Cody Gakpo: Finish The Story

[OverratedOpinion]

None of this is particularly relevant to the point being made about us not spending 45 million euros on Gakpo in January. We had money to spend that could either be spent in January on a player like Gakpo for possible short to mid-term benefit or be kept back to be used for summer targets. The club decided that getting a midfielder and experienced striker on loan for a tiny fraction of the cost of buying a player on a permanent deal was the better way to go. Especially when that player (Gakpo) is best on the left where at the time we had Rashford, Sancho and Garnacho as options.

So no, I do not agree it was an embarrasment to get Sabitzer (a quality player) and Weghorst (didn't score enough but otherwise did what the manager asked him to do), especially when the end result was a trophy and finishing 3rd.

If we end the summer with Mount, Onana, Hojlund and Amrabat then the squad is a lot stronger than the one that finished last season. If buying Gakpo meant no Hojlund (an actual 9 rather than left sided attacker), then I think we'd be worse off in the long run.

Perhaps we just agree to disagree. I have many issues with Glazernomics, but, with hindsight, the January non-spend isn't one of them.

With Hojlund we still need another striker in an ideal world considering Martial's fitness.

If you look at it as either or then sure you might be right but the fact that we have to make that decision all comes back to the Glazers.

Are we not significantly better off in January signing Gakpo rather than Weghorst and would we also not be significantly better off going forward having Gakpo as an option in our squad (as well as Hojlund) considering Hojlund is very young and may take a little while to settle?

 

[GaryLifo]

With Hojlund we still need another striker in an ideal world considering Martial's fitness.

If you look at it as either or then sure you might be right but the fact that we have to make that decision all comes back to the Glazers.

Are we not significantly better off in January signing Gakpo rather than Weghorst and would we also not be significantly better off going forward having Gakpo as an option in our squad (as well as Hojlund) considering Hojlund is very young and may take a little while to settle?

In my opinion, as I already explained, Gakpo is a player who we do not need. He would have to play as a left sided attacker meaning Rashford moves elsewhere and Garnacho is pushed down the order. Gakpo does not solve the need for a number 9. So no, I do not think Gakpo and Hojlund is any better than just Hojlund for the reasons stated.

 

[OverratedOpinion]

In my opinion, as I already explained, Gakpo is a player who we do not need. He would have to play as a left sided attacker meaning Rashford moves elsewhere and Garnacho is pushed down the order. Gakpo does not solve the need for a number 9. So no, I do not think Gakpo and Hojlund is any better than just Hojlund for the reasons stated.

Gakpo has played loads of games as a lone central striker, does it very well and some of the things that he does best there are things that suit us brilliantly and we lack a lot of. (Recieving progressive passes in tight areas, holding the ball with his back to goal, bringing others into play, not to mention scoring.)

He would not have played from the left for us.

He will more than likely start in that position next season for Liverpool who have a better attack than us.

 

[jadajos]

Why has he been a better signing? For scoring a couple of extra goals? Gakpo only got better when he moved inside which shows how hard being a wide man in England actually is,
It seems people are just stating this as fact. Rashford and Antony didn’t have a centre forward to work off of and we had two players carry the front 3 on their own. Struggling this and that, moving positions nonsense doesn’t compare to having 2 of our front 4 being emergency loan signings.
Look at this
https://one-versus-one.com/en/compare-players/cody-mathes-gakpo-vs-antony-matheus-dos-santos
Then posters will tell us how great Gakpo has been? Antony smokes him in almost every stat.
I’m not saying Antony has been great but I’m saying Gakpo hasn’t been as well and there’s a weird energy to defend one over the other

Regardless of which player is actually performing better, this website looks ridiculous. For starters, it rewards indiscipline and gives players a higher rating the more fouls and yellow cards they collect. Also, according to their statistics Gakpo has 0.4 Goals/Game and 0.75 Shots on Target/Game which should translate to a roughly >50% conversion rate for each shot on target using elementary school math. But the website states a 13% conversion rate. This website seems all over the place. Do not trust any statistics you did not fake yourself, I guess.

 

[Dumbstar]

But it''s consistent and based upon my everything Liverpool = bad philosophy. I refuse to talk any sense about your shit bag football club.

 

[GaryLifo]

You get it... just like me, you are old skool redcafe

 

[Abraxas]

Pretty obvious if we'd have bought Gakpo and he'd scored 7 and assisted a few in half a season and generally looked technically tidy we'd be pretty optimistic going into this season. Why wouldn't we be? It's far better than Antony's performances and we're not writing him off yet. I think it's just because he's a Liverpool player that we were strongly linked with some are not able to assess him objectively as there's a bit of a double whammy there.

He would have added something here up front, irrespective of what his best role/position is. Especially at a very modest fee. It would be taking a heck of a lot of pressure off Hojlund right about now as well to know we have an option that can put in very tidy performances up front instead of a fella that warms the treatment bench and having to play Sancho there who has yet to have a decent season in his favoured position.

Not hard to see why ETH had a bit of interest.

 

[Kostov]

so your plan is to once again make a general argument about strikers etc than the one about Gakpo.

Here's my argument: Gakpo is a player we did not need in January and I think the club were correct not to try and sign him at that point

Here's your argument: We should have bought a striker in January

Can you see how my argument and yours do not amount to the same thing?

Gakpo played 21 games for Liverpool last season, 16 of them at CF. And apparently our back up plan for Hojlund was Kolo Muani who is very similar to Gakpo imo.

 

[Matthew84!]

Not really sure why this thread keeps getting bumped, average player that plays for Lfc, close thread.

 

[GaryLifo]

Gakpo played 21 games for Liverpool last season, 16 of them at CF. And apparently our back up plan for Hojlund was Kolo Muani who is very similar to Gakpo imo.

And in those 16 games as cf I reckon I watched more than half of them and I do not think from what I've seen of gakpo he's a Manchester united under ten Hag number 9.

 

[BenitoSTARR]

And in those 16 games as cf I reckon I watched more than half of them and I do not think from what I've seen of gakpo he's a Manchester united under ten Hag number 9.

I’m glad that it only took you at least 8 games to be reasonably sure he doesn’t play for Manchester United.

 

[Kostov]

And in those 16 games as cf I reckon I watched more than half of them and I do not think from what I've seen of gakpo he's a Manchester united under ten Hag number 9.

He actually looked quite good in the games I have seen him. And this “number 9 under ten Hag” is funny, what do you mean by that? We hardly had any capable or fit number 9 all season.

 

[GaryLifo]

He actually looked quite good in the games I have seen him. And this “number 9 under ten Hag” is funny, what do you mean by that? We hardly had any capable or fit number 9 all season.

Okay I'm genuinely bored now. You rate Gakpo and I don't. Fine, let's leave it there.

 

[Josh 76]

Not really sure why this thread keeps getting bumped, average player that plays for Lfc, close thread.

It happens when a player has a good pre-season game. Next it will be when he does well in training.

 

[P-Nut]

This thread is wild

 

[GoonerBear]

But we prioritised summer recruitment over the January market. If you’re using that example you can’t really dismiss it. It wasn’t that we couldn’t afford him, it was that we didn’t want to spend the money and judging by this summer we did have the money. We paid off all but 40m of the 200m credit we took out last year. We had money.

Would FFP maybe have been a consideration as well? Buy in January and the 22/23 accounts become affected.
Buy after June 30th and your're into the next financial year?

Just a thought, I've seen that mentioned why we couldn't buy players in January in the past, might be totally wrong though.

 

[cyberman]

Would FFP maybe not have came into it as well? Buy in January and the 22/23 accounts become affected.
Buy after June 30th and your're into the next financial year?

Just a thought, I've seen that mentioned why we couldn't buy players in January in the past, might be totally wrong though.

Not really. Apparently we bought Mount before the ffp period for last season ran out. I don’t think anybody really knows how close to ffp we actually got to anyway

 

[GoonerBear]

Not really. Apparently we bought Mount before the ffp period for last season ran out. I don’t think anybody really knows how close to ffp we actually got to anyway

Really? I thought he took his medical round about July 3rd and he was announced a couple of days later?

https://www.manchestereveningnews.c...anchester-united-mason-mount-medical-27248010

 

[cyberman]

Really? I thought he took his medical round about July 3rd and he was announced a couple of days later?

https://www.manchestereveningnews.c...anchester-united-mason-mount-medical-27248010

I think it goes by when the deal was agreed rather the. Confirmation via medical. It’s the same principle as teams agreeing fees minutes before the window closes.
The only reason I remember is because we had the negotiation advantage due to Chelsea needing to balance the books for the last years ffp before July 1.

 

[Ayoba]

Why did Klopp play him in midfield?!

 

[mufc_sd]

Why did Klopp play him in midfield?!

To accommodate Jota and Diaz and wonder why he didn't have a good game.

 

[IrishRedDevil]

Still gutted about this one phenomenal player

I'm so salty we didn't get him, even more so that Liverpool did. Think he will really get going this season. Excellent, multifaceted player.

 

[George Beast]

Genuinely can't tell if these people are being serious or just taking the p*ss

 

[Pogue Mahone]

This thread definitely wins the award for the most random pre-season bump.

Side note, he was a complete nonentity yesterday and wtf was he thinking when he passed it to (well, behind) Salah when he had a clear shot at goal?

 

[MadMike]

I really don't see what people are fretting on about here. He's a decent Liverpool squad player, no more than that. Soon as Liverpool get a #6 and push McAllister next to Szobo, Gakpo will go back to being a backup for Diaz and Nunez. Diaz is clearly the better winger of the two.

I wouldn't have him over any of our current left wingers (Rashford, Garnacho) and I don't really rate him as a striker. Hojlund has much higher potential as a #9 for me.

What is it that people feel we missed out with him? Is it because he had a low price? Is it the "bargain" chasing?

 

[Vault Dweller]

This thread definitely wins the award for the most random pre-season bump.

Side note, he was a complete nonentity yesterday and wtf was he thinking when he passed it to (well, behind) Salah when he had a clear shot at goal?

Yeah I couldn't believe he passed that either.

 

[Nero]

'Phenomenal'. Crikey.

 

[Dumbstar]

Mods, can you please remove 'Real Deal' from the title again. The short attention spanners on Redcafe have spoken.

(Of course you can keep it on archive for quick recovery when Liverpool play Utd again )

 

[JJ12]

He’s decent but not much better than that. Will look very good on times when Liverpool in full flow.

 

[Its all gone Shane Long]

Mods, can you please remove 'Real Deal' from the title again.

Stick a ? over it and keep the conversation going about him

 

[thegregster]

I really don't see what people are fretting on about here. He's a decent Liverpool squad player, no more than that. Soon as Liverpool get a #6 and push McAllister next to Szobo, Gakpo will go back to being a backup for Diaz and Nunez. Diaz is clearly the better winger of the two.

I wouldn't have him over any of our current left wingers (Rashford, Garnacho) and I don't really rate him as a striker. Hojlund has much higher potential as a #9 for me.

What is it that people feel we missed out with him? Is it because he had a low price? Is it the "bargain" chasing?

He starts ahead of Nunez.

Nunez will be second choice striker and third choice left winger.

 

[Regulus Arcturus Black]

Mods, can you please remove 'Real Deal' from the title again. The short attention spanners on Redcafe have spoken.

Surely the short attention spanners are those calling him the real fecking deal and spunking all over a pre season goal to call him “phenomenal” no?

 

[RuudTom83]

So he now plays in midfield?

What happened this summer for managers to start playing forwards in midfield. Havertz/Gakpo/Mount at first glance all look out of position in midfield.

 

[Ish]

Tough fixture today but my word, I recall being perplexed by the level of preseason hype this lad received.

 

[TrustInJanuzaj]

He’s really just average.

 

[Sanchez7]

He is nothing special. Luckily we didn't sign him or it would have been one more to add to EtH and the club's failed signings list.

 

[JogaBonitoRooney]

Nice jinx

 

[Lay]

Wait til the end of the game lads. Rookie mistake

 

[njred]

Maddison is so good

 

[Veni_Vidi_Vidic]

Some people lump Gakpo in with Diaz and Jota but that is pretty lazy, he is clearly the worst of the three and no-where near Jota's level.

He doesn't have the pace of Nunez so I often see him drop deep and try to play a Firmino like role but he doesn't have the quality for that. Whereas Nunez's finishing can be inconsistent, Gakpo's is just fairly poor.

With Martial leaving this summer we really need a decent backup for Hojlund (not that Martial was a good backup anyway, of course). A versatile forward who can play across the front line would be fantastic. It would also give us another option on the left when Hojlund is fit, given Rashford's "inconsistency". I just hope Ashworth can come up with a Jota and not a Gakpo.