Cody Gakpo has become laughably predictable

Liverpool fans are still reeling from their shock loss to relegation candidates Wolves, and, once again, left winger Cody Gakpo drew the ire of supporters for a lackadaisical performance in the attack.

The Reds have to be better at creating chances this season, and when Florian Wirtz is unavailable, it really shows just how one dimensional this team is – and it really is a credit to striker Hugo Ekitke that he is getting on so well in his first season at Anfield with the wing play has been this bad.

Gakpo is actually a quality technician who can find passes and cross the ball, and he isn’t a terrible athlete either. The problem is that his game has become so predictable that Premier League fullbacks are easily neutralizing him.

Even when Gakpo first came to Liverpool and his attacking forays were effective, everyone knew that he was going to be cutting inside for early crosses and shooting attempts as more of an inverted playmaker rather than a true winger.

Defenses are really keying in on that, and while his countryman Arjen Robben used to make a career out of cutting inside, you can only do that if you have exceptional explosiveness and are able to maintain an element of unpredictability.

Gakpo can’t. He moves way too slow when he cuts inside to shoot, and because he just about never crosses the ball with his left, there isn’t even the slighest need for defenders to hedge in that direction.

Liverpool need to find a way to get someone else out wide and play Gakpo in other positions or mask his obvious desire to play inside in the channel than rather be a winger.

The entire left flank is beginning to hold back the attack and make things even more difficult for the slowing down Mohamed Salah, who has not been done any favors by Gakpo either.