Bradley Barcola has not escaped scrutiny for some slightly below par displays for Liverpool since his £123m arrival this summer, with fans and pundits expecting fireworks from the Frenchman.

Although he now has three goals and two assists for the Reds, there have been some poor performances thrown in there as well. For a player who cost so much, Barcola has occasionally looked like one who does not want to step up and take games by the scruff of the neck himself.

He certainly does not appear to be the kind of player who will be desperate to take responsibility from the penalty spot, for example, and that was clear during Wednesday’s Carabao Cup shootout win over Chelsea, when Barcola was named as the sixth taker.

The France international showed no shortage of confidence to clip home into the top corner, but that he did so after Kostas Tsimikas had passed up the chance to win the tie as Liverpool’s fifth – and in theory, final – taker has been questioned by former Red Conor Coady, who wanted to see Barcola down as one of the regulation five.

Barcola should have taken Liverpool’s last penalty

With the tie on the line, it must have been a surprise to every Liverpool supporter to see Tsimikas step forward with the ball. The Greek’s spot-kick won the 2022 FA Cup final against Chelsea, but he was down as the seventh taker that day.

He has not taken one since, and though he looked confident – juggling the ball as he waited for Blues goalkeeper Mike Penders to prepare himself – Coady was puzzled as to why Barcola was not chosen to go last.

“I’d have liked to have seen Barcola on penalty five,” the Scouser told Sky Sports after the game.

“I know Tsimikas has won it for Liverpool before and he’s obviously confident within himself, because they’ll have spoken about it the day before the game, talking about who’s confident enough to take one, who’s got experience being in penalty shootouts before.”

“The price-tag they’ve paid for Barcola, the goals he can score, the way he can play and the quality he has, you want to see him on number five for me really.”

In Dominik Szoboszlai, Alexis Mac Allister, Alexander Isak and Cody Gakpo, Liverpool have four proven penalty takers who they know they can rely on in situations like these. Florian Wirtz also showed his quality from the spot against Chelsea, and there is now no excuse for Barcola to come forward next time the Reds find themselves in a shootout.

Relying on Tsimikas was a mistake which did not cost Liverpool in the end, and the left-back has Giorgi Mamardashvili and Wesley Fofana to thank for that. Next time out, Iraola should listen to Coady and get all three of his £100m+ men in the original five.