‘Struggled’ – Arne Slot admits one Liverpool player found it ‘hard’ against Sunderland | OneFootball

Arne Slot admitted that one of his Liverpool players ‘struggled’ in their 1-1 draw against Sunderland on Wednesday night.

Only three Reds players have started more Premier League games this season than Cody Gakpo, who’s among just four men in the LFC squad to have featured in all 14 top-flight matches (WhoScored).

However, a disappointing night for the 26-year-old saw him substituted at half-time, with Mo Salah sprung from the bench after not being called upon in the win over West Ham last weekend, his reaction to which was praised by the head coach in recent days.

Slot explains why he substituted Gakpo at the interval

In his post-match media duties after the Sunderland game, Slot was asked about why he made that particular substitution, and the Liverpool boss gave a candid response.

He explained (via liverpoolfc.com): “In my opinion, Cody struggled to dominate the one-v-ones. Like I said, they were pressing high but also in multiple situations they were in a low block, [so] the way to score is quite simple: you need a moment of magic from a player or you need a set piece to score.

“I felt in the first half Cody struggled to find that moment because it was hard for him to dominate the one-v-one or get crosses in.”

(Photo by Carl Recine/Getty Images)

A frustrating night for Gakpo at Anfield

While Gakpo wasn’t found wanting for effort against Sunderland, he produced little by way of creativity on the ball and – as Slot said – was often left frustrated during his 45 minutes on the pitch,

As per Sofascore, the Dutch winger lost four of his five duels, completed just seven passes, failed to record a successful dribble and delivered only one accurate cross last night.

He was up against a right-back in Nordi Mukiele who – unfortunate own goal aside – put in a strong performance at Anfield as he won all five of his duels, made three tackles and made five clearances.

Gakpo enjoyed a fine outing at West Ham the other day as he scored one goal and set up another, but the Sunderland match was one where nothing seemed to come off for him, and Slot felt compelled to act.

It’ll be compelling to see if the Reds’ number 18 is kept in the starting line-up against Leeds on Saturday, or will the head coach go with the attacking setup he had in the second half last night and deploy Florian Wirtz on the left-hand side to accommodate Dominik Szoboszlai and Mo Salah.