Liverpool will not let the Tottenham incident overshadow Jurgen Klopp’s excellent start to the season. This was followed by a win at Toulouse on Thursday night as United came very close to progressing to the next round with a comfortable 5-1 victory.
This has always been Liverpool’s ambition in the Europa League. In the meantime, the aim is to achieve as high a performance as possible in the Premier League. Given how open the competition is this season, a title challenge cannot be ruled out at this stage.
Especially since Klopp’s 2.0 Liverpool team has a very special feeling about it. It was a complete 360 from the dull performance fans were used to last season. The team has new energy and purpose. The new signings have further strengthened Liverpool and helped them reach new heights.
More importantly, this new energy has inspired some of Klopp’s existing stars, including one of his most loyal underlings, Joe Gomez. With Jordan Henderson and James Milner set to leave Anfield this summer, Gomez has stepped out of the limelight as Liverpool’s longest-serving first-team signing since 2015.
Gomez’s redshirt career has been a bit of a mixed bag thus far. He has achieved great success over the years and has formed a terrific partnership with Virgil van Dijk at times. However, he was plagued by injuries that often hampered him. Since returning from his most recent defeat two years ago, Gomez has struggled to return to Liverpool.
In 11 Premier League games last season, Gomez appeared on the bench nine times and started as many games at right-back as he did at centre-back during that time. Liverpool are understood to have made an approach last summer to secure his services and rebuild Klopp 2.0 with another defender.
However, these calls never came true. Instead, Gomez has returned to his best form this season. He performed brilliantly against Newcastle United and Aston Villa and covered the right-back position very well. He put in a great performance against Toulouse. In addition to the goal assist, Gomez made five shots, won five of six ground ball duels, had three steals and had seven rebounds.
It was an impressive performance from the Liverpool centre-back, who has not seen him play for the Reds this season as he has been ruled out for 2020 due to injury. Gomez was at the peak of his career when he suffered an injury against Everton. During Liverpool’s title-winning campaign last season, Gomez formed one of the league’s best partnerships with Van Dijk and was regularly called up to the senior England squad.
Now Gomez looks to be returning to that form, and if he continues to improve, the England call-up could return. Needless to say, he could have saved FSG millions in the transfer market. After all, it’s easy to forget that Gomez is only 26 years old. He is still young as a central defender. He just needs to peak, which means there’s no reason to think he won’t have a long-term place in Klopp’s 2.0 rebuild at Anfield.
His form means Liverpool can at least save money next summer, and instead of two centre-backs, the club may only need to sign one.
