Underrated star FINALLY gets his flowers under Arne Slot

Once you've gained a reputation amongst the Anfield faithful, it can be difficult to shake it.

Some receive instant cult-favourite status like Wataru Endo and Federico Chiesa, whereas others have set the standard for years like Mohamed Salah, Virgil Van Dijk and Alisson, who are all legends.

In between those extremes, you've got players constantly battling for their reputations, and despite having served in the team for nearly three years, winger Cody Gakpo has been unable to shake an opinion that the fans have of him. Regularly, he keeps hold of the ball for too long, and his signature move is to cut-inside and take a shot into the far-corner. At times, he can be incredibly predictable.

But that doesn't mean that he's not an integral part of the team, who often makes a big difference.

We need more balanced Gakpo discourse

Back when Luis Diaz was a Red, the Colombian often overshadowed Gakpo down the left side and after he departed for Bayern Munich in the summer, the narrative was very much based on finding someone to replace the 28-year-old, rather than promoting the Dutchman to finally be first-choice.

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In the end, it was decided that Rio Ngumoha would be promoted from the academy to back up Gakpo, and while the move hasn't resulted in the 26-year-old flourishing, he hasn't been that bad.

On Sunday afternoon against West Ham, he delivered a goal and an assist, which brought him in line with Salah for goals this season, and top of the Reds' assist tally. That is really quite outstanding.

Of course, all of Liverpool's forwards have been underwhelming this season, and given how much scrutiny Salah has faced, it's a little extraordinary that I'm painting this as a positive. But there's so much negative discourse out there about Gakpo, that's it's easy to lose track of the facts.

When the Egyptian goes to AFCON in a few weeks time, the Dutchman will be the most experienced forward at the club, charged with helping the team to navigate the difficult festive period, supporting his new teammates, most of which still haven't really found their feet - Alexander Isak notched his first Premier League for Liverpool against West Ham, and Florian Wirtz is without a goal or an assist.

As such, while everyone's entitled to their view, and players deserve to be criticised for their shortcomings, it only seems fair if they're given their flowers when they're deserving of them.

Playing almost every week means you're twice as likely to be pulled up, because other players are being left on the bench for your involvement. But more often than not, Gakpo delivers for the team.