Joe Gomez must decide whether he’s elite
Liverpool defender Joe Gomez has a decision to make.
In light of the horrible injury to Virgil van Dijk, the rest of the Reds’ defence have some decisions to make.
Joe Gomez is key among them. The former Charlton defender has had moments of brilliance but has struggle to start the season well, again.
He’s failed to pick up the pace of play for a second campaign in a row and has lost his place to Joel Matip as soon as the Cameroon international has returned to full fitness.
It got so bad last season that Gomez ended up behind Dejan Lovren in the pecking order, although the England international did finish 2019/2020 strong.
Van Dijk will be out of the rest of the season and that means Gomez needs to decide whether he’s elite or not. We’ve often heard that he’s England’s best defender but he hasn’t played like it this season.
Now, he’s going to have to.
Liverpool are short at the back, can’t count on Fabinho to play there every game and will need Matip and Gomez to stand up straight, puff up their chests and start to play like Virgil van Dijk is breathing down their neck.
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They can’t allow doubts to seep in to their game, or feel a lack of confidence in Adrian behind them. How the pair respond to this challenge is going to define 2020/2021 and it’ll be a driver in the team’s final league place.
When Manchester City lost Aymeric Laporte to a similar injury last season, the rest of the squad couldn’t step up and cover for their best defender and they sunk.
Liverpool have got better defenders to call upon, but neither of them are in the bracket of van Dijk. Matip may never reach those levels, but Gomez could.
And it will be up to him to decide whether or not he’s going to be elite and save Liverpool in their time of need.
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If the former Charlton man can’t do it now, he may never be able to.