After another great display, against Fulham, Jurgen Klopp piled on the praise for Joe Gomez, calling him “a lifesaver,” especially since Andy Robertson‘s injury.
Playing at left-back, Gomez put in another mature performance to help see Liverpool through to the League Cup final.
The 26-year-old has started Liverpool’s last eight matches, continuing his growth into Liverpool’s most versatile defender, able to cover every position across the backline.
Having deputised for Trent Alexander-Arnold earlier in the season, Gomez has spent much of the last three months, since Robertson injured his shoulder, playing at left-back.
When Kostas Tsimikas broke his collarbone, he suddenly became even more vital and Klopp has had nothing but praise for Gomez.
The manager said: “Without Joe nothing would’ve happened in the last pretty much 13 [or] 14 weeks since Robbo is out.”
A strong statement but Klopp backed it up, saying: “[He] played exceptional today again. He’s a real defender and he comes inside, he’s doing that really well.”
The boss added: “He is a lifesaver, to be honest, that he was here, that he could play.
“People forget how important Joey was in the best years we had. I don’t know how many games he played in the year when we became champions and how many games he played when we won the Champions League – a lot and rightly so because he’s a top-class player.”
Well, we can tell you he made 28 appearances in the 2019/20 Premier League season, and played nine times on the way to winning the 2019 Champions League.
While Gomez has been performing brilliantly in defence, it has been well documented that he is still yet to score his first career goal, a mission that seems to be coming closer to completion every week.
Klopp commented on his longstanding drought: “He tried a couple of times (vs. Fulham) obviously to finish the discussion about not scoring. I would say for my taste from a bit too far, but it’s still alright.”
Liverpool were feeling comfortable in their 3-1 aggregate lead at Craven Cottage, hence probably why Gomez took a couple of shots on from outside the penalty box.
Such as been Gomez’s positive impact, Robertson’s impending return may not be as straight forward for the Scotsman as expected.
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