1 year ago
207 Mark Lawrenson has admitted he’s not sure Liverpool star Cody Gakpo should be playing in midfield this season.
Lawrenson was talking about the Dutch international on Off The Ball’s Breakfast Show.
Despite a tricky time in the transfer market this summer, Liverpool’s campaign has got off to a decent start.
An entertaining draw against Chelsea was followed up by wins against Bournemouth and Newcastle.
The result at St. James’ Park will be particularly pleasing given they were down to ten men for much of the game.
However, Jurgen Klopp still isn’t satisfied with his current squad going into the final days of the transfer window.
He wants to bring in at least one more midfielder with Ryan Gravenberch looking like the most likely addition.
Lawrenson would agree with that sentiment as he doesn’t believe Cody Gakpo should be playing in Liverpool’s midfield.
The £35m player was initially signed as a forward in January, but his versatility has come in handy with Klopp short of options in the centre of the pitch.
Lawrenson unsure why Gakpo is playing in Liverpool’s midfield
Asked about who could start up front for Liverpool in their biggest games this season, Lawrenson said: “I think he will pick the strikers who are in form because he’s got five of them.
“So, [Mohamed] Salah always starts, always, always, always. And [Luis] Diaz I would think generally [will start] and then the other three are obviously going to have to fight for that position.
“And [Cody] Gakpo’s been playing but almost as a midfield player which just doesn’t work, unfortunately.”
Gakpo may struggle to get into Liverpool’s best team right now if trying to play in their front three.
Salah is indispensable and the club will be doing everything possible to repel any approach from Saudi Arabia.
Luis Diaz does seem to be a firm favourite of Klopp’s on the left and suits that role very well in combination with Andy Robertson and Dominik Szoboszlai supporting him.
Gakpo isn’t a typical centre-forward but as Lawrenson suggests, he needs to find a way to get into Liverpool’s team.
Klopp has the benefit of being able to rotate all of these players with Darwin Nunez showing what he can do from the bench against Newcastle.
It’s certainly a very nice problem for Klopp to have going into this season.
The post ‘Just doesn’t work’: Mark Lawrenson says Klopp is playing £35m Liverpool man in completely the wrong position appeared first on The Boot Room.
