'Hard done by': Steve McManaman suggests Arne Slot has been unfair to 'fantastic' Liverpool star this season
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Liverpool continued their impressive start to the season by beating Bologna on Wednesday.
The Reds had won seven out of eight games heading into their second Champions League match of the campaign.
And after making that eight out of nine at Anfield, they have now confirmed Arne Slot as the manager or head coach to have had the best start to life at Liverpool in the club’s history.
Slot was not happy with the performance against Bologna, but even the Dutchman will surely have allowed himself a smile after yet another win.
It isn’t all sunshine and roses for the Reds, though. While plenty of members of the Liverpool squad have been excellent under Slot, there are a couple who have struggled.
Darwin Nunez was not great on Wednesday and commentating on the match against Bologna, former Liverpool winger Steve McManaman highlighted another player who is having a difficult time right now.
Cody Gakpo being ‘hard done by’ at Liverpool
It was a little surprising to see Slot go with just one change from the team who beat Wolves on Saturday.
With Diogo Jota struggling for fitness through the week, Nunez was the only player to come into the starting line-up.
We didn’t think there would be big changes from the Liverpool head coach, but after a quiet showing from Luis Diaz at Wolves, we had thought that Cody Gakpo would get his start.
Gakpo has been very good recently but Slot decided to keep consistency in his line-up, perhaps reiterating that Diaz is first choice on the left-hand side for now.
READ MORE: Steve McManaman says Liverpool have a player who is completely unique after watching him vs Bologna
Gakpo did come on as a second-half substitute, but having seen the Dutchman enter the pitch late once more, McManaman admitted on commentary for TNT Sports that he felt Gakpo could feel a little ‘hard done by’ from his head coach.
“If there was one player you almost feel sorry for it’s Cody Gakpo,” said the pundit. “Because every time he’s come onto the pitch as a substitute he’s made a difference, he’s been excellent, he’s scored goals.
“After the summer he had you’d think he’d be one of the first names on the manager’s list. But maybe coming back late, others have jumped the queue ahead of him.
“He is hard done by,” McManaman added. “He’s been fantastic.”
Who will start against Crystal Palace?
Part of the reason it seemed likely that Gakpo would start against Bologna was because Liverpool have a Premier League game hot on the heels of Wednesday night’s clash.
The Reds head to Selhurst Park to take on Crystal Palace on Saturday lunchtime. It is a fairly quick turnaround.
As a result, it seemed a good idea to rotate between Diaz and Gakpo for the two games. The Dutchman would start midweek, before his positional rival was restored at the weekend.
Now, Slot has thrown all of that up in the air. It is no longer clear cut who will get the nod on Saturday.
Having seen Diaz get a rest for the final 20 minutes or so against Bologna, it feels likely that the Colombian will go from the start again. In such good form when starting games himself, that does feel a little harsh on Gakpo.
