Liverpool’s front three show future may have arrived in Anfield rout

T here are few things harder in football management than the dismantling of one side and the construction of another. As Jürgen Klopp’s first Liverpool has aged, it’s been reasonable to ask whether he was equipped to build another. One game, even a record victory over Manchester United, is nowhere near enough to assert that a new Liverpool is being born, but it felt a lot closer at the final whistle than it had at kick-off.

Cody Gakpo, Darwin Núñez and Mohamed Salah all scored twice but the goals were only part of it. The front three had a coherence and a zip that has been rare this season. There is clearly still work to be done. The midfield is not what it was, an awkward combination of the ageing and the developing with not much in between, but, perhaps for the first time, there is the sense that a front three of Salah, Núñez and Gakpo could represent a viable future.

The signing of Gakpo for an initial fee of £35m was widely questioned. Had Liverpool just picked him up because he was available and – relatively – cheap? Given the state of the midfield, was the forward line really the priority? And how did he fit in? For a large part of the season, it felt as though Liverpool were waiting for Diogo Jota to get fit, but his inclusion would have meant either Núñez or Gakpo missing out.

Neither Gakpo nor Núñez had the easiest start to life at Anfield. Both are slightly unusual footballers, players who confound expectation. Gakpo is rather more technically gifted and not quite as good in the air than his height would suggest he should be. Núñez seems to strike a ball cleanly on the ground only occasionally, and yet is a supreme volleyer. Both require a mental adjustment from those watching them, a recalibration of