Cody Gakpo came close to achieving a relatively rare feat in Liverpool’s 2-0 win at Burnley but unfortunately for him, referee Paul Tierney had other ideas. Having set up the opening goal for Darwin Núñez, the Netherlands international later thought he’d scored himself, only for Tierney to rule the goal out for a what he perceived to be a foul by the Reds’ number nine.
Liverpool supporters thought it was a harsh decision, though worse was to come on that front in the second half with Harvey Elliott’s disallowed strike. Had Gakpo’s goal stood, he would have become just the third player to score and assist in the same game for the Reds this season.
Núñez did so in the away win over LASK, before — inevitably — Mohamed Salah matched him in the recent victory over Crystal Palace. Gakpo himself achieved the feat at Leeds last season, but with only two goals and no assists in his first 16 league appearances in 2023/24, fans were starting to question whether he deserved a place in the side. Valid criticism or not, the Dutchman’s efforts at Turf Moor should dampen the negative talk a little.
If anything, the manner of Gakpo’s assist was arguably more encouraging than the pass itself, at least in terms of somewhat displaying a previous strength which he has rarely shown in the colors of Liverpool. He recorded what Opta define as a carry leading to an assist, which is when a player moves the ball at least five meters before setting up a goal.
It was hardly the smoothest example of a player making a mark on this metric. Gakpo received a pass from Núñez, and his first touch ensured the ball reached the penalty area. Nonetheless, he was able to gather possession and retain it, allowing the Uruguayan to find the space from which he scored his first Liverpool goal from outside the box. It was the first time Gakpo either scored or assisted a Premier League goal following a statistically defined carry.
He has delivered one in the Europa League, moving the ball into space in the LASK box at Anfield before scoring a stoppage time goal. But Gakpo was the Eredivisie’s leading man on these metrics prior to his move, both scoring and assisting five goals in this manner in half a season before moving to Liverpool last January.
While the step up in standard in England meant a cooling off was almost inevitable, Jürgen Klopp and Pep Lijnders would have presumably liked Gakpo’s dribbling to have produced greater output by now. However, his general performance with the ball at his feet at Turf Moor offers hope for the future.
Gakpo completed five of his eight attempted take-ons, with four of his successful dribbles in the opposition half and one in their penalty box. The total is the most by any Liverpool player in the league or Europe this season, equaled only by Diogo Jota in the Carabao Cup win over Leicester City.
There were also only four instances of a Reds player matching the mark in the two main competitions in 2022/23. The last man to better five completed dribbles was Luis Díaz against Palace at Anfield, with seven, and that was the first home game of the campaign.
The fact Gakpo dribbled so well against Burnley may be telling. The Clarets are currently ranked 127th in Opta’s team standings, which makes them the 19th strongest team in the Premier League when they would be sixth in the Netherlands. They are far closer in standard to the level of opposition against which Liverpool’s number 18 previously thrived, which can only have helped.
Hopefully Gakpo takes encouragement from his efforts though and can kick on from here. He might be ready to add a dimension to Liverpool’s attack which the coaching staff have been hoping to unleash for some time.
