Mark Lawrenson says £3.5m Liverpool player was ‘the best in the world’ for 20 minutes today

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Former Liverpool defender Mark Lawrenson has praised the performance of Joe Gomez vs Crystal Palace today.

Although he didn’t come off the bench until half-time, Gomez was Liverpool’s best player at Selhurst Park this afternoon.

The 26-year-old’s impressive display didn’t escape the attention of Lawrenson, who told LFCTV that Gomez had looked like ‘the best full-back in the world’ for a period in the second-half.

“In fairness to Joe Gomez, he was like the best full-back in the world for 15 or 20 minutes, going past their full-back,” raved the 66-year-old.

“He made such a difference and all of a sudden your front players are getting the ball from the side rather than up to them and they’re having to fight everybody to get the ball off them.”

Gomez catches the eye

Lawrenson wasn’t the only one to praise Gomez following his match-defining showing against Palace.

Jurgen Klopp was also quick to point out the £3.5m signing during his own post-match interviews.

Although he wasn’t directly involved in either goal, Gomez was a major reason for Liverpool turning things around to go top of the table.

With plenty of his teammates all too lethargic, the former Charlton man was the one who showed real drive to grab the game by the scruff of its neck.

Everything he did was purposeful and positives. Eventually, that filtered through to others in the team, and Liverpool got the job done.

Unfortunately for Gomez, it’s unlikely that his stint as the ‘best full-back in the world’ will lead to a Premier League start against Manchester United next week.

Nevertheless, there’s a chance he’ll get the nod to play on Thursday against Union Saint-Gilloise. If he can carry on this good form there, then you never know.

For now, it’s simply nice to be able to praise the performance of a player who hasn’t always been on his game over recent times.

This season as a whole has been much better from Gomez though, and he really deserves the plaudits he’s getting today.