Bradley Barcola was the man of the moment for Liverpool on Wednesday as he hit a brilliant hat-trick against LASK.

The Frenchman has had a slow start since joining from Paris Saint-Germain in August, but against weaker opposition in the Champions League, he finally got his confidence boost.

Chris Sutton still has doubts over Barcola

It was not only the fact that Barcola scored three times against LASK, it was also that every goal was of such high quality.

His overall performance was also much better, even before the first goal went in. The France international was much more unpredictable in his wing play and linked up nicely with Florian Wirtz and others around him.

Despite all the positives, though, Sutton is not convinced, telling BBC Football Daily that he would put greater emphasis on Barcola’s ‘pretty poor’ displays in the Premier League so far.

“I don’t think it’s going to be an easy season for Liverpool,” the former Chelsea striker said following the win over LASK.

“The signing of Barcola… good for him, he’s got off the mark this evening, but other than that, he’s looked pretty poor in the games he’s played in the Premier League so far. I think there’s still a fair few problems. They’re not out of the woods yet.”

It is fair to say that Barcola has not impressed in the Premier League up to this point, and he did not step up when Liverpool badly needed him to against Manchester City last Sunday. Nevertheless, it is still very early to judge him, and Wednesday’s goals mean that fans are right to be expectant about brighter weeks and months ahead.