Ferdinand launches Gakpo defence as he points finger at Liverpool culprits
Rio Ferdinand has defended Cody Gakpo and insisted that others are to blame for Liverpool's current plight after the Reds fell to a chastening 3-0 defeat against Wolves on Saturday.
Jurgen Klopp's side have endured a rotten campaign and were comprehensively beaten at Molinuex courtesy of an own goal from Joel Matip and strikes from Craig Dawson and Ruben Neves.
Liverpool's latest reverse means that the Reds have yet to taste victory in the Premier League in 2023 and ensures they remain mired in mid-table - 21 points behind Arsenal at the summit of the league. Given their recent form, Liverpool have come in for some heavy criticism in recent weeks.
Gakpo is one of the players who has been singled out in recent weeks: after dazzling for PSV Eindhoven in the Eredivisie, Gakpo has made an underwhelming start to life at Anfield and has failed to find the back of the net for his new team.
However, Ferdinand has defended Gakpo and insisted that Liverpool have far bigger concerns than the form of their new forward after another heavy defeat. He told Vibe with Five on Monday: "When you get beat 3-0, you can't be talking about the striker, surely."
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Gakpo has failed to register a goal or an assist in six matches since Liverpool pipped Manchester United to a £45million deal for the versatile forward. But the Reds main issues are behind Gakpo with major question marks over the club's decision to not seek midfield reinforcements during the January transfer window.
With Liverpool already out of the title race and both domestic cups, they will need to negotiate a tricky Champions League tie against Real Madrid later this month if they are to keep their hopes of winning silverware this season alive - just months after they came close to an unprecedented quadruple.
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Gakpo has failed to register a goal or an assist since completing his £45million switch to Liverpool (Offside via Getty Images)Klopp refused to single anybody out after Saturday's latest horror show but couldn't hide his frustration following another abject performance. The German said: "I don’t think they are [at their] best in the moment and do I like that? No. But I still know how good they are and how good they can be. But football, and life, is not like this. We work every day and it's not because of him, him, him.
"So, these things happen because we cannot help ourselves in these moments. How can you get in a situation… seven or eight players had nothing to do with the first goal, the other seven [or] eight players had nothing to do with the second goal – but everybody is influenced by it.
"So, these are the situations we have to go through. I don’t lose confidence in the boys or whatever, but I see where we have to improve. That’s what we are working on but again it makes this so typical to the situation.
"The start is horrible and then it’s normal and then it’s great but, OK, without finishing, I get that. Playing a 0-0 like we would've played the whole game like the [first] 30 minutes in the second half, we would've loved to see the end result. But in the moment it is always if, if, if. I cannot hear it anymore but it's still the situation."
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