Cody Gakpo gets too much hate, but he’s still a goner

Liverpool’s 5-2 demolition of West Ham United on Saturday felt like a line drawn under weeks of stuttering form, and no player embodied the club’s renewed attacking swagger more than Cody Gakpo. The Dutch winger’s sixth goal of the campaign capped a performance in which he also supplied three key passes, reminding Anfield that for all the groans aimed in his direction this season, his creative numbers remain robust.

Against a Hammers back line generous with space, Gakpo drifted inside from the left to operate almost as an auxiliary No. 10, picking passes at will and finishing coolly when the chance arrived. The strike gives him a two-goal buffer over Mohamed Salah in the internal scoring chart and offered a timely retort to critics who have branded him a luxury player.

Yet the reprieve is likely temporary. While Gakpo’s vision and composure in possession are undeniable, Liverpool’s evolving blueprint demands a different weapon on the flank: a jet-heeled dribbler capable of stretching defenses and manufacturing chaos the way Manchester City’s wide men routinely do. Gakpo, cerebral and measured, simply does not fit that explosive profile, and with Salah’s own burst dwindling, the Reds can ill afford a second stationary target on the opposite wing.

In short, Gakpo has been better than the vitriol suggests, but not good enough to keep the starting shirt. Expect the summer window to target a pacier replacement, leaving the Dutchman’s Anfield future on the periphery rather than in the spotlight.