‘I have to give it to him’ – Troy Deeney changes his mind on Liverpool beast after previous ‘stick’
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After Liverpool’s victory over Ipswich on Friday night, Troy Deeney was full of praise for one Reds player to whom he’d previously given ‘a bit of stick’.A difficult start to the season for Jeremie Frimpong led to him being dropped from Andoni Iraola’s starting XI at Portman Road, to be replaced by Ronald Araujo at right-back for the latter’s first start in the Premier League.The 27-year-old would justify his selection in Suffolk by making a vital clearance to deny the home side a tap-in and also winning nine of his 10 duels on the night.Deeney praises Araujo performance v IpswichDeeney selected three Liverpool players in his Premier League team of the week for BBC Sport, with two-goal Alexander Isak and double assist provider Cody Gakpo unsurprisingly making the cut.The pundit also included Araujo in his XI, saying of the Uruguay defender: ‘I’ve given him a bit of stick for his games at Barcelona and his ability to not defend properly, because he’s normally the one who’s really aggressive. But I have to give it to him, he’s been really good for Liverpool and played at right-back in that situation.’(Photo by Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)Want more Empire of the Kop coverage?
Add us as a preferred source on Google to your favourites list for news you can trustAraujo could yet solve Liverpool’s right-back conundrumLiverpool’s decision not to sign an out-and-out right-back in the summer transfer window was condemned by many supporters, but Araujo showed against Ipswich that he could yet provide a solution in that role until Conor Bradley returns from long-term injury.The 27-year-old was signed primarily as centre-back cover for the Reds, but he also played on the right on 28 occasions prior to his season-long loan to Anfield, with the Uruguayan carrying strong echoes of Joe Gomez in that regard.His aggression on the pitch has sometimes boiled over into costly lapses of indiscipline in the past, but on Friday he managed it perfectly to bring an added solidity to our defence which had been lacking in the two previous games to start the campaign.Araujo had a couple of iffy moments at Portman Road, with one botched clearance shortly before half-time and a throw-in reversed to Ipswich after he waited too long to take it, but on the whole he can be very satisfied with how he performed on his first start for Liverpool.He fully merited his inclusion in Deeney’s Premier League team of the week, and hopefully this’ll be just the start of a successful stint on Merseyside for him.