Arne Slot says Cody Gakpo is enjoying ‘special’ season for Liverpool | OneFootball

Liverpool secured an emphatic 4-0 win over Tottenham Hotspur on Thursday night at Anfield to move to the final of the Carabao Cup.

The Reds were trailing 1-0 from the first leg, but they were expected to put up a strong performance at home.

Liverpool completely dominated the first half and got the opening goal through Cody Gakpo. In the second half, the Reds added three more goals, with Mohamed Salah, Dominik Szoboszlai and Virgil van Dijk all scoring for the home side.

Gakpo has been in great form this season under the Dutch manager, but Slot isn’t surprised that the 25-year-old winger is doing so well for the Reds.

Slot says that Gakpo is enjoying a “special” season. He adds that the Dutch winger was brilliant for the national side in the Euro Championships and also in the second half of last season, and he is merely continuing the good form.

“I have no clue [how many goals he could end the season with], I am not so much into how many goals they score,” said the Reds boss.

“I think it was Curtis [Jones], when Mo who crossed it in, he went for it, that’s why the full-back had a little bit of doubt and the ball falls then to Cody. And if it is Cody or Lucho [Luis Diaz] or Diogo [Jota] or Darwin [Nunez] or Mo or Federico [Chiesa], they can all score goals but we have to make sure they come in those positions a lot.

“Therefore you need to run a lot and that is what they are doing, but Cody has a special season. But second half of last season he was special, during the Euros he was special for Holland, so it doesn’t come falling out of the sky. It’s something he did before.”

Gakpo has scored 16 goals in all competitions this season for Liverpool. He has also registered five assists.

Liverpool have a wealth of options in their forward department, and Slot has done incredibly well so far to shuffle the pack and keep everyone happy.

Gakpo usually plays on the left hand side where he directly competes with Luis Diaz for a starting role. Diaz has been often used as a striker this season.

Liverpool will face Newcastle United in the final of the Carabao Cup next month at Wembley. They now shift their attention towards the FA Cup this weekend, when they face Plymouth Argyle away from home.

Slot will be able to drop a few senior players for this game on Sunday without hampering the quality of the side.