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There are those who are left in the wreckage of Darwin Nunez\u2019s trail of destruction. They can include opposing goalkeepers and defenders, mown down by the rampaging bull, or supporters behind the goals, at risk from wayward shots. Their number also includes the forward who became Liverpool\u2019s anti-Nunez.<\/p>\n
There is something understated about Cody Gakpo. He can be the least explosive of Jurgen Klopp\u2019s attackers. He endeared himself to the Liverpool manager by immediately grasping his tactical demands, whereas it took Nunez time. The Uruguayan is the proper No.9; if the Dutchman arrived from PSV Eindhoven as a left winger, he spent much of his first few months at Anfield as a false nine. Liverpool will not have another Roberto Firmino but Gakpo was shaping up as his successor last season.<\/p>\n
This year, however, he may have a less enviable status. If Nunez can be electric in full flight, he has overtaken Gakpo. There was a point when Klopp had a definitive front three who were guaranteed starters. Then Diogo Jota became the interloper, making it a question of three from four. As Firmino followed Sadio Mane to the exit, as Gakpo, Nunez and Luis Diaz made the journey from Anfield, Klopp was left plucking three from five: or, with Mohamed Salah\u2019s pre-eminence entrenched, two from four.<\/p>\n
And Gakpo, once among those favoured pair, has started to look the fifth-choice forward. Even with Jota out injured for a few weeks, he seems first reserve. A brace against LASK on Thursday felt timely, but scarcely seemed to alter Klopp\u2019s thinking. Liverpool enter a period of eight games in 23 days and Gakpo will feature regularly – but perhaps not as a starter when it matters most.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have already Diogo who is not in, so that is not helpful and we have to share these kind of minutes with different players and they have to perform – not always 90 [minutes] but 60 or 70 at full throttle,\u201d said Klopp. \u201cDarwin is in a top moment and that didn\u2019t change, he is super important for us. He didn\u2019t start tonight and Cody scored twice. Fantastic. Does that mean he has to start the next five games in a row? Cody doesn\u2019t expect [that]. They have to score, that is the job, that is what they want but it is not that I have sleepless nights and don\u2019t know who to start. It is not that much a choice, to be honest.\u201d<\/p>\n
Which seemed to confirm that Nunez, who spent some of the second half of last season as a substitute and other parts as an ersatz striker, is now the spearhead. Certainly, Klopp\u2019s Premier League selections suggest Gakpo is the odd man out, and that the pecking order has changed.<\/p>\n
For the last four games, the attacking trio have been Salah, Nunez and Jota, but it came during a period when Diaz\u2019s season was interrupted when his father was kidnapped. With the Portuguese sidelined now and the Colombian reunited with his family on Merseyside, he looks ready to reclaim the place he lost after a decisive showing in the Merseyside derby. A wonderful header against LASK was evidence of his ability; perhaps as pertinently, Gakpo, despite his versatility, has not looked dynamic enough to be a true Klopp winger. Diaz is.<\/p>\n
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And an examination of his season is instructive. Three of his six league starts have come in midfield. Indeed, his capacity to drop deep proved useful last season: with Liverpool struggling in midfield, Klopp found it hard to accommodate Nunez in a central role, and liked the January arrival\u2019s ability to help out there. For three games when Klopp has found himself short of midfield options, he has trusted Gakpo there.<\/p>\n
But in his three starts in attack, he has a respectable two goals \u2013 to add to two each in the Carabao Cup and Europa League \u2013 but has been taken off inside an hour in each. He has not started as a forward in the Premier League since the 2-1 defeat to Tottenham. He only lasted 45 minutes then, scored but was hurt.<\/p>\n
His other start as a striker came at Newcastle; it feels among the most significant matches of Liverpool\u2019s campaign for several reasons.<\/p>\n
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They were 1-0 down with 10 men when Gakpo came off \u2013 through no fault of his own, they have been depleted in two of the three games he has begun in attack \u2013 and won 2-1 with a devastating brace from the substitute Nunez.<\/p>\n
It was the start of the Uruguayan\u2019s surge into the premier position in Klopp\u2019s thinking. If Gakpo benefited from not being Nunez in spring, now he is suffering from it in winter. Maybe, like many a defender, he has been powerless to halt Nunez in full flight.<\/p>\n