02 Jul 2024 19:25:29
I don't want to be accused of MOTD fever, or going above board, but I think Cody Gakpo could cure world hunger with one strike of his foot.
(That sounded a lot more violent then I intended :P)
{Ed025's Note - he played well there MANGO, mind you he was only up against a load of Beetroot and Turnip farmers, when he comes up against anyone decent he looks like Mr Bean mate..
02 Jul 2024 19:39:57
In fairness he has scored against Everton Ed025, so there might be something in that bit about turnip farmers ;)
{Ed025's Note - i like that VV..
02 Jul 2024 20:17:01
Hasn’t Gakpo not scored 4 goals so far this Euro campaign and played against the same calibre of players as the likes of Saka, Palmer, Foden and they’re all part of the England golden generation? I think credit should be given where it is due, I have watched all his matches and he has been their star player by far playing in his favoured position. not saying that he is curing world hunger or whatever that reference was supposed to mean but the lad is doing well and I don’t think we should be knocking our own when they are clearly doing well.
02 Jul 2024 20:19:19
He’s the best left winger at club klopp admitted to playing him out of position.
02 Jul 2024 20:28:59
Gakpo is probably giving the best account of himself of the Liverpool players at the comp. He’s playing well.
02 Jul 2024 21:12:00
ViktorVaughn, I was about to say the exact same thing, lol. Gakpo is killing it at the Euros right now. Like someone said, the experiment in playing players outta position needs to end. It was fun when it worked BUT that ship has sailed.
Gakpo is a left forward. Plays left forward his whole career and should play there now and if he and Diaz need to split playing time or fight for the shirt and if Diaz wants to leave then, so be it.
Enuff of playing a left winger (Gakpo) in the false 9 while playing an actual CF (Darwin) at left wing. Or playing a no. 10 (Macca) in DM. Sorry, ain't having that NO MORE. Hope Slot follows this path.
02 Jul 2024 22:23:28
He’s a good player Ed025. Mr Bean is ridiculous. Sometimes you do go too far.
{Ed025's Note - just chewing the fat Tom, chill out mate its only a bit of banter..
02 Jul 2024 22:26:29
Oli, I've passed on your serious grievances to club management and they've agreed to give you a time slot next week with Slot, so that you can discuss this unacceptable situation personally with him. I'm sure Slot will give you his serious attention and consider your concerns with the seriousness they deserve. But please don't get so angry. Club management gets upset when they anger you so. ???.
02 Jul 2024 23:10:46
Versatility is great. I'm having it!
02 Jul 2024 23:53:42
I thought possibly lettuce or rhubarb, every one is different I suppose.
03 Jul 2024 06:45:32
The thing is though that gakpo *can* play false 9 capably, he has the intelligence, the vision and the strength for it, and Nunez has played very well on the left for both benfica and Liverpool on occasion, it just depends on what the setup of the overall team is when they are asked to do so, Nunez needs space ahead of him to attack whether he is on the left or through the centre. Certainly their ‘best’ positions are as you say but I don’t think playing them in their secondary positions guarantees bad results.
03 Jul 2024 08:36:02
All of a sudden Gakpo is playing superbly and is scoring regularly. The other day Anthony Gordon was miles better than him and we needed to get rid of one for the other.
03 Jul 2024 09:24:29
There are lots of Messiahs @Flash ?.
03 Jul 2024 11:04:28
ArAy1969, that was hilarious, man.
@PatrikBurgher, sorry but Darwin never played left wing for Benfica. And I didn't say that. It was a Benfica fan who talked about Darwin's time with them on youtube and at no point did he mention that Darwin played on the left wing. What he did say was that Darwin would often drift to the left and cut in to shoot and score, the same thing he does at LFC and Uruguay, by the way. I have no issue with this part BUT the whole left wing stuff for Darwin just cos he "can" play there while having an actual left winger like Gakpo or Diaz in the team? Nah, miss me with that, please.
Also cos a player "can" play a position does not mean he is effective there or that that is his best position. I do not think Gakpo played the false 9 position as he plays out wide cos it never worked consistently. Now when he got moved out left near the end of last season, we saw how good he was and that has transferred to the Euros. Also, Darwin and Gakpo have shown they can play together as well. In the end, play the players in the positions where they are most productive and comes more natural to them. Just stating my opinion.
03 Jul 2024 13:05:59
What I would reiterate is Gakpo and Diaz both played together at the back end of the season and they did so very well. They were interchanging between the LW and CF positions and it made it very hard to pick either of them up. I think Gakpo and Gordon could do something similar, but also we don't know if Slot will want to play that way. As I said to Ed025 the other day, I don't think Gordon is an upgrade on Gakpo, but I think they're pretty similar level currently. Gordon also played RW in a few games when he started with Barnes (LW) and Isak (CF) . He even played CF when Isak and Wilson were both injured. You can't really pigeon hole him as a LW option only and therefore it's not really about whether he is better than Gakpo or not as they can easily play together.
If Slot and Hughes both given the Gordon interest a greenlight (which they clearly have as Ed002 confirms we have enquired about him) then they must have a plan how to use him in our team. I just hope Newcastle don't pull our pants down with their £100m valuation. The £50m plus Kelleher reports doing the rounds seem more reasonable to me.
{Ed002's Note - So Liverpool on Red Alert for the Green Light.}
03 Jul 2024 13:12:51
Actually I watched darwin play a fair bit for Benfica because a good friend is a Benfica fan, and I think using your own eyes is probably more favorable than going by a second hand account. Maybe Nunez can't be typified as a 'left winger' per se, but he often STARTED out wide on attacking plays high up the field to isolate a fullback, running at them in space to cut inside to shoot or getting to the byline to cut it back to somebody else, technically speaking this isn't entirely different from how wide forwards operate in Klopp's Liverpool system? In video footage you can see Darwin, whether by instruction or through his own preference, taking up a starting position very wide on the left on quite a lot of his best moments for Benfica. So maybe you can't call him a 'left winger', but he can certainly play as- and also enjoys playing- as a wide forward running at fullbacks into space.
03 Jul 2024 13:53:20
Maybe the Green Lantern Ed002? Although I think he’s busy with Wrexham.
03 Jul 2024 16:55:27
About 3 or 4 months ago, it was mentioned on here, several time, that Gakpo was useless and the worst buy and that we should sell him.
Now we all love him and he's our future.
Football fans can be real fickle!
03 Jul 2024 17:16:58
Patrick, you are talking tactics and movement depending on the way the game is panning out in real time. This is not what I am talking about and I don't need to watch Darwin at Benfica to realise this. What I am talking about is that Darwin is a CF and should not be playing on the left wing as a winger as he lacks the winger/ wide forward ability to play it.
Once again cos he occupies the position depending on the game on-going does not mean he is a left winger. That is the point of my posts. You saying he starts on the left by instruction or as a starting position does not suddenly make him a left winger by trade with all the abilities that come with that. Gakpo is and should play there full time. Such is also my point.
03 Jul 2024 18:40:53
Nunez never ever played left wing for Benfica.
Apart from
27/ 11/ 21 vs B Sad - Scored hat trick
12/ 12/ 21 vs Famalicao - scored hat trick
19/ 12/ 21 vs Maritimo - scored twice
21/ 1/ 22 vs Arouca - Scored 1
1/ 4/ 22 vs SC Braga - Scored 1.
But yeah apart from them games Oli is right he NEVER played left wing for Benfica.
04 Jul 2024 01:24:38
Lol, thanks for that JK hahaha.