Liverpool have 'undroppable' player but Jurgen Klopp has to change his position
As Cody Gakpo trudged off the Stamford Bridge turf with Sunday's game against Chelsea evenly poised, it marked the end of Jurgen Klopp's failed roll of the dice.
The 24-year-old Dutchman, who had established himself as the core of Liverpool's promising late-season rally last time out, was withdrawn with less than 25 minutes of action remaining as the Reds boss sent on Curtis Jones with the hope of loosening Chelsea's vice-like grip on proceedings.
Gakpo evidently endured one of his most frustrating outings for the club since moving to Merseyside back in January as he was deployed in a deeper, left-sided midfield role alongside summer recruits Alexis Mac Allister and Dominik Szoboszlai.
As a result, he failed to impose himself on the Premier League opener in West London as Enzo Fernandez, Conor Gallagher and Carney Chukwuemeka eventually overpowered Liverpool's trio despite a sluggish opening.
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Liverpool started as the stronger side and found themselves ahead when Mac Allister, Mohamed Salah and Luis Diaz combined superbly for the Colombian to slide the ball in at the far post.
But the shortcomings of a makeshift midfield, that had only enjoyed its inaugural outing together six days earlier, were there for all to see as their superiority quickly wilted after Mauricio Pochettino's side restored parity through Axel Disasi.
And, rather uncharacteristically, Gakpo found himself on the periphery of the action for most of the afternoon and, in fact, tallied the lowest amount of successful passes amongst Liverpool's starting XI (10).
For comparison, Mac Allister and
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