Liverpool: Ben Doak has more 'great news' after new contract at Anfield

GiveMeSport

·1 October 2023

Liverpool: Ben Doak has more 'great news' after new contract at Anfield

Highlights

With Liverpool not participating in the Champions League this season, young talent like Ben Doak could receive more game time and have the opportunity to shine.
Doak made his first appearance for Liverpool in the Europa League against LASK Linz and caught the eye with his performance, registering 30 touches, completing 11 passes, and successful with three dribbles.
Jurgen Klopp praised Doak's performance and urged his teammates to play the ball to him more often, indicating that the young forward has the potential to cause problems for the opposition.

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Liverpool starlet Ben Doak could excel for the club this season because of one key factor, suggested to GIVEMESPORT by journalist Ben Jacobs.

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The Reds have enjoyed a near-perfect start to the campaign, with suggestions they could be in the mix to fight for titles come the end of the season.

Crisis? What crisis? Having dragged themselves towards the end of the campaign last season, with nothing to show for their mediocre performances, there's a much more positive mood around Liverpool right now. Back towards the upper-end of the Premier League table, Jurgen Klopp's side have been looking back to their best in the first few weeks of this term.

Of course, it came after a summer of transition for the Reds, with stalwarts like Fabinho, James Milner, Roberto Firminho and captain Jordan Henderson all departing for pastures new. While emotional goodbyes for the Liverpool faithful, the Kop does have some new fan favourites to sing about, with the likes of Alex Mac Allister, Dominik Szoboszlai and Ryan Gravenberch having all joined the club.

However, there is one major difference to the current campaign for Liverpool compared to others, and it's their absence from the Champions League. By virtue of their fifth-placed finish last season, the Merseyside outfit have been forced to drop a level, much to the annoyance of their supporters. That being said, there are some positives to take from a prospective Europa League run, with starlet Doak potentially being one.

What has Ben Jacobs said about Ben Doak and Liverpool?

When speaking about the teenage prospect, journalist Jacobs admitted that a run in Europe's secondary competition could give somebody like Doak a sustained run in the side. Suggesting he's unlikely to have been handed much game time if they were in the Champions League, the reliable reporter has hinted the Europa League could be the making of the former Celtic prodigy:

“I think that Liverpool not being in the Champions League, although a huge negative for the club, is a huge positive for Doak. Because when you're in the Champions League, you're playing one starting-11. As soon as you drop down to the Europa League, for a club like Liverpool, you're changing your starting-11. “And Doak, therefore, is expected to get a number of opportunities. Well, of course, not being in the Champions League as a club is poor for Liverpool, but great news for Doak, because he'll get that chance to shine and ultimately, play in the Salah position.”

How has Ben Doak performed so far this season?

Featuring from the off for Liverpool against LASK Linz during their opening Europa League group match, the clash in Austria was the Scottish star's first of the campaign. The attacker - who is valued at £2.6 million by Transfermarkt - played 61 minutes against Linz, before being replaced by Szoboszlai on the hour mark and followed it up by starting against Leicester City, too.

The only slight against Doak's name against Linz is that Liverpool, who were being held when Doak came off, scored almost immediately after the substitution, but it's unlikely to count against the young man's name too much. In fact, prior to that, Doak had caught the eye for the Premier League outfit, by registering 30 touches, completing 11 passes and being successful with three dribbles (via Fotmob).

When quizzed on Doak's performance, Klopp was full of praise for the young forward, and even urged his teammates to play the ball to him more often:

"In the group stage it will not happen, in the knockout it will not happen. We have to dig in, dig into it. That’s what we did tonight, the opponent suffered much less than us, from the bad pitch than we did. ‌"We had to get used to it, so we can learn so much. If we could have used Ben Doak a little more often, give him the ball a little more, then he could have had more even times on the touchline to cause problems (via The Daily Record)."

What's next for Liverpool in the Europa League this season?

After a couple of League Cup and Premier League outings, it's back to European action for the Reds, as they welcome Royale Union Saint-Gilloise to Anfield for the second match in the group stage phase. While not exactly the type of opponents Liverpool have been used to in Europe over the years, there will still be a desire to go as far as they can in the competition and add the Europa League to the list of trophies won under Klopp during his time as boss.