1 year ago
292 Jamie Carragher has told Monday Night Football (broadcast on 6/3; 19:29) that he would not have started Cody Gakpo for Liverpool in their win over Manchester United, admitting that he was a little surprised to see the Dutchman in the lineup.
The Reds, of course, continue to celebrate their stunning performance against Erik ten Hag’s side. Liverpool ran riot, winning 7-0 in one of Anfield’s most brilliant evenings in recent memory.
Photo by Michael Regan/Getty Images
It was Gakpo who started the scoring. The January signing latched onto an amazing Andrew Robertson pass, and produced a brilliant finish, cutting in and finding the bottom corner.
Carragher wouldn’t have started Gakpo for Liverpool
He would bag a second goal after the break. Again, it was a moment of brilliance, with the 23-year-old lifting the ball over David De Gea from the tightest angle to put Liverpool 3-0 up.
Photo by Robbie Jay Barratt – AMA/Getty Images
It has been a mixed start at Liverpool for Gakpo since his £35 million move. He has suffered because of the Reds’ disappointing form. But he has not always looked like stepping up either.
However, Sunday confirmed, beyond any doubt, that Liverpool have a special talent on their hands. Certainly, Carragher suggested that Gakpo proved him wrong in the game.
“This was a brilliant performance,” he told Monday Night Football. “But what I would say about Gakpo and Harvey Elliott, they were the two positions, which I think, were up for grabs.
“I’ll be honest with you, I wanted Jota to play instead of Gakpo. I thought he would be better at pressing from the front, Liverpool could win the ball back from there. And I thought Bajcetic has been performing better than Harvey Elliott over two or three months. So I was a bit surprised.”
Sunday felt like a potential defining moment for Liverpool’s new look attack. Of course, it is the trio of Mo Salah, Roberto Firmino and Sadio Mane who have written their name into Reds folklore.
Mane has now gone, and Firmino looks set to follow. But Salah remains. And the win showed how devastating they could be with Gakpo and Darwin Nunez joining him in the forward line.
All three have had their moments this season. But everything just clicked on Sunday in incredible fashion.
Based on that performance, Manchester United are not going to be anything like the last team to be torn apart by Liverpool in the coming years.
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