InterviewCody Gakpo: It was an amazing week – but now we are fully focused on Forest
Liverpool may have enjoyed an ‘amazing week’ but their focus on the next challenge to overcome – Saturday’s trip to Nottingham Forest – is absolute, insists Cody Gakpo.
Stirring Anfield victories over Luton Town and Southampton bookended a seven-day period in which an injury-depleted Reds squad won games across three different competitions and lifted their first trophy of the season.
Last Sunday’s Carabao Cup final win against Chelsea at Wembley was followed up by a 3-0 success over Saints in the fifth round of the Emirates FA Cup on Wednesday, with Academy prospects Jayden Danns (two) and Lewis Koumas grabbing the goals.
Gakpo started all three matches but, while acknowledging the feel-good factor around the AXA Training Centre, stated that the players’ attention is now firmly fixed on the weekend visit to the City Ground.
“It’s [been] an amazing week and I would say a good beginning to how we would like to end the rest of the season,” the Netherlands international told Liverpoolfc.com.
“Obviously when you play at this level you want to play as many games as possible and yeah, we have had some obstacles in the team with injuries.
“But I think we managed to get through them pretty well at the moment and we cannot think about being tired or anything now – we just have to dig in and work really hard, stay focused, stay as fit as possible and get the points.
“We know it is a tough one [at Forest] but, even though we are in a happy place now, we are really focused because we know what we can do as a team and what we are capable of, so we are really focused on the next game.
“That is Nottingham at this moment and we will give our best there as well.”
Gakpo went on to stress that the euphoria of the last 10 days or so has not affected the overall feeling within the Liverpool dressing room.
“No, I don’t think it has really changed,” the No.18 said.
“Obviously here we are all happy that we won a trophy – which is important for us as players and for the club and for the fans – but I think the atmosphere is kind of like the same because actually from the moment we begun the season we were focused and we had a feeling that it could be a special one.
“Obviously when the manager told us he would leave in the summer that feeling became a little bit bigger and now we have got the first trophy we are just on the right way and there are so many things to play for, and I think everybody is still hungry and focused to give our best.
“I think we don’t have to look too far ahead, we just have to look at each game as the most important one. I think that is the approach of the manager [for] the whole season and that is our mindset as well.
“So, I think we just have to keep the same mentality, the same spirit as a group, and keep doing what we are doing.”
On the emotions of winning his first piece of silverware as a Reds player, Gakpo continued: “Yeah, it’s an amazing feeling, obviously, to win this game [and] to win this trophy.
“It’s important, like I said, for us as players to win trophies and when you are playing at a club like this, this big, this is what you like to achieve all the time and I am really happy that I could be part of it.”
Having progressed through the youth ranks to shine at senior level for PSV Eindhoven, Gakpo – who scored the winner for his boyhood club in the 2022 Dutch cup final – is able to relate to the life-changing feats achieved by the likes of Danns and Koumas.
He noted: “I don’t know exactly from what age they started [at Liverpool] but they are still young so from a young age they started here, and then to become a professional football player, it’s not always good days.
“There are tough moments as well, especially in an academy there are ups and downs, and then at the end you get your first minutes, you get your first trophy in one week and then the goals as well!
“Yeah, I can imagine how they feel. It’s an amazing feeling.”
