After leading their Europa League group, Jurgen Klopp’s team lost in Belgium
Jurgen Klopp, who has previously led the group and rotated a lot of teams, will be upbeat after his youthful Liverpool team lost to Union Saint-Gilloie in their Europa League group stage finale.
This was a prudent move that will likely pay off, with the players remaining unharmed, as the team rested a number of key players ahead of three home matches in seven days: Manchester United, Arsenal, and West Ham United in the Carabao Cup.
Having said that, Liverpool still lost and looked pretty bad for it. They couldn’t find any offensive cohesion and struggled to stop the home team’s waves of attack, and Cody Gakpo didn’t play as well as he might have liked.
The performance of Cody Gakpo against USG Now, it’s unfair to be harsh about Gakpo; Despite being established, the Dutchman received little support from his teammates in the midfield and out wide.
Despite this, the 23-year-old player remained unidentified and did not find any pockets of space from which he could build, influence play, and provide his springtime peers with a sense of attacking fluency.
Sofascore reports that despite only receiving 38 touches, the £120k-per-week power forward missed one shot, failed on one dribble, was dribbled past himself, and lost the ball 12 times during the game.
He hardly demonstrated that he is the man to occupy the primary front spot ahead of Darwin Nunez, who is erratic but dynamic and determined, with the upcoming Premier League match against United.
Once more, Gakpo was help out with the majority of the undertaking and keeping in mind that he complimented to mislead, it’s difficult to load every one of the fault on his feet regardless of whether he will be disheartened with his association; In this dead-rubber match, the young Reds just didn’t work.
Even though the match was a valuable experience for the younger players as they strive to rise to the top, none of them impressed Klopp, and right-back Conor Bradley certainly failed to impress after a difficult test.
Conor Bradley bombed his huge test versus USG
Bradley, matured 20, is viewed as a major possibility by those on Merseyside and has seen his occasional improvement smothered by a back injury supported way back in pre-season, just barely getting back to match activity.
Bradley was dribbled past three times by the ferocious Mohamed Amoura, who scored and assisted on a stunning individual effort. However, Bradley won six of his 13 duels, which isn’t bad at all.
The Northern Irish starlet was in the thick of the action and lost possession 18 times. He took 74 touches, made two of his three attempts, and started to play better after the break.
Jurgen Klopp on Conor Bradley: "Conor's a top player. I like him a lot. His energy is outstanding, he's a real fighter. It's an important experience. I don't think any career ever started without these kinds of games where you have to struggle and survive – Conor did." #LFC ????
— Lewis Steele (@LewisSteele_) December 14, 2023
Peter McVitie of GOAL was not impressed with the young full-back’s performance. He gave him a rating of 4/10 for the match and noted that he was unable to contain the explosive Amoura, who completed all five of his dribbles.
McVitie stated, Beaten for pace an excessive number of times as he pushed high up and responded gradually as Holy person Gilloise went after.’
A player returning from injury with a lot of potential was thrown into the mix on a challenging evening in a role that prompted him to imitate Trent Alexander-Arnold by moving into the midfield in possession. Perhaps there was some criticism, but maybe there was even more praise for the player.
However, Liverpool’s defeat is not the primary topic of discussion here; Klopp’s side are on the top by and by, and an extreme test in Belgium made for the ideal ground to give a thrilling gifts a stage to sharpen their art.
Leave a Reply