Graham Ruthven: Liverpool have found their next legendary front three in Cody Gakpo, Darwin Nunez and Mo Salah

NEVER before had Liverpool won by seven goals in a competitive match against Manchester United. Indeed, the Reds’ 7-0 win over Erik Ten Hag’s visitors to Anfield on Sunday was historic with Liverpool relentless in their desire to do as much damage as possible to their fiercest rivals. Their front three were particularly devastating.

Cody Gakpo, Darwin Nunez and Mohamed Salah all bagged a brace each. While the talent of the the former pair was clear, doubts have been cast on how they have settled into Jurgen Klopp’s team. On the evidence of Sunday’s match, though, Liverpool have their next legendary frontline to build around.

In the same week it was announced Roberto Firmino will leave Liverpool at the end of the season, Gakpo demonstrated how he is the perfect successor to the Brazilian. Gakpo regularly dropped into the centre of the pitch to open up space for Nunez and Salah to exploit and create a midfield four alongside Harvey Elliott, Fabinho and Jordan Henderson.

This, of course, was something Firmino did to great effect over a number of seasons. On top of this, Gakpo also provided another attacking dimension off the wing where he had the freedom to drive into the left half-space – it was from this area of the pitch Gakpo opened the scoring for Liverpool.

Nunez was an agent of chaos for the hosts, hassling and harrying Diogo Dalot and Raphael Varane at every opportunity. The Uruguayan could still do with refining some of his attacking output, but Liverpool are certainly a more threatening team for his presence and United couldn’t handle his physicality and direct running. Nunez, in some ways, performs the Sadio Mane role.

📊 Mohamed Salah’s 129 Premier League goals have come in 205 matches — 61 fewer top-flight appearances than Robbie Fowler made for the club. #lfc [james pearce – the athletic]pic.twitter.com/1g9I22vL9b

— Anfield Watch (@AnfieldWatch) March 7, 2023

Then there was Salah who looked back to his best on the right wing. The 30-year-old has struggled for consistent form since signing a new three-year contract extension at Liverpool last summer, but Manchester United’s inability to close down Trent Alexander-Arnold and Andy Robertson as the attacking full backs created an overload which Klopp designed to facilitate Salah.

“It was one of the best performances for a long, long time,” said Klopp after the 7-0 victory, highlighting the individual performances that allowed Liverpool to reach such a high level as a collective. “Everybody saw how good the boys can be. No one was doubting Darwin’s future impact.

“Cody plays in the most difficult area in the pitch against a man‑marking side, which is super tricky, Mo is Mo, Harvey [Elliott] played a top game the other night against Wolves and had the highest counter‑pressing number of any player in the Premier League. Hendo [Jordan Henderson] – incredible performance. Robbo was also the flying Scotsman.”

Many have already claimed this emphatic win over Manchester United will be a turning point for Liverpool. It’s true the Reds played with the sort of conviction that has been lacking from their play for much of this season and that Klopp could still lead his team to a top four finish, which would be a relative success given Liverpool’s mid-table struggles not so long ago.

However, Liverpool are still in the midst of a rebuild. The club is widely expected to target at least one new central midfielder this summer (see never-ending speculation around Jude Bellingham) with questions still lingering over a defensive line that is still largely dependent on Virgil van Dijk to hold things together.

Liverpool will need to enter the transfer market and continue to develop young talents like Stefan Bajcetic, Elliott, Fabio Carvalho and Curtis Jones to get back to the top of the English and European game, but in Gakpo, Nunez and Salah they have a front three as potentially destructive as anything they have had before.