Cody Gakpo announces what Liverpool can achieve this season after slow start

Liverpool forward Cody Gakpo says the Reds are building toward "something beautiful" after the team's fourth consecutive victory, a dominant display against West Ham

Cody Gakpo spoke after Liverpool's win at the weekend(Image: Getty Images)

Despite his team being the favorites to reach the Champions League quarterfinals, performing well in the FA Cup, and gaining momentum in the Premier League, Arne Slot appears to be a manager under some pressure.

Considering his team clinched the Premier League title last season, this might seem a tad unfair, but there's no denying that Slot needs a strong final three months of the campaign. Cody Gakpo believes it could be more than just strong. He stated: "Step by step, we're getting to be a better team. We had a difficult moment during the season, but hopefully these last few games are the start of something beautiful."

Including the FA Cup triumph over Brighton, Liverpool has won its last four matches, netting 10 goals and conceding only twice.

However, even when putting a handful past a self-destructive West Ham, it hasn't been pretty.

In the rout of Nuno Espirito Santo's team, two goals were heavily reliant on deflections (Hugo Ekitike's opener and Gakpo's strike for the fourth), one was an own goal (from Axel Disasi for Liverpool's fifth), and two were corner-kick conversions (the second and third goals from Virgil van Dijk and Alexis Mac Allister). The scoreline was impressive, but the performance was not.

But it was highly effective. The only surprise was that Liverpool allowed quite a few opportunities, a couple of which were capitalized on, with Tomas Soucek and Taty Castellanos both narrowing the deficit to two at points in the second half.

Hugo Ekitike also found the net against West Ham(Image: Getty Images)

Despite establishing a three-goal advantage before the interval, Anfield was hardly bouncing, but late substitute appearances from Jeremie Frimpong, who provoked the own goal, and 17-year-old Rio Ngumoha certainly lifted a few from their seats. A sense of excitement had returned.

Liverpool's forthcoming three fixtures could prove season-defining. They make the trip to Wolves for a Premier League encounter and then for an FA Cup fifth round clash before heading to Istanbul for the first leg of their Champions League fixture against Galatasaray.

And Mac Allister reckons this is the pivotal moment when Slot's side can shift into another gear, stating: "The last four or five months is when teams show what they can do. That is what we want.

"We know how important it is to qualify for the Champions League for the club and us as a team. The goal is there, and we are going to do everything to qualify and be closer to the teams at the top."

In that pursuit to narrow the gap on the teams at the summit, set-pieces are evidently going to prove vital. And Liverpool seems to have finally mastered that aspect of its play.

Seven of Liverpool's previous nine goals have originated from set-pieces - five from corners, one from a direct free-kick and one from a throw-in. Slot said: "It was very pleasing. Firstly, because that is the reason we won.

"Second of all, people said well played, and in my opinion, we have been better when we lost and better when we conceded from set-pieces.

"The first half of the season, almost every set-piece we conceded went in. Now, we start scoring from set-pieces and things start looking brighter and better than when you don't."