Michael Owen has claimed that one Liverpool ace in particular has ‘got to do his talking on the pitch’ in order to nail down a regular spot in Jurgen Klopp’s starting XI.
Cody Gakpo has only started 50% of the Reds’ games this season (across all competitions) but did his chances of earning more regular minutes no harm whatsoever with a strong performance against LASK at Anfield last night.
The Netherlands international netted a brace as Klopp’s side secured a 4-0 victory and secured their passage through to the knockout stages of the Europa League with a game to spare.
The Liverpool squad is stacked with plenty of attacking quality this term but ex-Red Owen believes Gakpo must make one position his own in order to become undroppable.
“It’s good being versatile. But if he was that good, and he was one of the first names on the team sheet, he would only have one position. You don’t move Mo Salah from the right-hand side,” Owen told TNT Sports (via The Mirror).
“If he’s going to be a top player for Liverpool I think he’s got to put in performances whereby Jurgen Klopp says, ‘right, Cody Gakpo, in the team, in that position, because he’s so vital’. At the moment he fits in a little bit which probably helps him get games under his belt.
“But I think he’ll want to be better than that to be a regular starter. I think the manager will decide that in terms of where he plays. He can just affect it by how he plays when he gets the chance like tonight, that’s the only way he can affect it as a player.
“You can’t knock on the manager’s door – well you can, but it’d be a pretty stupid thing to do to knock on the manager’s door and say ‘I’m only playing this position now’ because you might find yourself on the bench a lot of the time, so he’s got to do his talking on the pitch.”
Gakpo joined the club from PSV back in January and has threw in some decent performances but you can’t help but feel that there’s still a lot more to come from the 21-year-old.
During his time at his boyhood club in the Eredivisie, our No. 18 was deployed as a left winger who often cut inside and registered plenty of goal contributions.
Since moving to Merseyside, however, the Dutchman has played in numerous positions including as a central striker and as part of a midfield three.
It seems that Klopp is yet to decide where the forward is most effective but with the likes of Luis Diaz, Darwin Nunez and Diogo Jota competing for the same positions as Gakpo – it was never going to be easy for him to break into the starting XI.
We’re confident that the Eindhoven-born talent will be a vital player for the club moving forward but it’s important that we remain patient.
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