Why Cody Gakpo Is A Huge Problem For England
England have conceded 3 goals all tournament... Pretty good right? Well, yes, but they're yet to really face a side with any star quality players - something the Netherlands have in abundance - and one man in particular has been wreaking havoc for them this tournament.
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00:00Hello everybody, Adam Monk here from 442 and I presume most of you watching this will be
00:09England fans so I presume you might be watching this one tomorrow hungover after the result
00:14earlier.
00:15But whilst I did go and watch that game with Adam Cleary at the pub I then had to come
00:19back and do my homework which was watching Netherlands vs Turkey and to be honest it
00:23didn't underwhelm, it was a very entertaining game and the Dutch progressed.
00:28However, I am now slightly concerned after watching it because there is one man in that
00:32team that I think could cause us some problems.
00:36These extra chewing gums are preposterously big, it's like falling out of my mouth.
00:41Oh **** it's gone on the floor, okay I'll pick that up now.
00:48Now from the Turkey side of things, everyone's dark horse is in Euro 2020, to be fair this
00:52time with Ardegulair they have lived up to expectations but I feel like the real reason
00:57that Netherlands progressed in this game over anything was really their positional
01:02discipline, so take a look at this.
01:04These are the average Dutch positions against Turkey and even just looking at this on the
01:08eye test alone you can see there's a very nice balance and structure to it, they're
01:12not too camped back, they're not too pegged far forward, they've got their three up top,
01:16their five across the middle and Van Dijk and De Vrij at the back.
01:19But this is what I mean by positional discipline, this is Demzal Dumfries heat mapping the game
01:24And then this is Steven Bergwijn's as well, so you've got two real, real disciplined right
01:28sided players there.
01:29Then you've got Nathan Ake here doing an awful lot of operating defensively on that left
01:33hand side.
01:34And then most importantly the man we will be talking about today, Cody Gakpo, again
01:38just absolutely wreaking havoc and really, really hugging that left hand flank for the
01:42whole 90 minutes, he did not deviate whatsoever.
01:46And then to supplement those right and left hand sides you add Memphis to par in all action
01:49areas and also Xavi Simmonds as well.
01:52So the balance and the discipline for the Dutch was just second to none.
01:56What impressed me most though, I think you can always argue, teams can be disciplined,
01:59they can set up a certain way, they can have a game plan, but you have to change in accordance
02:04to the game and some teams do, you could say England are disciplined, they set up a certain
02:07way but they're not very good and then it ends up being Southgate throwing X Factor
02:11players on to try and make something happen and get a goal.
02:14What Netherlands did, despite going a goal down, is they absolutely stuck to the plan.
02:19You can see here this is the attacking momentum throughout the game and Turkey had the lion's
02:23share of it in the first half, which would usually put many teams under a lot of mental
02:27duress, particularly Gareth Southgate.
02:30But look at the upturn in fortune in the second half, Netherlands stuck to the game plan,
02:34Cody Gakpo particularly, who we will come on to, was very, very disciplined, proficient,
02:38all action in that second half and it paid dividends for the Dutch.
02:41So yeah, Cody Gakpo, I mean I'll be completely honest with you, he was a Premier League fan,
02:45watching him at Liverpool this season, it was a little bit like watching Kai Havertz
02:48about 10 months ago before he started scoring goals, where it was like, yeah he's good,
02:53he pops up with the odd goal but what is it he's actually good at?
02:55He was a bit gangly, a bit lanky, looked almost like a too big a frame to be playing on that
02:59left hand side, was a bit part player in that Jurgen Klopp Liverpool team towards the end
03:03of his tenure.
03:04But he's just exploded, he's very much like Lukasz Podolski if you will, where when it
03:08comes to international football, he's just a different animal.
03:12The reason Cody Gakpo played particularly well in this game you ask, well, this.
03:17These are the total percentage of attacking touches that occurred within each third for
03:21Turkey and you can see 63.8% of it is on the right hand side of the pitch and the right
03:26hand side of the pitch is occupied by Turkey's star man, Arda Guler.
03:30Or Guler, have I said that right, Guler, Guler, I don't know.
03:34I was asking the audience anyway.
03:37So this is how it kind of played out, Turkey set up in a 5-4-1 if you will with Arda Guler,
03:42Guler on the right hand side, of course their talisman, their star man, their star boy as
03:47well.
03:48So the man who, when he gets the ball, has to make something happen, so he will often
03:52operate in these kind of areas and if he is dispossessed due to his age or is, you know,
03:56just over committing or something like that, the turnover always happened on the left hand
04:00side for the Dutch.
04:01So Gakpo would hug the touchline here and he was good enough in this game to just go
04:051v1 against the full back every single time and it was just so proficient, fruitful and
04:10successful for the Dutch.
04:12Proficient, fruitful and successful.
04:15Adjectives.
04:16Is that a Guler?
04:19Case in point, less than one minute into the game, this is 50 seconds in before Guler's
04:23even touched the ball and look at where Gakpo's positioned from the offset.
04:27And this is just delightful skill, he was absolutely on it from the off, a little back
04:30heel, through the legs, back to Memphis Depay, it's an amazing one too.
04:34And Depay ended up wriggling his way through and getting an early shot off which blazed
04:37over the bar but it set the tone for the game.
04:40But this is really the moment I'm talking about where Guler deviates from that right
04:43hand side and then the opening opens up for the Dutch.
04:46A long ball goes in over the top and Netherlands end up winning the ball back.
04:50And you can see Arda Guler here in the number 10 position when he starts on the right hand
04:53side complaining to the referee.
04:55And just look at how quickly the Dutch turn it over to Gakpo's side now.
04:58Popped into Xavi Simmonds and he sprays it out wide as soon as possible to Cody Gakpo
05:02because he knows that's where the space is.
05:05And then instantly from a turkey long ball just like that he's 1v1 against the full
05:09back and this rinse and repeated itself throughout the entire 90 minutes.
05:13This one was a horrific cross but we'll let him off.
05:16Then onto the second half and now given the context Turkey have the lead in the game.
05:20You can see Arda Guler there now on the right hand side but in the way that I said at the
05:23start of the video how the Dutch were persistent with their game planning, getting it out wide
05:28to Cody Gakpo as much as they could, they continued doing so.
05:32And again up against the bank of five his first thought is always to just take on the
05:35full back and get a cross in.
05:37And it's very, very simple and archaic but it gets the job done.
05:41And then another amazing example is this sequence of play in the 61st minute and you can see
05:46Turkey have got every player behind the ball here in the Dutch just spreading it from the
05:50right hand side to the left and they can't really find a way through.
05:52They've got Xavi Simmonds on the ball, Van Dijk dwelling on it.
05:56There's no real man who's willing to take the initiative and try and unlock this deep
05:59block.
06:00Oh, there is.
06:01It's this man.
06:02Again drives towards the penalty area, drop of the shoulder, sends the full back and possession
06:06then gets recycled and just look at how much deeper Gakpo alone has forced Turkey to drop.
06:11Can I just say as well as a Manchester City fan as well, I'm not going to name any names
06:15but there's a guy who plays for my club, a left winger, and when he gets the ball he
06:20don't really do any of that.
06:21He doesn't, you know, drive to the byline, try and sit a defender down, that kind of
06:25thing.
06:26He passes it back and recycles possession.
06:27He loves doing that but he don't really do any of the other stuff.
06:30He just stops the ball, waits for someone to come near him and then just passes it back
06:35and that's worth 100 million apparently.
06:38Anyway, enough of the silly jokes.
06:39This was in minute 69.
06:41Nice.
06:42There we go.
06:44And again it's fizzed in to Cody Gakpo but this time he doesn't exactly do what he's
06:48done in the previous clips where I've shown you where he's just taken a man to the touchline
06:52and tried to get a cross in.
06:53No, he rolls his man, nutmegs a second one and then drives towards the edge of the penalty
06:57area to open up a shooting chance.
07:00Right there you can see he's almost took five Turkish players out the game with one movement
07:04on his own.
07:05He's hopped into Simmonds and admittedly the pass is a little bit high.
07:07Difficult for Simmonds to control.
07:09He does very well with it to be fair and it's a chance that's created danger with the resulting
07:13Gakpo overhead kick.
07:15And then the reason I'm showing this for context is this then got rebounded back out, sent
07:18back into the penalty area, then the Veghorst chance came which won Netherlands the corner
07:22which they then scored from.
07:24So really it was the ingenuity from Cody Gakpo which helped Netherlands get back into the
07:29game and draw them level.
07:31And then finally of course the second goal.
07:33I know this one went down as an own goal but look at where Cody Gakpo is making that
07:38astute back post run from.
07:40The left hand side of the pitch.
07:42And yeah to be honest you could argue this is maybe a foul but he ultimately forced the
07:46own goal with that back post run.
07:47It did count so it's going in the video.
07:50And the point I'm trying to make as well is in every sense of the game whether he was
07:53scoring, dribbling, you know keeping the ball, retaining possession, that turnover kind of
07:58thing.
07:59Gakpo completely dominated and locked down the left hand flank for the Dutch throughout
08:04the whole 90 minutes.
08:05So from the first minute to the 75th where he kind of scored Netherlands second goal.
08:10He was just absolutely dominant.
08:12Now finally the bit you've all been waiting for.
08:14What does this mean for England Adam?
08:16Well I think it spells danger.
08:19Reason I say this is in 90 minute matches England have only won one game out of five
08:24so far this tournament which isn't great and although we have conceded three goals
08:28which is very very good on paper I only feel like that's been the case because of the
08:32lack of star quality in the sides that England have faced.
08:36You know you think about games that have knocked England out in tournaments gone by.
08:39That Mario Mandzukic goal in extra time for Croatia.
08:43Leonardo Bonucci the imperious Italian centre back popping up for a corner to equalise in
08:47Euro 2020.
08:49And then of course as well moments from quality from Chiwemeni and Giroud at Qatar in a game
08:52that England largely had the lion's share of.
08:56So what I'm saying is this history here and if you go through this Netherlands team you've
08:58got a former Ballon d'Or contender in Virgil van Dijk.
09:02You've got a former Golden Boy winner in Memphis Depay.
09:04You've got a Golden Boy contender or two of them in Jeremy Frimpong and Xavi Simmonds
09:09and then of course you've got the man of the tournament as well in my opinion so far in
09:13Cody Gakpo.
09:14And the reason I think this is a little bit of a worry is the fact that I said in the
09:16start of the video Netherlands stick to their game plan and their players are very positionally
09:21disciplined and they just will not fold under the pressure of the circumstance of the game
09:25whatever minute it's in, whether England take the lead or not.
09:28They're going to be there persistently and they've got the star quality to have those
09:31moments that have knocked England out in the past and if you look at the way Gakpo just
09:36played in that game where he's constantly taking on the full back that then does beg
09:40the question do you play Kyle Walker for the recovery pace, do you play Trent because a
09:45lot of people seem to think he can't defend for some reason, do you go back to Trippier
09:49at right back because he can defend.
09:52What does Garo Southgate do because you can be rest assured that every time Gakpo gets
09:56the ball in this game when England do play the Netherlands he's just going to go at them.
10:01Anyway I'll cheer up now we won.
10:05Anyway guys yes three more games to go I think, is there a third place playoff I don't know
10:10is there?
10:11No no thank God for that.
10:13Three games to go guys we will be covering all of them and if you're more of a magazine
10:16kind of person as well then we have got the new edition of the mag here with Pep's Disciples
10:22so you've got Arteta, Alonso, Slott, Company and Maresca all managers well hang on one
10:27two three, three managers he will be finishing ahead of next season so yeah you can buy that
10:35in any store you wish.
10:36Anyway guys do not forget to subscribe I've been Adam Monk on socials at underscore Adam
10:41Monk if you'd like to check that out hope you've enjoyed the video have a lovely rest
10:45of the weekend take care I will see you very soon goodbye.