‘Absolutely top class’: Pundit says ‘brilliant’ Liverpool player just had his best performance for two years

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Joe Gomez put in a wonderful display against Man City on Sunday as Liverpool won 1-0. One pundit feels it was his best for two years.

Martin Keown was full of praise for Joe Gomez after the player earned Man of the Match for Liverpool in their win over Manchester City. Keown seems particularly taken with the performance as he once suffered a similar injury to Gomez’s in 2020.

Gomez tore his patellar tendon while with England in November 2020. It was an injury that ruled him out for that season – and has affected his career ever since. He lost his place at Liverpool, hasn’t really looked like the same player since and there have been questions over his future.

Keown, who suffered a partial patellar tendon tear in 1992, says he was never the same after the injury. And his wasn’t as bad as Gomez’s.

The former Arsenal man can’t hide his delight that Gomez is getting back to his best, then. In fact, he feels this was easily the best the Liverpool defender has delivered since his injury.

Joe Gomez against Man City

“Gomez only started four Premier League games last season, all of them at right-back, but he is an absolutely top-class centre-half and he showed it on Sunday,” Keown wrote for the BBC. “He had the pace to deal with Haaland, and the power in the air. He also had the desire and the confidence, now that his injury is behind him.

“That is great news for Reds boss Jurgen Klopp, and I think Gomez might also have answered some of Gareth Southgate’s prayers before the World Cup.

“With this performance, he was back to his best. It was brilliant to see.”

We can’t possibly argue with any of that. This was Gomez at his best – a reminder of just how good he can be when everything clicks for him. After all, he was Virgil van Dijk’s regular partner when Liverpool won the league in 2020 with the country’s best defence.

And there’s little doubt that a fully-fit Gomez starts for England at the World Cup. The only real question is whether anyone would be okay with that – if feels like a massive risk. From Liverpool’s perspective, they’ll want him recovering at home this winter.

Because if Gomez can deliver performances like this again, the Reds will need him fit and firing for the second half of the season.