Cody Gakpo is still very much getting to grips with life as a midfielder. The Dutchman is a solid performer, but he has one big department to improve upon.
Cody Gakpo has been presented with a difficult challenge to complete across his opening two rounds of Premier League fixtures this month. Jürgen Klopp has picked up four points from his bouts against Chelsea and Bournemouth so far, and in those contests, he’s deployed Gakpo as a midfielder rather than a forward.
The Dutchman was fielded as a left-sided number eight in the two games, largely as a result of the lack of options in the engine room right now. Since Klopp sanctioned the surprise departures of both Jordan Henderson and Fabinho this summer, he’s replaced the pair with just Wataru Endo so far, who signed on the dotted line as recently as Friday.
Moreover, Thiago Alcântara and Stefan Bajčetić are recovering from injuries at present, with Gakpo forced to play as a makeshift midfielder to fill the void for his boss. The 24-year-old talent has performed admirably, but has seemed to have one glaring weakness attached to his game.
Simply put, Gakpo isn’t accustomed to getting on the ball very often. As a forward, he was used to being involved in the final third before creating a chance or scoring a goal for PSV Eindhoven — his former club — which explains why he’s appeared somewhat uncomfortable at times when required to offer himself as a constant passing option at Anfield.
Against Chelsea on the opening weekend, he accumulated a total of just 10 completed passes in 65 minutes before being substituted for Curtis Jones, who proceeded to complete 15 in just 25 minutes on the pitch. No player who started the game completed fewer passes than Gakpo, which is quite incredible considering his position in the middle of the park.
This weekend, Liverpool hosted Bournemouth at Anfield. Klopp again made the decision to deploy Gakpo as a number eight — with Jones absent due to an ankle concern — but despite the Reds winning 3-1, the same issue emerged. The Dutch international amassed just 20 completed passes this time around, which was again the fewest posted by any player in red.
Gakpo has now played a total of 127 minutes in England’s top flight so far this term, and he’s averaging just 21 passes completed per 90 minutes. It is far too early to be assessing numbers as the sample size is simply too small to be reliable, but his average is very low for a midfielder in a dominant side.
