Jurgen Klopp is clearly a big fan of Cody Gakpo, yet the Liverpool winger didn’t cover himself in glory last night against the Republic of Ireland for the Netherlands.
The attacker was disappointing in the Dutch side’s 1-0 win against the Irish as Wout Weghorst’s early strike was enough to punch the Netherlands’ ticket to next summer’s Euros.
Despite a successful night for Ronal Koeman’s side, it was one to forget for Gakpo, who received some harsh criticism from the Dutch press having unimpressed and failed to do much.
‘Disappointing’ Gakpo could cause Liverpool problem with Klopp
Handed a 5.5 rating by Football Oranje and labelled as ‘disappointing’ by Voetbal Primeur, it’s safe to say that Gakpo wasn’t at his best in last night’s clash against Ireland.
And such a performance could cause a problem at Liverpool for Klopp, especially heading into next weekend’s mammoth Premier League clash against Manchester City.
With Luis Diaz, Darwin Nunez and Mohamed Salah all on fire on international duty this month, Gakpo faces being left out on the bench as we inch towards next week’s showdown at the Etihad Stadium.
And last night’s performance did little to give Klopp much of a selection headache, with Gakpo now liley to start on the bench against City next Saturday.
Comeback performance is needed for Gakpo to flourish again
With Gibraltar next up for the Netherlands, it’s easy to think that Gakpo will be raring to go against the European minnows, who made history this weekend for all the wrong reasons in their 14-0 loss to France.
Indeed, Gakpo can make quite the statement on Tuesday night if given the start by Koeman, with the winger no doubt keen to return to the scoresheet for his national team.
And Gibraltar could not be a more perfect opponent, with the £43m Liverpool winger likely to be already eyeing up this fixture as a big one to boost his confidence.
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