Liverpool vs Watford: Don’t sweat over pan flash Gerard Deulofeu
Gerard Deulofeu may have scored three and assisted one against Cardiff City last weekend, but as Liverpool prepare to take on Watford he’s not the man Jurgen Klopp should be worried about.
Deulofeu certainly has ability, although his yo-yo of a career would indicate it’s a talented that’s gone largely untapped. You don’t earn two moves to Barcelona without having some twinkle in ya toes, but you don’t earn two moves away by having the end product to go with it.
And this isn’t the Spaniard’s first time in the Premier League either. After a move with Everton over promised and under delivered, Deulofeu went to AC Milan on loan and back to the Toffies before being sold back to Barca and then to Watford.
His return of six goals and four assists from 20 games might seem like healthy numbers, but four of those goals came against Cardiff in two fixtures and the bottom line is the attacker doesn’t influence games nearly as much as he should.
Before his hatty, it had been six Premier League games since Deulofeu last contributed to a goal when he notched an assist against Newcastle United.
Playing in an advanced position, the 24-year-old should be getting better numbers than this. Sure, he’s got pace and dribbling ability – but plenty of players have had that and still went nowhere with their career.
Liverpool will still have to defend properly against Deulofeu. With nearly a full complement of players available to Klopp, it should be a routine matter to ensure another clean sheet and three points to go along with it.
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Deulofeu will be high in confidence and that can make all the difference. But, if how well the Spaniard plays is a deciding factor between a win and a loss then the side will have done something wrong.