Liverpool comfortably beat Fulham 3-1 away at Craven Cottage, which was key as they had dropped points in their last two league matches. These are the five things we learnt about Jurgen Klopp’s side.
Five Things We Learnt About Liverpool After Beating Fulham: A New Hero
1. Cody Gakpo Is A Difference Maker
In previous weeks, Cody Gakpo hadn’t looked as exciting as he did when he joined from PSV. Perhaps this was due to him being played more centrally, but it resulted in starts on the bench a lot. The Dutchman became a bit of a scapegoat for the fanbase but regardless had a pretty underwhelming few months.
However, he has looked like the difference maker in both wins last week: away at Atalanta in midweek and away at Fulham on the weekend. In particular, his ability to carry the ball was exactly what Liverpool were missing. Playing on the left wing, where he thrived for PSV, appears to have bolstered his game.
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Gakpo created two chances in Italy, resulting in an expected assists of 0.86. Against Fulham, he put Diogo Jota through on goal for the third. He also got into great shooting positions – taking two good attempts from the left-hand side of the pitch.
With five passes into the final third, the versatile forward was certainly a new “hero” for Liverpool as they maintained their place in the title race with a win against Fulham.
2. Trent Alexander-Arnold Should Be England’s Right-Back
Trent Alexander-Arnold made his first league start after injury and was just as creative as everybody remembered. He made an impressive 15 passes into the final third and five successful long passes.
It was an incredible free-kick goal that made the headlines, curling the ball into the top-left corner from 25 yards. His set-piece ability on top of his all-round game should win him a place in the starting lineup.
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England have a few talented free-kick takers, including James Maddison, James Ward-Prowse, and Kieran Trippier. However, they’re all unlikely to start. Gareth Southgate also used to have an abundance of good right-backs, but Reece James is injured and Aaron Wan-Bissaka is not the player he used to be. Meanwhile, Kyle Walker has had his critics this season.
Alexander-Arnold is a world-class footballer that should be starting at Euro 2024.
3. Liverpool Can’t Keep Clean Sheets
A 3-1 scoreline is not unfamiliar for Klopp: the Reds have seen it nine times this season.
Scoring in abundance and conceding isn’t necessarily a bad thing, and it’s got Liverpool results this season. However, it is a problem when the attack isn’t flowing, for example in the 1-0 loss to Crystal Palace.
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They conceded another fairly scrappy goal (the scorer being Timothy Castagne) and we saw Alisson Becker forced into a couple of good saves including a good shot from Tom Cairney in the 89th minute.
The defence is certainly not as watertight as their title rivals Arsenal, who have conceded six less.
4. Recent Poor Form Was Due to Fatigue
We saw Klopp make many changes for this match, resting usual starters like Darwin Nunez, Mohamed Salah, Ibrahima Konate, and Alexis Mac Allister.
Whilst some of these players have been integral to the side this season, the Merseyside outfit seemed to get better compared to the last four matches. The general reasoning for this is that a fully fit backup is likely going to perform better than a fatigued first-choice star.
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Beating Fulham with at least four starters on the bench, directly after these starters had contributed to bad results, proves that the recent poor form was mostly due to tiredness.
5. Klopp May Have Finally Lost His Patience With Nunez
Nunez was surprisingly benched for the second match in a row, despite generally being the first-choice striker. The first benching was suspected to be due to fatigue, as many others had been rested recently. However, being benched again suggests that Klopp’s patience for the attacker may have finally ran out.
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The striker has been missing chances all season (and all of last season too): he’s underperformed his league-expected goals by 4.1. However, the Uruguayan recently missed a big chance in each of Liverpool’s most costly matches this season: Manchester United away, Atalanta away, and Crystal Palace at home.
His lack of clinical finishing finally cost Liverpool against Palace and it seems that, with Gakpo in form and Jota back, he may not be first choice anymore.
