It has been a good week for Bradley Barcola with Liverpool, after the Frenchman hit a Champions League hat-trick at LASK before setting up Alexander Isak’s match-winning goal against Brentford.

Question marks had started to form around Barcola after his first six games for the Reds drew zero goal contributions, but he has now turned that around in emphatic fashion.

Liverpool fans want Barcola to be more direct

The reason Liverpool decided to spend so much money on Barcola was because they lacked a fast, direct winger who could change the game from out wide. The 24-year-old has already shown he can do that in a Reds’ shirt, but there have been occasions when he has appeared to hold back.

Gary Neville called Barcola out after Liverpool lost against Manchester City, having been disappointed by his lack of desire to take on City right-back Mateus Nunes.

This is something fans have noticed in other matches as well, with TalkingPoints user charlesjones noting that Barcola also let Fulham’s Timothy Castagne off the hook at Anfield in September.

“Against Fulham I noticed this big time. Castagne isn’t amazing defensively but had such an easy afternoon,” he said.

Another user, dakir.thanveer, claimed to have noticed this as well, commenting: “Barcola looks promising. Apart from his finishing, I’d like to see him take on defenders more and cause havoc.”

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james.brooke

Dont understand why Barcola isn’t taking his full-backs on. Have noticed it in every game

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Barcola’s finishing is cause for concern

It could be that Barcola does not yet feel confident enough to take on Premier League full-backs, or maybe he is feeling his way into proceedings a little more slowly, but it is unfortunately not the only issue in his game at Liverpool so far.

A bigger concern, and the second thing really holding him back from becoming elite, remains the France international’s finishing, and after he racked up an xG of 0.84 without scoring against Brentford on Saturday, fans have really started to notice.

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markmarston

Barcola looks the real deal… his finishing is a bit suspect but all the makings of a top player. Think he’s actually more talented than Sadio Mane… so he could be anything 👏

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Liverpool fans think Wirtz and Barcola can help each other

TalkingPoints users were also asked for their thoughts on Florian Wirtz, after the German also had a better week, picking up a pair of assists across the two matches.

Wirtz has created more chances than anyone in the Premier League after setting up four opportunities against Brentford, and there is hope that he can now kick on and start to silence some of his more vocal critics.

Fans on TalkingPoints are not convinced, unfortunately, but believe that having Barcola and Alexander Isak on form can certainly help Wirtz to find a consistently better level.

“To quote Jason Cundy ‘encouraging signs’,” said user callum_boyle. “Barcola more so than Wirtz but the latter benefits by having someone as clinical as Isak up top. It becomes much easier to create when you know the person you’re supplying will take the chance. I think Klopp will be a big help with him internationally and transfer that to club level.”

“Give him [Barcola] a proper period to settle in and I think he’s gonna absolutely fly,” said peter.lynch. “Maybe he can bring out the best in Wirtz too.”

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kilham.max

Barcola yes. Wirtz remains unconvincing. His play is good but he is far too lightweight still. The ‘blood and thunder’ player witnessed at Leverkusen has vanished since arriving in the UK.

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Others were not so sure, with seanfisher claiming that Wirtz is a ‘complete flop,’ and lee.connor believing that there are ‘so many players who could do his job and more.’

“Wirtz will have good games here and there, but that’s not good enough for someone of his billing,” jonathan.gorrie agreed.

It seems that Wirtz’s improvement over the last two matches has done little to change the narrative around him, while Barcola, although seen more favourably, really needs to beat defenders more often – or at least try to – and finish off his chances before he is seen as being worth the price Liverpool paid to get him.