Jürgen Klopp told Joe Gomez that if he wanted to increase his chances of game time this season and limit injuries then he should focus less on lifting weights.
Joe Gomez has looked superb in pre-season so far to be fair to the lad.
For a guy who’s barely played any first-team football the last two years, the versatile defender looks solid, sharp and perhaps most impressively – quick. The young Englishman was never rapid previously but Jürgen Klopp has revealed what he told the defender in order to increase his mobility ahead of a season that promises to throw up plenty of first-team opportunities.
“Last night I had a long talk with him,” he told the media after the win.
“When I came in I saw him for about 20 minutes playing in the U21s. Then he got the injury and I thought: ‘Oh my God’. Everybody told me what a wonderful player he is. When he came back he got injured and then when he came back again he was heavy.”
“He had a lot of muscle and you only need muscles like that if you’re only going to the beach or whatever. We had to work on this and now he’s back. He lost weight, he’s really fit, he looks sharp. There are still things to improve.
“His heading was really good, but he can improve – he needs to be a little more aggressive.”
The Englishman has mainly been tipped to play a role as a centre back under Klopp but underlined his versatility by starting at right-back against Hertha, playing 75 minutes in the position before switching seamlessly into the right centre back role upon the introduction of Jon Flanagan.
With Klopp missing Nathaniel Clyne through injury and Trent Alexander-Arnold being only 18-years old, the German hinted that this may not be the last time we see Gomez in the position.
“The fullback position is now unbelievably important for us now because Clyney has had no pre-season so far,” he explained.
“Trent, as we all know, is a fantastic player, but also just 18 – offensively ready, but in defence he needs to improve a lot. We need these different options and it’s good to have him (Joe) back, absolutely.”