Bam bam. These have been the phrases utilized by Arne Slot on Saturday to explain Jeremie Frimpong, describing his uncooked tempo and talent to make one thing out of nothing to unlock a good defensive rearguard.
It’s in step with the phrases of one in all his former coaches, ex-Celtic boss Neil Lennon, who informed Day by day Mail Sport in Might: ‘He’s a little bit murderer. Nothing will faze him. He has preliminary velocity after which carries it on for 30-40 yards. Good management, good studying of the sport, finish product.’
One other reference is from Dutch legend Mark van Bommel, who informed us: ‘Importantly, he’s intelligent, he can adapt to each scenario on the pitch and give it some thought. That’s the Dutch approach. We’re a small nation so you might want to be sensible technically, you might want to adapt.’
So, to place it mildly, Frimpong has all of the attributes of a top-level fashionable participant. Tick, tick, tick of the containers. It’s believed the 25-year-old has been spending lots of time engaged on the defensive aspect of his recreation to turn into extra of a rounded participant, too.
The one drawback is that we simply haven’t seen him. Not but. Two hamstring accidents have restricted Frimpong to only two Premier League begins since his £29.5million transfer to Liverpool from Bayer Leverkusen. He had not missed a league match for 3 years earlier than his transfer to England.
Now he’s again totally match and is wanting like an answer to Liverpool’s issues. He received’t remedy all the things, after all – however the Dutch worldwide, as soon as of Manchester Metropolis, is providing a brand new dimension that the English champions have lacked for weeks if not months.
Jeremie Frimpong’s uncooked tempo provides one other dimension to the Liverpool assault
He has been on the coronary heart of two targets within the final two outings to show as a lot, with a deft cross looped within the air for Hugo Ekitike to move residence at Tottenham final week after which a intelligent pullback for Ryan Gravenberch to open the scoring in opposition to Wolves.
Each got here at occasions when the Reds have been struggling to unlock cussed defences. That’s what Frimpong was signed to do – in spite of everything, he had scored 19 targets and assisted 24 throughout the final two seasons for Leverkusen when he received the Bundesliga and German Cup.
These are merely astonishing numbers for a full again and precisely why Liverpool needed him. In addition they noticed him as somebody who might deputise for Mohamed Salah at proper wing, which we might even see within the upcoming weeks.
Slot had a want to evolve the best way his full backs function after watching Achraf Hakimi and Nuno Mendes flourish for champions of Europe, Paris Saint-Germain. The boss studied Luis Enrique’s flying full again duo for months.
They performed a key function as PSG knocked Liverpool out of the Champions League – that last-16 tie was worthy of the ultimate with two groups on the peak of their powers – however Slot and Co had been maintaining a tally of Frimpong and Bournemouth’s Milos Kerkez for a while.
Although it was not till March that Trent Alexander-Arnold formally knowledgeable the Reds he wouldn’t be signing a brand new contract, it was an open secret for a while that he would depart for Actual Madrid, with Day by day Mail Sport reporting he was Spain-bound on Boxing Day of final 12 months.
Funnily sufficient a month after that we wrote how Frimpong had signed a record-breaking £20m boot take care of New Steadiness that will see him turn into one in all their faces of soccer. It was clear then that he was certain for a super-club with Liverpool eager on the time.
Slot famous that he couldn’t change the distinctive type of Alexander-Arnold however knew he might add a brand new dimension in Frimpong, Kerkez and the all-action Conor Bradley. ‘Conor is in his personal league with regards to working so much, comparable possibly with Hakimi,’ mentioned Slot in Might.
Arne Slot desires to make use of Frimpong like PSG use their full-backs as a key a part of the assault
Frimpong is engaged on the defensive aspect of his recreation whereas engaged on strategies to remain match and keep away from the niggly accidents which have to date pockmarked his season. He’s described as a bubbly character who’s well-liked within the dressing room.
Talking forward of Liverpool’s New Yr’s Day conflict with Leeds, Slot added: ‘We needed to make one change in that place as a result of Trent left. That was not ideally suited for me as Trent was so necessary to this membership and was crucial for me final season.
‘Once we regarded available in the market, Jeremie was one of many first we seen. He has that tempo much like Conor, Milos and Robbo. That tempo is one factor going ahead but in addition when you face the forwards of PSG or many Premier League groups with very, very, very quick wingers.
‘It’s positively useful to have them. Sadly for them they haven’t all the time had the identical gamers in entrance of them. So it’s nonetheless a piece in progress. Particularly as a result of too many occasions not all of them have been obtainable and we have now needed to change due to load administration.
‘However little by little, we see gamers and the staff bettering.’
Frimpong is definitely one in all them. He’s bettering day-after-day below Slot and generally is a answer to their many issues along with his distinctive type. Bam bam.
