Arne Slot welcomes Cody Gakpo’s “anger” – but no guarantees over starting spot

Arne Slot admitted Cody Gakpo‘s star display against AC Milan may have come from “anger” over a lack of minutes, but wouldn’t guarantee another start.

Gakpo made his first start of the season in the Champions League opener against AC Milan in midweek, and marked it with an outstanding performance.

The Dutchman took Luis Diaz‘s place on the left wing and set up Dominik Szoboszlai for the third goal in a 3-1 win, and after the game Slot revealed he had intended to start him in the previous game against Nottingham Forest.

However, the decision was made to keep Gakpo on the bench in that clash with Diaz deemed fitter after the international break.

In his pre-Bournemouth press conference on Friday, Slot was asked whether his positive “anger” showed how to react to being left out of the starting lineup.

The head coach agreed to an extent, before stressing the value of Diaz as his other left winger, therefore giving no assurance that Gakpo would keep his place at the weekend.

“His game might have come from anger, but I don’t think you need anger to play in the best possible way,” Slot told reporters.

“Every time you play, if you play every week or once in a while, you have to give it your best.

“I think he benefits from two things, apart from anger, that is his own quality – we know how special a player he is – and he benefits from players around him and the team, the structure and the moments when he gets the ball when he is in the right positions.

“That made, for him, a great performance.

“But the one he’s in competition with had some good performances as well, so that’s what I mean, it’s all about the team.

“These players that play for Liverpool all have a lot of quality, there’s not one player that doesn’t have quality.

“So if they can show up, if that comes from anger or not, just work hard, then the team and the individual quality will lead to a good performance.”