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Time For Tsimikas At Right Back

I know a thing or two about being two footed. I'm naturally right footed but growing up I loved watching left footed players like Diego Maradona, John Barnes and Chris Waddle. There was something unique about left footed footballers so I wanted to be one. Under Bill Shankly, Liverpool introduced The Boards to their training. It was basically wood fence panels nailed together to make walls in the middle of a football pitch so his players could play one twos off them while moving, improving their first touch, control of the ball and working on their weaker foot - much like they might have done as kids, kicking a ball against the side of their house. That was how I got a left foot. After that, it was about taking the ball out into the back garden and seeing if I could hit the wall above the coal bunker. It wasn't long before I was kicking it even further and almost breaking the kitchen window, further back and to the right of my initial target. I practiced every day and played knock out games with my friends out on the street or on the Gaelic pitch behind our houses. It was playing gaelic matches that I got to try out my ambidextrousness on unsuspecting opponents. Not being blessed with any pace, skill was my main weapon. An opposition defender might have thought he had my number thinking I was right footed so he would keep me on my left, I would shape to kick the ball long with my right but instead I would solo (ball goes from toe to hand) sending him one way and I'd kick the ball down field with my left. I became so good with my other leg people thought I was left footed. My school mates da followed Newry Town and told us he witnessed a unique treble one night when left winger (and therefore left footer) Paddy Lundy scored a hat trick straight from corners. From then on, I was practicing scoring direct from corners with left and right foot. I never managed it in a real game, hit the back post and cross bar a few times. Once I started playing football for a team my two footedness got me on the pitch playing on the left in a team full of right footers and I ended up left mid or left back for most of my football life. My first game for a senior team saw me line up on the right hand side but I cut inside on my left and hit a curling 30 yarder into the top corner. Never scored a goal like that again because it was actually a cross. When I took a penalty right footed once, some of my team mates thought I was taking the piss hitting it with my weaker foot! Adam Lallana is the most two footed player I've ever seen. Not only can he kick, trap and control the ball equally well with either foot, he can dribble it, do drag backs and Cruyff turns. It was only when I saw him hit a penalty right footed that I got confirmation of what foot he naturally kicked with, although he could have been taking the piss.

Right footed players being decent with their left is nothing new of course and there have been a steady stream of right footed left backs down the years. Denis Irwin was right footed but would make All Time United teams at left back. I was shocked to learn that apparently Paolo Maldini is right footed but played left back in the great Milan team of the 90's. Jamie Carragher won the treble at left back and James Milner played an entire season there 5 years ago. When Harry Kewell joined Liverpool nobody expected him to be lining up on the right hand side cutting back in on his left but inverted wingers are part and parcel of the game now. How effective would Mo Salah be if he was playing on the left? Nowhere near as prolific I'd guess given his right foot isn't as strong as his left. One thing in football remains the same though and that is we rarely if ever see left footed right backs. With Trent Alexander Arnold set for a spell on the sidelines, Jurgen Klopp has a chance to buck that trend. Joe Gomez and James Milner are the obvious candidates to step in but there is a more left field option. Kostas Tsimikas has impressed any time he has had to fill in for Andy Robertson at left back, so much so it seems a shame that the only time he can play is if the first choice is injured or rested. Now is the perfect opportunity to try him at right back. Gomez, who started his Liverpool career as a right footed left back 7 years ago, is a good defender but offers little going forward. He hasn't had much game time this season due to the fitness of Van Dijk and Matip and the emergence of Konate but he did well when called upon against Norwich, a game in which Liverpool laboured to victory. Milner can and will play anywhere. He also had a turn at right back against Norwich but this time in the FA Cup. It was another below par performance from the reds but Milner was a stand out performer - bombing up and down the right like a lad half his age. As fit as he is, he does tend to pick up little injuries that will keep him out for 1 or 2 games and right back in this team demands a lot from your body. Tsimikas played both games against Norwich as well providing an assist for Mane's spectacular equaliser in the Premier League game that Liverpool went on to win 3-1. The former Olympiakos man has made 10 appearances in the competition, starting in 7 and has 6 clean sheets and 2 assists. In the Champions League the Greek has made 3 appearances and helped to keep 2 clean sheets in those games. While he isn't in the same league as Trent or Robbo in terms of assists (who is?), he has been a more than adequate replacement at left back so why couldn't he do the same job on the other flank? I've also noticed that while he is predominantly left footed, he's not afraid to use his right and with Trent usually taking up an inside right position when we attack to whip in those teasing crosses behind the oppositions back line, Kostas could fire over some in-swinging left foot crosses for Mane, Firmino or Jota to try and get on the end of. Sundays game against Nottingham Forest is a good chance to try this out especially given there are no club games for 2 weeks so Robertson could play at left back ahead of linking up with Scotland. If it worked it means he could rotate his 3 full backs across the two positions. Klopp has this Liverpool team breaking all sorts of records, now he could become the first manager to consistently play a left footer at right back.



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