Liverpool progressed through to the fifth round of the FA Cup with a dominant 5-2 victory over Championship side Norwich City on Sunday at Anfield.

It was a relatively comfortable afternoon for the Reds as they strolled to a handsome win, albeit there was a brief scare during the first-half after Ben Gibson equalised to make it 1-1.

Goals from Curtis Jones, Darwin Nunez, Jota, Virgil van Dijk, and Ryan Gravenberch secured the club's passage to the next round of the competition but it was right-back Conor Bradley who stole the headlines with his Player of the Match display.

The young defender grasped his opportunity to impress with both hands, which was not the case for forward Cody Gakpo as the Dutch forward flopped against the Canaries.

Gakpo's struggles against Norwich

Liverpool dominated the match and controlled the game with 73% of the ball and 29 shots on goal. Yet, one of their starting forwards failed to contribute with a goal or an assist out of the five scored.

Gakpo did not create a single 'big chance' for his teammates and failed with 12 of his 14 attempted crosses throughout the 90 minutes, whilst he also lost possession a staggering 21 times. Jota and Nunez only gave the ball away 15 times combined.

His finishing did not make up for his loose and poor play on the ball. The one 'big chance' that did come his way was squandered as the Dutch attacker fired the ball straight at George Long from close range after the ball fell kindly to him.

These statistics show that Gakpo flopped in the final third with a startling lack of quality as a creator and a finisher in front of goal against second division opponents.

The 24-year-old lightweight also struggled with the physicality of the match as he lost 100% (4/4) of his duels throughout the game, which shows that the Championship outfit found it far too easy to get the better of him in 50/50 contests.

Bradley's Player of the Match display

Whilst Gakpo struggled, Bradley caught the eye as ITV named him as their Player of the Match after a superb performance at right-back for the hosts.

The Northern Irish full-back assisted two of Liverpool's five goals with a crisp pass through to Nunez for the second and a brilliant cross for Gravenberch for the fifth.

Key passes

Three

1st

Big chances created

Three

1st

Touches

113

1st

Tackles won

Five

1st

As you can see from the table above, Bradley was outstanding at both ends of the pitch for Jurgen Klopp with his play in and out of possession to split open the Norwich defence and to cut out opposition counter-attacks.

It was an impressive display that may push him further up the pecking order to gain regular minutes in the Premier League and Europa League over the next five months.

Whereas, Gakpo's poor performance at the top end of the pitch could lessen his chances of starting key games moving forward, as he did not do enough to suggest that Klopp can rely on him.