A Black Hole in Liverpool
Cody Gakpo is experiencing quite a curious campaign for Liverpool, and his display against Manchester United epitomised it.
On August 13, a minor problem showed its face for Liverpool as the Reds drew their opening game of the new campaign 1-1 against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.
Jürgen Klopp’s outfit posted just 35 per cent of the ball. The manager labelled that number as ‘an absolute joke’ after the bout, with his players completing a total of just 315 passes. For context, Liverpool have amassed fewer on just three occasions in the Premier League under their German boss, with two of those coming against Manchester City.
Cody Gakpo certainly didn’t help. He played just over an hour of football as a midfielder, yet completed just ten passes. Yeah, ten. Curtis Jones, who was introduced in his place, completed 16 passes in 25 minutes.
It wasn’t ideal, but these things can happen, especially away from home against a heavyweight team. One week later, Liverpool hosted Bournemouth at Anfield, and the Dutchman kept his place in the middle of the park.
Again, he lasted just over an hour, completing 20 passes this time. Wataru Endo, who replaced him, completed five fewer passes in just 28 minutes, and Dominik Szoboszlai, who played the full game in an identical role on the right, completed 67 passes.
A trip to Tyneside was next for Liverpool. Klopp persisted with Gakpo once more, this time deploying him further forward as a false nine, but nothing really changed. Virgil van Dijk admittedly suffered from an early red card, but Gakpo completed just five passes — yeah, five — before being subbed after 57 minutes.
The following week, the 24-year-old attacker was benched, and it wasn’t a surprise.
Now, there’s more to the sport than making passes, but when deployed in midfield in particular — especially for a dominant team — there’s a certain level of emphasis placed on getting involved and offering an option to your teammates.
Rather than connecting with those around him, though, Gakpo painted himself as a black hole of sorts. He was largely invisible and gradually seemed to disappear over the course of the three matches before falling out of the team.
Since, his situation has quietly spiralled as he’s dropped down the pecking order. Liverpool have kept winning and whenever that happens, nobody wants to focus on the bad stuff, but Gakpo’s curious and questionable form has continued with the exception of one or two moments of quality every now and then.
This isn’t an impulsive reaction or scapegoat piece on the back of his performance against Manchester United on the weekend, no, but that display only reinforced the ongoing trend surrounding his game.
He’s been used all over the pitch this term. Gakpo has played as a false nine, he’s played on both flanks, he’s played as a number eight and he’s played as a number ten. We’ve seen glimpses, but he’s developed a habit of becoming a background character as opposed to grabbing the spotlight.
Of every player to accumulate at least 500 minutes for Liverpool in the Premier League this term, only Darwin Núñez averages fewer touches per 90 than Gakpo.
So why isn’t Núñez getting criticised? Well, some players don’t touch the ball very often, and they are usually strikers. They are awarded such license because when they do get involved, they decide games. You don’t hear from Núñez until he takes a shot or creates a chance. The same goes for Erling Haaland.
If you’re fast enough to cause mayhem by running away from the ball, and you’re dangerous enough to hoover up lots of offensive output regardless of your level of involvement, you’re fine not engaging that often. Gakpo is a bit of an enigma in that sense. He doesn’t see much possession, but he isn’t much of an output merchant in the final third, either.
Núñez, Mohamed Salah and Diogo Jota are all averaging a non-penalty goal or assist roughly every 90 minutes in the Premier League this season. Luis Díaz is averaging 0.44 goals and assists per 90 which is nowhere near as good — and his output can be questioned — but he does offer alternative perks and at least sees more of the ball. He’s a real outlet, for one, and he’s arguably Klopp’s best player in wide areas, thriving on the dribble.
Gakpo is averaging 0.62 goals and assists per 90, so he’s doing better than Díaz, but he isn’t close to the other three. His expected numbers in the same department rank him fifth out of the five, too.
Again, his output isn’t that bad, but remember, this guy also doesn’t see much of the ball. And when he does receive passes — particularly those under pressure — it feels like he’s outmuscled or destabilised far too often for a giant who wouldn’t look out of place at the Olympics.
So in a nutshell — and without wanting to sound too harsh — you’ve basically got a player who goes missing for large periods in possession, and when he does make an appearance, he doesn’t really do enough in an attacking sense to justify his lengthy absences.
All that being said, the player clearly has lots of valuable qualities. He’s about 6-foot-2, for a start. Athletic, capable of running in straight lines from penalty box to penalty box, creative. Gakpo is a keen carrier of the ball, his shooting technique is pretty good, and he was captain of PSV Eindhoven before Liverpool signed him, so you can add leadership into the mix.
Overall, he actually looks quite complete. He has a well-rounded skill set, and it doesn’t feel like he possesses very many weaknesses, yet rather than being versatile enough to perform anywhere for Liverpool, he always seems a bit lost.
It feels like Gakpo has the skills to potentially become Klopp’s version of Phil Foden, Cole Palmer, Kevin De Bruyne or Kai Havertz, as a technical player who can basically play anywhere in the final third to a decent level. Szoboszlai is another rough example.
Gakpo should be good at providing a link between midfield and attack with possession, while delivering the odd goal or assist and being a real presence for opponents to worry about.
Based on this season, though, he isn’t, and it’s difficult to determine exactly what the solution is. When Núñez was struggling last term, it was clear as to why Liverpool couldn’t accommodate him in a tactical sense. With Gakpo, the answer is open for debate.
Many supporters have simply suggested that he’s lacking confidence. That’s probably true, but it depends how you view that dynamic. A good performance surely cultivates confidence? You don’t grow in confidence and then perform well.
People have also suggested that he’s not benefiting from his role changing every week. That could be true as well, but his flexible profile was one of the reasons why he was signed. He’s got the skills to be a multifunctional jack of all trades for Liverpool.
Joe Gomez has been that player in a defensive sense for Klopp this term, and he’s done alright. Alexis Mac Allister looks good regardless of whether he’s deployed in deeper or advanced areas in midfield, and Jota’s role changes fairly regularly. Unless you’re a real specialist, you can’t expect to nail down one spot and stay there at Anfield.
After bringing him to England 14 months ago, Klopp was asked about his plans for how to use Gakpo at the time, and his response suggested that he viewed him as somewhat of a blank slate.
This is very much a first world problem. The landscape is generally good and Gakpo isn’t bad at football, but there’s definitely something attached to his case that needs fixing or tweaking.
When there’s a black hole in your team, you know about it, especially when that black hole is surrounded by shining stars.
This has been going on for a while now and has been at the back of my mind as something Klopp and his coaching staff needed to address, although our winning ways seemed to put the issue to the back of the que, but after Sundays game it seems to of come to the forefront of everyone's attention again. I remember the Deep Dive you did with Chris in November last year entitled 'The Curious Case of Cody Gakpo' off the back of some questionable performances from him at the beginning of the season and we still find ourselves talking about the same stuff which is disappointing but also alarming, we all hoped he would of stepped up his game, found his place in the squad and kicked on but he seems stuck in this questionable run of form. The most annoying part of it all is not knowing what the cause of it is. He has such high potential as a Liverpool player. I don't believe there is one simple answer to this mystery but rather a mixture of everything that you've mentioned in the article. I honestly think the best option is to give him a solid run of 5+ games in his preferred position whenever possible and see if this improves his confidence and form.
It's good to get a 'problem' debated using 'data' - the only thing missing from the piece is an analysis of potential solutions.