago in which he was substituted at half-time. Tsimikas, though, responded with a strong performance in the 3-0 Premier League win over Brentford three days later in which he set up goals for Mohamed Salah and Diogo Jota – his first assists since March.
The defender is now poised to continue at left-back when Liverpool resume their top-flight campaign at leaders Manchester City on Saturday lunchtime.
And Tsimikas said: “Before Brentford, I was not in the best condition of myself. I try to find my best moments, I try to fight back, to be the player I was before, to make assists, to run, to defend, to do everything on the pitch. “I’m really happy I came back against Brentford. I have to keep going with the same passion. Okay, this can happen, we play football, it’s a very difficult sport. It’s up to me now to continue to play good and to make assists for the team.”
Tsimikas was back at the AXA Training Centre earlier this week having been released from the Greece squad ahead of their final Euro 2024 qualifier against France on Tuesday night after playing 90 minutes in the 2-0 friendly win against New Zealand last Friday.
The remainder of the Liverpool squad will reconvene at Kirkby on Thursday to prepare for Saturday’s visit to City, with the South American quartet of Luis Diaz, Alexis Mac Allister, Darwin Nunez and Alisson Becker returning to England on a private jet after featuring for their respective countries in the early hours of Wednesday morning UK time. And, speaking to liverpoolfc.com, Tsimikas said: “I could not play in the game against France because if I should take a yellow card, I would not play in the (Euro 2024 play-off) games in March, which are more important than the one against France. I decided to come back earlier to the team, to be with the squad, to train with the team, to be more ready.
“It was my decision and this is what I wanted to do because, as everybody knows, most of the time we play 12.30 after the international break and even the players who played far, they didn’t come yet, they come probably one day, two days before the game. So for me, I think it was a very good chance to come earlier to be with the team and to train hard.”
Kostas Tsimikas has lifted the lid on his struggles for form this season – as he explained an early return to Liverpool from the international break.
