ReactionCody Gakpo: It's hard to take but we know not good enough
Cody Gakpo gave his assessment of Liverpool’s late Premier League defeat at Chelsea and how the squad will go about turning around a disappointing run.
The Reds were beaten for a third game in a row in all competitions - and for the second successive week in the top flight by a stoppage-time concession - at Stamford Bridge on Saturday.
Gakpo’s finish soon after the hour mark had equalised Moises Caicedo’s ferocious opener, but Estevao was on target from close range at the very end to consign Arne Slot’s men to a loss that followed defeats versus Crystal Palace and Galatasaray.
The goalscorer reflected on the match and the champions’ recent form, speaking to Sky Sports post-match. Read the Q&A below.
On his immediate thoughts about the game and losing late on…
Difficult. Obviously we played against a very good team. First half, they scored an amazing goal. But I think it was levelled, second half we fought really hard to make the equaliser. I think we played a little bit better maybe than them in the second half but they were very dangerous on the counter-attack as well. Then to concede in the last minute again is hard to take.
On the Reds losing momentum after he equalised during the second half…
Yeah, I think somehow we couldn’t keep the momentum. We have to analyse it to know how or why. After the goal we had the momentum, I think if we kept pushing at that time maybe we could score the 2-1, but somehow we lost a little bit the momentum. They gained strength again and they pushed us back in the counters. They were very dangerous on them and scored the winning goal in the last minute.
On whether confidence and form is missing for Liverpool at the moment…
I don’t want to say low on confidence but I understand what you mean. At this moment of time, things don’t fall our way, where maybe five games ago they did fall our way and then we go away with the win. But unfortunately, this is also part of football and we have to take it with our chest and keep on fighting, because we know the quality we have with the players who were here last year and the new players we brought in. We have to just keep pushing.
On the importance of dealing with scrutiny and staying together as a squad…
That’s the most important thing. Obviously when you play at a club this big, it’s normal when you lose two Premier League games in a row, and also the Champions League game in between, that that’s not good enough. We know that as players without even looking at the outside. We are very much aware of the situation we are in and we know what to do. We have to go back to winning ways. That’s why we will train and analyse and do our best again.