Diogo Jota is still getting used to performing with Cody Gakpo, and Jürgen Klopp’s words have suggested the Liverpool pair still have things to work on.
Jürgen Klopp’s attacking players are still getting used to Cody Gakpo in a Liverpool shirt. The Dutchman arrived from PSV Eindhoven as a new signing last month and since then, he’s been getting to grips with life on English shores while occupying an unfamiliar role on the pitch.
Rather than being deployed on the left flank, Gakpo has been fielded through the center. It is early days, but it looks as though the plan is for the 23-year-old to succeed Roberto Firmino as the team’s next false nine, with the Brazilian now aged 31 and in possession of a contract that is due to expire at the end of the season.
Mohamed Salah and Darwin Núñez have already played with Gakpo in place of Firmino but on Saturday night, Núñez missed out against Crystal Palace due to a shoulder issue. Diogo Jota was deployed in his place, and it was his first start alongside Klopp’s newest signing.
After 90 minutes of football, Liverpool hadn’t scored a goal. The dire bout finished 0-0, with the Reds struggling to cause enough defensive problems for their opponents, who seemed comfortable for the large majority of the game.
Gakpo and Jota — who played in place of Núñez on the left — didn’t thrive as a duo, with the pair generally appearing out of sync when Liverpool attempted to build attacking moves. Too often, Jota and Gakpo would both drop into deeper areas, which resulted in no players running in the opposite direction to stretch the Crystal Palace defense.
Klopp was asked about the dilemma after the game, stating: “We didn’t play the ball in behind anymore, it makes no sense. We have Diogo on the pitch, who is good in between the lines and can be the threat in behind. I told him to feel free, but when Diogo and Cody are dropping, then Diogo has to be the one going in behind.”
Jota is familiar with posing a threat in behind defenses, as that is his responsibility whenever he’s deployed alongside Firmino, who is a supreme technician but lacks the necessary speed to play on the shoulder of opponents. To maximize the South American’s skill-set over the years, Klopp has consistently surrounded him with pace in the form of Salah, Núñez, Luis Díaz and Sadio Mané, to name but a few.
The team’s customary offensive dynamic has consisted of Firmino making withdrawn movements away from goal, while the likes of Salah and Mané run in the opposite direction. Klopp’s long-term goal remains to be seen but based on the early evidence, Gakpo seems destined to play like Firmino moving forward, which is why he must be surrounded by the same perks.
When Jota is next fielded as a wide partner for Gakpo, he must behave as though he’s playing alongside Firmino. “When I came here, I spoke to the coach and he said it’s possible that I’ll play on the left or in the center,” said Gakpo in a press conference recently. “Obviously I played the last three years on the left side, but at the World Cup I played in the center so I already tried to adapt to that.”
Whether the Netherlands international is quite as suited to playing through the middle as Firmino remains open for debate at this stage — especially considering he’s experienced some teething issues so far — but it is clear that Jota and those around him must be running in behind for the system to work as intended. Klopp knows that’s a non-negotiable in order to unlock Gakpo at Liverpool.
