Jurgen Klopp has taken personal responsibility for the dip in form experienced by Cody Gakpo this season, attributing it to his use in midfield.
The Dutchman’s flexibility somewhat worked against him early in the campaign as he was tried out in an unfamiliar, deeper position.
But since returning to the forward line in recent months, he has once again flourished, and netted his 10th goal of the season in Saturday’s 4-1 win over Brentford.
Klopp has now vowed to keep using Gakpo in advanced areas and hailed the range of qualities that make him such a threat there.
He said: “The numbers are, 100 percent, absolutely alright, even better.
“Cody had a bit of a struggle in between the season, it was more my fault. We spoke about can Cody play a midfield position for us, yes he can in different moments. Is it his position? I would say no.
“The offensive part of the role he can definitely play, but with the defensive things which he was not used to, that cost him a bit of confidence in moments, you could see that.
“The boy came here and was flying from day one pretty much and then all of a sudden you saw, OK that’s now not exactly the same. These kinds of things happen.
“It will help him in the long term anyway, but in the short term it’s not always that you can directly see it.
“Now he’s absolutely there and, as long as we can avoid it, we will probably not bring him in midfield.
“But he’s not under the radar. If you ask Cody he would not say it’s the best season of his life, but we all know how good a player he is and he’s always a threat.
“He can be a threat in the air, is on the ground really good, has a super finish, has a good nose for finishing situations, good dribbler, can keep the ball for us.
“Plenty of super things we can use and need.”
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