Whilst world-class performances are expected from the most expensive defender in the world, Joe Gomez’s performances have been exceptional and he is beginning to look like the perfect centre-back partner for VVD, most notably with his most recent performance against Leicester where the London-born defender produced a man-of-the-match performance. Joe Gomez started his career at Charlton and was signed by Brendan Rodgers for Liverpool in 2015 after an impressive first season in the Championship for Charlton. What is most noticeable about Joe Gomez is his diversity as the young Englishman can play in any position across the back four and has played at left-back, right-back and centre-back for LFC. Whilst remaining diverse and playing at full-back for the majority of his career at Liverpool thus far, Gomez has made it no secret that his preferred position is at centre-back and LFC fans have often posed the question that Gomez should be given game time in his preferred position. With Dejan Lovren’s appearance in the World Cup final with Croatia ruling him out of the season’s early fixtures coupled with Klavan’s departure and an injury for Joel Matip, Gomez has finally got his chance to cement himself as a long term centre-back partner for Dutchman Virgil Van Dijk: an opportunity that Gomez has grasped with both hands with some superb performances earning a deserved call-up recently to Gareth Southgate’s England squad for games against Spain and Xherdan Shaqiri’s Switzerland.
Times are good for Gomez but this hasn’t always been the case for the 21 year-old since joining The Reds in 2015. Gomez impressed early on in his Liverpool career setting up a late winner on his debut against Stoke. However, Joe Gomez picked up a serious cruciate ligament injury just two months later whilst playing for England Under-21’s. Aged just eighteen at the time the long-term injury was heartbreaking for Gomez as picking up such an injury at a young age can be, potentially, career changing. The Londoner, however, recovered well but suffered yet another set-back shortly after suffering with an achilles tendon problem in 2016. Despite setback after setback, Gomez refused to give up and an injury to Nathaniel Clyne in the 2017/18 season saw Gomez given an increased amount of game time in the right-back position as he was rotated with academy graduate, Trent Alexander-Arnold, in the right-back position. Gomez impressed at times during last season and was tipped to be part of England’s World Cup squad but, once again, received a setback as he picked up an ankle injury towards the end of the season ruling him out for the close of the season including the Champions League Final and his World Cup dream was gone.
I believe Gomez is a brilliant player who deserves much praise. Alongside VVD Gomez is capable of becoming a world-class centre back. Gomez is a strong, athletic, ball playing defender: the perfect centre-back for modern day football. Gomez is also composed: something that will improve further playing alongside the world class Dutchman and in front of Alison Becker. Our defence has been something that has worried me in the past and we have leaked a lot of goals under Jurgen Klopp who likes his full-back to advance up the wings with his ‘gegenpressen’ style of play, often creating gaps for our centre-backs to fill, but with Gomez and Van Dijk proving themselves as rocks difficult to crack, in addition to a world-class Brazilian goalkeeper, Liverpool may have finally found the final jigsaw piece fixing their past vulnerabilities. Jurgen Klopp has created a recipe for success at LFC and I, for one, absolutely love it! Article by Jack Gill @jacklfcgill
