18 Sep 2025 12:45:38
Gakpo is the one player in the forward line who doesn't really have anyone pushing him for his place which is strange now In hindsight. The young lad will get 10, 15 minutes in some matches and cup games but we don't have a left sided attacker or winger pushing gakpo for a spot. Ekitike can play there but he and isak are natural 9's. Yes a formation change alters things but gakpo isn't salah. He's a very good player at times but not a great one. I now understand the fofana interest.
18 Sep 2025 13:00:30
thats the point of Rio. if you sign Fofona or a LW you don't get to play Rio in games like he has this year you then block his progress which it looks like is coming on leaps and bounds he came on last night and forced the Athleti players to defend and concede the corners.
18 Sep 2025 13:11:55
Kloppers the lads a few years away imo. Itthink the excitement will die down soon enough and we'll really get to see where he's at with his development.
My point is that I think gakpos fortunate in a way to have that spot basically to himself. Yes he performed very well last season but he knew there was Diaz and jota who could play on the left too. He had real competition. He's personally a player I think we could have improved on. Great squad player but a position I still think we could go for fofana.
18 Sep 2025 13:13:17
We have plenty of options on the left. Rio, for one, has done very well when called upon so far. Then, if Rio is unavailable, we have Wirtz and Ekitike to play there, both of whom would still be better than most actual left-sided players in the league.
18 Sep 2025 13:34:29
whats the point in Rio then if you get Fofona or say a starting LW you sell Gakpo? Rio has obviously been told look this is your chance this year to make a mark and take Gakpo spot in the long run you buy someone else its pointless you say he's to young but he's not if your good enough you play.
18 Sep 2025 14:02:13
Personally id play wirtz there. He did his best work cutting in from that wing at Leverkusen and it would allow us to play Dom, Mac and grav as our midfield unit in all their natural positions.
In addition I think Cody is just too predictable. A number of times he missed passes to his outside runner because he was cutting inside to shoot again with the familiar outcome of it hitting the first defender.
I think Cody might well be a player like Jota whereby he's much better used as an impact sub after 60 mins.
That's just my opinion though.
18 Sep 2025 14:38:59
Exactly, Kloppers. If you want Rio to be great and flourish, the last thing you want to do is to bring in another young player. That makes no sense to me. Gakpo may need some comp. BUT sorry, you either sell Rio and bring in Fofana to push Gakkers. Or sell Gakpo (good luck with that as he just signed a new deal) and bring in Fofana. Just my opinion.
18 Sep 2025 15:06:06
Does Fofana actually improve us as he is right now? In my opinion, no.
Gakpo is absolutely improvable. The issue is there aren't many top left wingers available on the market. We were interested in Kvaratshkelia in January so we clearly are open to recruitment in that position but we are probably waiting for an opportune player to become available as opposed to a risk or perfunctory option.
18 Sep 2025 15:11:46
As has been said, bringing in a young backup would essentially kill any minutes for Rio, and that wouldn't be a great idea given how promising he's looked when playing.
Your other option is to bring in an experienced back up to Gakpo, and there's really no point in that when you have Hugo, Flo and Chiesa who can all share the load in that position.
18 Sep 2025 15:36:55
I think Wirtz will play on the left side a few times when and if needed. I think we got a few glimpses of it yesterday when Gakpo was subbed. We are going to fine and Rio will grow stronger too. We have enough depth.
18 Sep 2025 16:40:09
Looks like Gakpo is being setup to be this season’s whipping boy. There always seems to be someone looking for a negative amongst the positives.
18 Sep 2025 17:43:57
Gakpo will score against Everton on Saturday.
18 Sep 2025 18:16:14
I just don’t get it you want to bring another LW to further hinder Rio chances when he’s shown in pre season and the couple games he’s played so far he’s ready to make an impact. Oli is right you either sell Gakpo and buy another LW so you have two fighting not 3. wasn’t Gakpo the third top goal scorer for us last year? He has had a average start to the season a few have he’s not the problem at the moment the teams just trying to click
STE don’t worry when Jones is back it’ll go back to him.
18 Sep 2025 20:05:32
Gakpo bashing started already, hugely underrated and well deserving of that starting position in my opinion.
18 Sep 2025 22:10:08
If Rio turns out to be as good as everybody thinks he is, bringing somebody else In isn’t going to stop his progress - it will just be healthy competition for the LW spot. Nobody should be a guaranteed starter.
19 Sep 2025 02:24:03
Rio will get games and is ready now, his development can only improve if he is exposed to prem and CL competitive games.
Isak will score against Everton mark my words.
19 Sep 2025 00:17:38
Gakpo is better than Diaz imo.
19 Sep 2025 04:57:01
You realise our squad is already so big we couldn't register chiesa for CL? If we need another player then we should be looking to sell someone.
19 Sep 2025 07:50:39
If Slot thought Chiesa was good enough he would have been in the squad.
19 Sep 2025 11:24:13
WDW, or maybe it was just a case of too many bodies available in the forward line so one had to get left out. Managers do this all the time.
And Rio is not as good as Gakpo now and will need time to develop so why are we bringing someone in at the moment if Chiesa or Gakpo are staying which they are? Makes no sense to me, man.
19 Sep 2025 13:01:48
The only reason Chiesa didn't make the squad was because we need 4 registered central defenders and Leoni needed to be included instead of another attacker when we have plenty of cover in that department, it's been well documented. Konate and Gomez are not as robust as VVD so in that scenario your left with 1 CB if we had included Chiesa. Pragmatic and efficient management if you ask me. I wouldn't read that much into it.