Michael Owen sings the praises of Cody Gakpo during Liverpool v Manchester United

By Lee Connor

Cody Gakpo scored himself a brilliant goal in the first-half for Liverpool against Manchester United this afternoon.

The big money January signing has started to find his feet of late with Liverpool. After initially struggling a bit, Gakpo now looks to be settling into the role as one of Liverpool’s main forwards.

His opening goal against United today was that of a man high in confidence as well. He took a fine ball from Andy Robertson inside the defence before curling a fine finish past David De Gea.

And man who knows a lot about scoring goals for Liverpool, Michael Owen, praised Gakpo for how he got himself into the position to score before finishing with aplomb.

“It’s a very good goal from Gakpo. He makes the original run outside, the ball doesn’t come to him and then he makes the second run. When he gets the ball he uses the defender Martinez brilliantly to bend the ball into the far corner. It’s a really good finish,” Owen told PL Productions.

The first-half performance from Liverpool was much more like that Jurgen Klopp wants to see. Gakpo’s emergence into a bit of form, too, is a bonus for the Reds boss.

TBR’s View: Gakpo will be a fine player for Liverpool

Coming from the Dutch league can always be a tough ask. The Premier League is so much quicker than the Eredivisie and it’s been clear that Gakpo – who is said to be on £120k-a-week at the club – has struggled at times.

But he does look like being on his way to finding his feet fully now. He seems up to speed in terms of how quickly the ball comes, and can clearly finish when he gets chances.

Questions have been asked of both Cody Gakpo and Darwin Nunez. But both now appear to be coming good.