Jeremie Frimpong has started to demonstrate why Liverpool brought him to the club during the summer
Jeremie Frimpong of Liverpool
Jeremie Frimpong of Liverpool(Image: Shaun Brooks - CameraSport via Getty Images)
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They were, for somewhat contrasting reasons, two of the more enjoyable occasions during a season of precious few for Liverpool. Jeremie Frimpong, though, would be forgiven for not looking back at either with any particular fondness.
The pattern of the opening Premier League game at home to Bournemouth back in August should in retrospect have acted as a warning for what was to come for a packed Anfield.
But the dramatic late conclusion in a 4-2 win with goals from Federico Chiesa and Mohamed Salah in front of the Kop - not to mention the latter's post-game tears in acknowledgement of Diogo Jota's tragic death the month before - made for an fitting start for the Premier League champions.
Fortunes had changed considerably by the time Liverpool travelled to Eintracht Frankfurt in late October for a Champions League clash they dare not lose after four successive defeats.
It was a mixture of relief and delight, then, that met the Reds romping to their biggest win of the season with a 5-1 thumping of the Bundesliga side.
Frimpong started both games. But that he had long departed before the final whistle due to hamstring problems underlined the Dutchman, signed for £29million from Bayer Leverkusen in the summer, was one of many new arrivals to struggle to find their feet during the opening months of the campaign.
Indeed, Frimpong had featured for less than half-an-hour in the Premier League before marking his latest return with a place on the bench for the trip to Tottenham Hotspur the weekend before Christmas.
And it was during his half-hour cameo the 25-year-old finally started to demonstrate precisely why Arne Slot had made him the first signing of his eventual £450million revolution.
Frimpong's pace and willingness to take on his opponent and get to the byline offered Liverpool a different weapon in their attempt to capitalise on playing against 10 men, and those qualities combined before a deflected cross that invited Hugo Ekitike to score the ultimately decisive second.
The reward was only a second Premier League start the following weekend at home to Wolves, where Ryan Gravenberch was this time the beneficiary when converting Frimpong's cutback after the Dutchman again powered his way down the right flank.
And there was another decisive contribution, once more from the bench, at Fulham on Sunday when his teasing, low injury-time cross wasn't dealt with by home defender Joachim Andersen and Cody Gakpo bundled in at the far post.
Frimpong's improving form mirrors that of many of the summer arrivals, with Florian Wirtz, Ekitike and Milos Kerkez all becoming more established over the last month. And even Alexander Isak, whose travails are well-documented, had shown glimmers of promise with goals against West Ham and Tottenham before being downed by serious injury.
Given Frimpong had been signed partially with Mohamed Salah's mid-season departure to the Africa Cup of Nations in mind, his return has been particularly timely.
However, that Salah had already dropped out of the team before his exit to Morocco suggests that there is no guarantee the Egyptian will walk straight back into the starting line-up, even though Liverpool will be mindful not to overburden Frimpong after his lengthy absence.
And, of course, the Holland international was primarily bought as a right-back - where he started against Wolves - to compete with Conor Bradley for the position of Trent Alexander-Arnold's replacement.
How that competition for places down the right wing pans out will make for intriguing and instructive viewing over the remainder of the season.
Frimpong, though, is now starting to deliver the kind of attacking threat Liverpool have desperately required for large spells of his underwhelming campaign. Staying fit will now be the aim.