Liverpool fans vented their frustration after the FA Cup exit at the hands of Man United, with the introduction of Cody Gakpo singled out in an awful 4-3 defeat.
The Reds snatched a 2-1 lead heading into half-time at Old Trafford, after finding themselves under the cosh for much of the opening 45 minutes.
But following goals from Alexis Mac Allister and Mohamed Salah, Jurgen Klopp‘s side were far too casual, and despite dominating much of the second half, they failed to find a cutting edge.
That was not helped by the decision to bring off a half-fit Salah and send on Gakpo in the 77th minute, with the Dutchman having little influence on the game.
The telling contribution was his wasteful pass seeing a five-on-two break crumble at 2-1 up, while there was little else in terms of redeeming features.
There was no surprise, then, that Gakpo attracted criticism from many Liverpool supporters after the 4-3 loss.
Any forward, at any level, should do at least one (preferably multiple) of the following things:
– Hold the ball up
– Make runs in behind
– Come short to link with othersFor months Cody Gakpo has had no interest in even trying to do any of these things. No idea why. Use Danns.
— Daniel Austin (@_Dan_Austin) March 17, 2024
Gakpo plays like the game is in slow motion.
— Jamie Carragher (@Carra23) March 17, 2024
Gakpo was meant to come on and kill the game off.
He’s killed it alright.
— ? (@LFCApproved) March 17, 2024
Heard Gakpo thinks the game is still in the 70th minute.
— Leanne Prescott (@_lfcleanne) March 17, 2024
2-1 up and we're complacent and let them off the hook, then we go 3-2 up and Gakpo decides to walk around the midfield and not put in any effort. Shite
— Jakeel (@_JakeeLFC_) March 17, 2024
What does Gakpo do? Doesn’t even look arsed here. Fucking run. Press someone. At least look like you’re trying. We’ve been terrible but since Salah and Szobo come off this right hand side is embarrassingly bad
— George Scaife (@Scaife51) March 17, 2024
Games finished the moment we brought on Gakpo. Like playing with a man down. Absolutely useless
— . (@FourFourOnGlue) March 17, 2024
Danns deserves minutes over Gakpo.
LB LW and CDM needed in summer.— Chris. (@_ChrisLFC) March 17, 2024
Jayden Danns deserve more mins than Gakpo & I’m not even joking. One of the worst sub cameos from a Liverpool player this season or in my recent memory.
— Rithwik aka Keyveen Kelleher Fan (@rithwikrajendra) March 17, 2024
In the ITV studio, Ian Wright agreed that he “didn’t think Cody Gakpo did too much when he came on,” which perhaps shows it was not just frustrated Liverpool fans seeking an easy scapegoat.
Klopp’s hands were arguably tied with Salah not yet 100 percent and Diogo Jota not due back from injury until next month, but his decision to send Gakpo on was questioned regardless.
Jurgen's eagerness to keep Gakpo involved by always bringing him on as a sub needs to stop. It's perfectly ok to just leave him on bench rather than bringing him on at right wing. There's other options there. We controlled 2nd half until then, United were better last 10 of 90.
— Red (@TaintlessRed) March 17, 2024
Not joking but Gakpo might be the biggest momentum killing sub
— Muad'Dib (@ironicallyubi) March 17, 2024
Salah is clearly still rusty and they are managing his minutes, but I wish Klopp told him to “not defend” as in the previous game and kept him. The loss of Salah’s presence and fear factor to Cody Gakpo’s slowness, bad decisions, and lack of defending was too significant.
— Parted Beard (@PartedBeard) March 17, 2024
90% of the decision making from us was amateurish.
That pass from Nunez? Going all out for that corner when we could have gone to pens.
Throwing 2 leads away? Bringing Gakpo on when he's been DIRE of late.
Not killing the game?
What a joke.
— ? (@Shannxo) March 17, 2024
Horrendous
Gakpo might as well have not come on the pitch
Nunez absolutely braindead pass for the third
First time this season that I can really say the subs cost us
— Tom Little (@TomL1ttle_) March 17, 2024
Of course, to overlook a player of Gakpo’s stature – and price tag – in favour of an 18-year-old in Jayden Danns would have been a major talking point.
But the manager had already shown his willingness to trust youth, even in previous rounds of the FA Cup, and there is a convincing case to argue that Danns would have brought considerably more of what Liverpool required.
Liverpool needed energy, drive and incision to not only keep up the momentum but build on it – and unfortunately, Gakpo offered none of that.
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