After an understandably tentative beginning to his Liverpool career, Cody Gakpo must be feeling pretty good. You must have sympathy for a player who joined the club at their lowest ebb for quite some time.
Before the heavy loss to Real Madrid in midweek, the Reds’ problems had started to recede with a pair of 2-0 wins over Everton and Newcastle, two games in which Gakpo scored the second goal. Both strikes came from fine moves, with the former PSV Eindhoven man finding space in the penalty box to apply the finish required.
His goals will inevitably improve his confidence, you could almost see the weight lift from his shoulders after his derby strike. They were not the only positives for Gakpo from the last two matches, though, and other elements of his recent play auger very well for the rest of the season.
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In both games, the 23-year-old had a further Opta-defined clear-cut chance on top of the one from which he scored. A Darwin Nunez scissor kick presented Gakpo with a close-range headed opportunity against the Blues, but unfortunately he steered it wide of the Kop end goal. At St James’ Park another high value header went begging (although it was at least on target), this time from a Trent Alexander-Arnold free-kick delivery.
Though not classified as a big chance, the Netherlands international also had Liverpool’s highest xG value opportunity in the goalless draw with Chelsea (per Understat), heading over following a pass from Stefan Bajcetic. This means that Liverpool’s last three Premier League shots worth at least 0.55 expected goals have all fallen to Gakpo. Only Roberto Firmino, with five, has had more in this value range across the whole of the campaign.
It’s interesting that Gakpo has missed all three golden opportunities taken with his head, as you would expect someone of his height to be good in the air. Yet despite standing 193cm tall, only two of his 50 goals in WhoScored’s database were headers. If he can add this dimension to his attacking game, it will only enhance his value to Liverpool.
Gakpo’s Premier League career remains brief at this point, totalling just 410 minutes. Any impressive numbers he has compiled may easily shift once he has a decent sample size and has played more than five matches. The early numbers are taking shape nicely though.
His movement in the box, which contributed hugely to the two goals, means that he has taken his 13 shots from an average of 12 yards from goal. His first four were all from further than that too, giving him an average of nine yards for his last nine efforts. Even so, only 15 players in the Premier League with at least 13 shots have a shorter average shot distance, and that group includes centre-backs who only contribute in set piece situations.
This proximity to goal is reflected in Gakpo’s chance quality. He has a non-penalty xG per shot average of 0.21 (per FBRef), 0.01 ahead of Erling Haaland and second only to former Liverpool forward Taiwo Awoniyi (0.25). While his rate across five seasons with PSV of 0.12 suggests he’ll cool off with the Reds, across the last year of big league and European football, Gakpo is among the top two percent of attacking midfielders and wingers for this metric.
He has something of an advantage there, as he hasn’t been playing on the left as he has through so much of his career but as the central forward. Equally, Liverpool’s number 18 has been doing so in the style of Roberto Firmino, often appearing in deeper locations than many players in that position would occupy. In the FA Cup at Brighton, Gakpo’s average position was on the edge of the centre circle, and was similarly placed against the Blues and Magpies.
But combine the above thoughts and you swiftly realise that the Liverpool new boy has already shown he can link the play like Firmino while taking up predatory positions in the box at key moments. Keep that range of skills up and Gakpo can have a very successful career with the Reds.
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