Liverpool have one of the most physically impressive teams in the Premier League.
In fact, players like Virgil van Dijk, Ibrahima Konate and Ryan Gravenberch are all mountains in their own right, but according to Alexis Mac Allister, two of Liverpool’s strongest players might not be who you expect them to be .
Speaking to Goal on TikTok, the Argentine was asked who Liverpool’s strongest player was and he was torn between Mohamed Salah and Kostas Tsimikas.
Salah is of course incredibly strong, but Tsimikas is a somewhat surprising answer here, as the Greek defender isn’t necessarily the stockiest figure on the team.
Salah and Tsimikas are the strongest
Mac Allister has spoken about Tsimikas and the £35million winger. “Who is Liverpool’s strongest player?” Mac Allister was asked.
“I would say Mo or Tsimikas,” replied Mac Allister.
“Mo Salah, the strongest?” asked the interviewer.
“Oh yeah. He’s in the gym all day so he’s very strong,” concluded Mac Allister. Photo by Andrew Powell/Liverpool FC via Getty Images
A little surprising
It’s not at all surprising to learn that Salah may be Liverpool’s strongest player, but Tsimikas is not a name we expected to see here.
The Greek is many things, but one of Liverpool’s strongest players is not how we would describe him.
Of course, Mac Allister knows this better than us since he trains daily with these players, but Tsimikas’ strength is not necessarily obvious to us when we watch him play.
Klopp explains Mac Allister’s reaction to being substituted after ‘difficult’ half
Liverpool manager Jürgen Klopp discusses aspects of 3-1 away win over Wolves in the Premier League
Jurgen Klopp believes Alexis Mac Allister was relieved to be substituted after a nightmare first half at Wolves – and hailed Liverpool debutant Jarell Quansah’s performance as a “statement”.
Mac Allister, who only returned to training on Friday after playing for Argentina in the recent World Cup qualifiers, was completely out of shape and was further hampered by an early yellow card.
The summer signing was replaced by Luis Diaz at half-time with the Reds trailing 1-0, and a subsequent change of system saw the visitors recover and claim a 3-1 triumph.
Asked about replacing Mac Allister, Klopp said: “He was done. Yellow card and he was already exhausted in the first half.
We know how good Alexis is, in the first half his decisions… we saw during the week that he was wearing the oxygen mask, I thought several times (in the first half) that they had kept it on a little longer – he might have been helped!
“She was just tough. When you’re in a game like this, you’re likely to be a little late for a challenge and then you get the second yellow card and that’s it. That’s all.
“He had some good moments in the first half. But he also had other moments and they showed. He wasn’t too disappointed when we took it off. I think he was quite relieved.
With Virgil van Dijk suspended, Ibrahima Konate barely fit for the bench and Joe Gomez having to replace the injured Trent Alexander-Arnold at right-back,
20-year-old Quansah will get his first Liverpool start alongside Joel Matip in the centre. Backwards.
And Klopp said: “He did well. He did really well, he was really good. It was a wonderful experience for him. He came (before) in very crucial moments, it’s not like he finishes the matches.
Something had to be done and today it was good.
“In a team as disorganized as we were in the first half, he was the one who looked pretty good.
It’s a statement, absolutely. I’m really happy for him. He’s pretty happy at the moment too. He’s a good boy.”
