Jurgen Klopp could be about to drop Cody Gakpo back into midfield as a result of his performance against Everton last night.
Gakpo was impressive throughout yesterday’s win, grabbing his first ever goal for Liverpool. And speaking to Sky Sports after the game, Gary Neville suggested that his display could lead to a change in position.
“I’m looking at him [Gakpo] tonight and thinking could you get the three up-front with and then maybe play him in that three of midfield,” Neville claimed.
Given the strength in depth of Liverpool’s forward line, that would be one way of getting them all in!
Options abound for Jurgen Klopp and Liverpool
It would be easy to dismiss Neville’s suggestion here – Gakpo has been bought as a forward and is clearly comfortable there.
But look a little deeper, and he might actually be onto something. As Jamie Carragher noted during his in-game commentary, the 23-year-old is hugely neat and tidy in possession.
He plays almost like a Roberto Firmino-lite. Although Bobby has never actually dropped into the Liverpool midfield, he’s very often played as a sort of attacking midfielder.
Again, looking at the other options Jurgen Klopp has, this is certainly something he could consider.
In that scenario, Gakpo would play almost like a ’10’ in a 4-2-3-1 formation. Capable on the ball and a physical presence, he could sit in a little deeper too if needs be.
Theoretically, Liverpool could then play Luis Diaz, Darwin Nunez and Mohamed Salah in-front of him. With Diogo Jota and Firmino in reserve, that has a really mean look to it.
As they look to get back into the top four battle, maybe Klopp will try to simply blow teams away.
With a win under the belt tonight, that suddenly seems possible. What a different a week makes. As forward options return, Klopp finally has the opportunity to experiment a little. Let’s see if this is something he tries.