Thursday 16 July 2015 09:00, UK
Joao Teixeira’s impressive display in Liverpool's friendly with Thai All-Stars was just the boost that the Reds and Brendan Rodgers needed, writes Adam Bate.
“We’ll look forward,” said Brendan Rodgers. The assertiveness is familiar but the departure of Raheem Sterling has presented a fresh test of the Liverpool manager’s resolve. Taking charge of a football match would have been a relief and an encouraging display by Joao Teixeira offered hope that others are ready and waiting to seize their Anfield chance.
The 22-year-old Portuguese creator was perhaps the stand-out performer in Liverpool’s 4-0 win over a Thai All-Stars team in Bangkok on Tuesday. It was his expert control and pass that set up Lazar Markovic for the opener, before providing the corner for Mamadou Sakho to double the lead. It was a fine effort from a player anxious to impress.
It’s almost a year and a half since Teixeira’s first and only Premier League appearance for Liverpool. Rodgers had praised his “intensity” and “the speed of his game” when calling the attacking midfielder up to the first-team but with Liverpool in the thick of a title race, few expected him to introduce the youngster at Fulham with the match poised at two goals apiece.
Teixeira has since admitted that he was so cold he couldn’t feel his feet on the bench at Craven Cottage, but Rodgers relaxed him by joking that a goal could be enough to take him to that summer’s World Cup in Brazil. Teixeira couldn’t quite find the goal but he did play the pass to Daniel Sturridge that led to Steven Gerrard’s last-minute winner from the spot.
Former Liverpool great Ian St John was soon claiming that Teixeira reminded him of a young Wayne Rooney and the player himself might have been forgiven for believing he’d cracked Premier League life. Instead, he was made to wait for his big breakthrough and encouraged to develop further physically.
Perhaps the example of the similarly gifted Suso informed the decision. For while the Spanish youngster was sent on loan to La Liga, Teixeira took a different route and embarked on the challenge of the Tuesday-Saturday grind that comes with life in the Championship. Last season was spent on loan in what turned out to be a relegation battle with Brighton.
“I’ve always played in winning teams, when I was at Sporting and at Liverpool as well,” Teixeira told The Guardian earlier this year. “This has been a different mentality. We have to fight to survive. It’s a different experience but a good one.” And Teixeira shone, picking up Brighton’s young player of the year award.
There were braces against Ipswich and Birmingham but it was the Liverpool loanee’s creativity that really stood out on the south coast. He created 63 chances for Brighton – 50 per cent more than anyone else at the club – and played twice as many successful through-balls as any of his team-mates. In fact, he ranked among the top three in the Championship.
Liverpool supporters would have been delighted by the way that Teixeira retained possession under pressure in Bangkok but while the Thai test was not the toughest, that ability to collect the ball on the half-turn in the hustle and bustle of the Championship can be considered rather more encouraging.
“He’s young and he’s playing in a very demanding league, but what he does have is a physicality about him, which I think helps,” said Brighton boss Chris Hughton. “He obviously has a natural ability about him.” That combination might not quite be Rooney-like but the fact that Teixeira is aware of the challenge means half the battle is already won.
I’ve improved a lot. I’m a different player, more confident and I’ve got Championship experience.
“I’ve improved a lot,” he said in February. “I’m a different player, more confident and I’ve got Championship experience. I feel stronger than the start of the season and I’ve been improving on my defensive side and I’m trying to improve every game. When you play regularly you always improve. In training I’m trying to improve physically too.”
There was the serious setback of a broken leg in April – “a real blow after such a good season,” according to Hughton – but the fact that Teixeira is already back in action is further proof that this technician has the right attitude to succeed. And after a difficult week, that attitude is just the boost that Rodgers – and the Liverpool supporters – needed.
