Andrew Robertson suffered an ankle injury during the Liverpool friendly match against Athletic Bilbao. The play could be seen hopping and needed support while heading out of the pitch. This injury comes at quite an unwanted time. The Premier League shall be starting a week from now and with last season being flooded with injures. The club would have been hoping to reduce the number of injuries that could happen this season.
Andrew Robertson last season had played every single game of the season. He was one of the players who was a constant presence in the starting-11 playing an average of 89 minutes each match. Currently, he is valued at £58.50m according to Transfermarkt. Though he was forced to play more of a defensive approach towards the end of the season, he scored a goal. According to his average positions during a match, he is mainly tugging the touchline. Rarely pushing inwards and instead of being free to cross into the middle of the pitch.
Talking about his crossing Andrew averaged 2.1 accurate lobbed passes per 90. Having a pass accuracy of 84% while passing 1.7 key passes per 90. He came up clutch as he even assisted 7 goals last season averaging 96 touches per game. With such stats, one might mistake him to play as a midfielder while in actuality he is such a left-back. Defensively, made 1.2 successful tackles and 0.6 interceptions per 90.
How Important is Andrew Robertson for the Liverpool playing 11?
For this, we shall take a small case study of a certain important fixture from last season. The Liverpool vs Manchester United match on the 14th of May. Liverpool had won that match 4-2 away at Old Trafford. The 4 goals were scored by each of the forward 3. While Robertson didn’t have the best game in a Liverpool shirt, his position was crucial. Because of his tendency of staying wide and high, Diego Jota was given the freedom to move into the half-space. Which did lead to him scoring a goal as well. Due to this fluidity between the two players, Roberto Firmino could play as a false 9. With him been given the freedom to play in his preferred role, this led to him scoring two goals as well.
Who are the players who could replace his role for now?
Currently, Liverpool has Konstantinos Tsimikas who plays in the left-back position as well to replace the injured Andrew Robertson. He has joined Liverpool last season for a fee of £11.70m from Olympiacos. The Greek left-back has gone to play just a handful of games for the club in the UEFA Champions League. It must be said this is because Liverpool tried to play Andrew Robertson during each of the League games.
When is Andrew Robertson Said to be back in the starting 11?
Currently, there hasn’t been a confirmation on the player’s condition and when shall he be returning. While on LFCTV Jurgen Klopp Stated
“I think we got lucky with that, it could have been much worse”
“The footage didn’t look too well, got lucky but it won’t be too long. Before or after the international break, I don’t know. Not too long.
“Obviously, [it’s] really good to have Kostas [Tsimikas] back, and Owen [Beck] which is nice as well.”
It is said that the player shall be out until the end of the first International Break in the league which will end on the 9th of September. Until then it will be seen what adjustment does the club makes to fill in such a huge gap. This season Liverpool seems to be the Dark Horses in the league who have a chance to win the league if they are injury-free throughout the entire season.
