Jurgen Klopp has claimed that it was only decided that Joe Gomez could play against Crystal Palace last night ‘at the last minute.’
There were a few raised eyebrows to see Nat Phillips in the Liverpool starting eleven yesterday. Gomez did eventually replace Phillips in the second-half. But speaking to BBC Sport, Klopp says it was a very late call to decide that the Liverpool player was fine.
“We had a really tricky week. Every day someone else pulled out. [It was like] wow, what’s going on here. It felt like we had a witch in the building and we didn’t know what happened,” said the Liverpool boss.
“Slowly but surely Joey came back but only at the last minute, Bobby didn’t make it, Joel no chance.”
Gomez hopefully back for good
With Joel Matip injured earlier in the week, it had been expected that Gomez would have the chance to impress next to Virgil Van Dijk.
Instead, he too fell victim to The Reds’ current injury curse. Luckily, it doesn’t looks like it’s anything serious. But with Matip out for two weeks and Ibrahima Konate for even longer, Klopp couldn’t take any risks.
As good as Phillips was for Liverpool in 2020/21, he isn’t at the same level as his centre-back colleagues. That was clear last night as he was caught out by Wilfried Zaha for Palace’s opener.
Liverpool instantly looked more assured with Gomez on the pitch. Now that The Reds have dropped points in their opening two Premier League games, they need to get back on track as soon as they can.
This needs to start away at Manchester United next Monday. That’s a game that Gomez simply has to be fit for. United may be going through a tough period, but Phillips up against Cristiano Ronaldo could be a step too far.
A partnership of Gomez and Van Dijk was good enough for Liverpool to win the league three seasons ago. Should both be fit, there’s not a lot to worry about for supporters.
But the 25-year-old’s history with injury tells us that he can’t be counted on to stay for for extended periods of football. The sooner Matip and Konate return to the fold the better.
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