No longer a defender, the strange position Tsimikas played in for Greece

In a tense duel with many goals at stake, both the Netherlands and Greece played an evenly matched game that kept them tied for more than 90 minutes, with Reds captain Virgil Van Dijk taking the spotlight with his penalty to give the Dutch the win, overshadowing teammate Kostas Tsimikas, who had a very different performance than usual throughout the match.

In Greece's bid to get the three points against the Netherlands, they made a couple of tactical changes to try to make Tsimikas' position much more explosive, positioning the Reds player much further forward than his natural position to play as a right winger. For the Reds defender it is not so unusual for him to play in a more attacking role, as it is worth noting that last season Jurgen Klopp used him not as a winger but as a wide player who would get all the way to the edge of the box where he always tried to assist with a cross. 
 

Tsimikas' great ability to get forward had no effect on the game, as the final result went against them, being in a difficult position of being level on points with the Dutch but with a game in hand over them, with qualification for the European Championship dependent on a couple of good results in combination with a Dutch defeat.

<strong>Tsimikas on the brink of failure  </strong>

After Andrew Robertson's injury, it is perhaps Kostas Tsimikas who has had the toughest time of any of the Liverpool players so far this FIFA matchday, leaving the defender with nothing left to do but keep his mind on getting a couple of late wins and a mistake from the Dutch to try to reach Europe's top national team competition in Germany next year.