Will Bradley Barcola kick on for Liverpool after his first ever hat-trick in Champions League?

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Can Bradley Barcola kick on for Liverpool after his first Champions League hat-trick?

The video discusses Bradley Barcola's prospects at Liverpool after his first career hat-trick in the Champions League against Lask. The reporter and host say he has shown attacking quality but urge caution because Lask were open; manager Andoni stresses Barcola's confidence and strength in attacking space; guest Kevin argues the Premier League will be tougher, Barcola needs time to adapt, his numbers may suffer because of injuries, and they should improve as confidence grows and players return.

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Transcript

Bradley Barkler announced himself to the Liverpool fans with his first career hattick as they beat Lask 63 in the Champions League last night. Vinnie O' Connor was at Andoni Areola's pre-match news conference today as Liverpool prepare for Saturday's trip to Brenford and Barka was the big talking point. The next test for Bradley Barker is producing in the Premier League starting away at Brenford this weekend. We have seen flashes before obviously what happened in Austria in a Liverpool shirt. I think what's got to be remembered about him is that he had a very different preseason to Nor. He was training with PSG, but at the same time, he wasn't getting any minutes in terms of those preseason friendlies because of his protracted move here to Liverpool. So, he's been building up his match sharpness while still trying to supplement Liverpool's first team squad. He's beginning to show now, I think, why Liverpool paid the money that they did. But, of course, he arrived with such big expectation. There's obviously going to be criticism when he's not producing and he has, as I said, had chances in a Liverpool shirt that you would probably expect him to take. What we saw over in Austria though was his real attacking capability. >> Kind of has been doing the precision in the first games with us, almost official games. And it's always remarkable because to score three goals in a Champions League game is not a lot of players can say they've done it. So, it's is something nice for for for him. But uh I think the the best thing is that we can feel him. No, you seems with confidence on the ball apart from the goals. No, straight away from the beginning of the game, you could feel that he was confident on going in one to one situations, attacking the spaces and that's the his strengths. I said it before the game. I think the more he plays with us, the more he plays with the teammates, the better he will become. Yes. Looking at that Liverpool forward line though, Lewis Kumas could well be needed to play through the middle once again against Brenford this weekend because of course Cody Gako and Alexander Isach. It's still unclear as to whether they will be ready. There's a couple of days left training before that game against Brenford. Of course, on top of that, Dominic Shabbos and we wondering whether if he doesn't make it train only will get the nod in the center of midfield. Again, Liverpool will wait and see just how Dominic Shabbosi is over the next couple of days. And one other noteworthy thing to mention is the fact that Giovani Leone is about a month behind in his recovery. And only Areola had hoped he would join in with the first team during the last international break. That didn't happen. However, Iola did tell us today that he's hopeful Leone will be able to make it and start training with the group once again during the next international break. >> Bradley Barcola off the mark then for Liverpool. But we did almost have a new 007. He had failed to score or assist in any of any of his first six Liverpool matches. That was of course until last night. It was a license to thrill for Bradley Barcola. First career hattick for the Frenchman against last in the Champions League. It's obviously shot him right up the rankings among Europe's elite this season. Liverpool fans will be hoping this is a sign of things to come. He's obviously right up there for goals. Big chances scored. Shots on target and shots now as well. Barcola is now joint top for touches inside the opposition box alongside Lamino and Lura Martinez. In fact, he actually had more touches inside the opposition box last night than he's had in the Premier League all season. Might there be a reason for that? Barcola clearly impressed his manager too. He's been singing his praises. And I want to draw your attention to one line in particular from today's news conference. This is from Andonia Areola saying you could feel that he was confident in one-on-one situations attacking the spaces that is his strength and maybe spaces is the key word because maybe it was the way that Lask set up that allowed Barca to play to those strengths. So we've got here the average positions from last night. Now average positions is a a location really of the on ball actions of every player on the pitch. Red counters Liverpool, blue is the last starting 11 from last night. And really, you're looking at the Liverpool forward line here, how high they are, but also as well the blue counters of Lask, how high they are. You'll often see uh when it's so-called elite teams or or top six teams playing against lower rank sides, you'll often see them much lower in the field when it comes to average positions. But last really pushed high when they were on the ball in particular, allowing lots of space in behind. And that's where the red counters of Liverpool did most of their damage. Liverpool fans, you got to be excited. Barcola is off the mark and he's ready to go. But maybe a word of caution on the level of the opposition against Lask and also the fact that they were so open at the back. Only Sloven Bratislava and Club Bruge have faced more shots in the Champions League so far this season. Kevin, what do you think? Bradley Barcola, has he arrived? Has he announced himself for Liverpool? Can he do it now going forward for them? >> Yeah, I think he's a new signing. Big money. Um, you need a moment. I think the earlier the the better. um in the season. Um obviously not quite done it in the Premier League as yet, but that will give him a lot of confidence, I think, coming into the game at the weekend against Brenford, which is going to be tough. There's not going to be those kind of spaces and the freedom that he had um in this game against Lask. So, it'll do him the world of good. Um he's still lacking the quality players around him with the injuries they've got at the moment, Isak and Ekit and Gakpo, players like that. So, he's going to struggle to, you know, he might be putting the crosses into good areas, but they haven't quite got that quality in those areas for me. So those stats might suffer a little bit due to that, but there's no doubt he's got the ability. Um, you look at what he did at PSG, the squad they had there. It's probably a lot easier to score goals and get assists in in that league. And no disrespect to that league, but it's a lot tougher in the Premier League. It will take him time to settle. But I think with the confidence he'll get from that hattick and players coming back, I think we can start to see his numbers improve for