I’d imagine it’s more that it gives us options for rotation, e.g. start Gomez and Bradley, but take one of them off after 60 minutes, or even start Beck and Gomez then rotate for Robertson and Bradley or any combination thereof.
https://www.youtube.com/live/-Xpqm9QqJ5w?si=-1tcyYlu_SsF0ItT
Pep Press conference
Not one question about Fulham or about the game more specifically…
Hopefully we have enough to get this done.
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Nice to hear JoGo get his props
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Gomez has earned the shirt, it’s up to Robbo to win it back.
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If Robbo is fit, he plays
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It will be done in one.
I give it a game or two max before Robbo starts.
Gomez will remain in minutes, be it at RB or CB (hopefully not as much).
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Gomez is so important to the squad right now, covering both full back positions, and CB. Important that he remains fit and involved. He provides a different dimension to our defence at full back, and is very good at CB - I’d prob rather him that Qunasah as 3rd choice, once everyone is back fit.
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With Gomez, I agree with the sentiment that he has the shirt and all that, but he also has an injury history and needs to be managed carefully.
Robbo is one of those player where we seem to forget how good he is when he is out.
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Robertson should be eased into the game. Some minutes against Fulham and Norwich before starting against Chelsea.
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IMO Joseph should start and play 60 minutes in the next three games and then maybe Robbo should start against Arsenal.
As good as Joe has been he still doesn’t offer what Robbo does simply due to the limitations of him been so right footed.
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And Robbo being brilliant! Can’t wait to have him back
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Gomez is the backup RB. He’s very good there. He’s done an admirable job at LB but the fact we are heading into the second half of the season with Robertson, Tsimikas and Beck in the squad shows we don’t want right footers at LB anymore.
Gomez stays as the 2nd choice RB and 4th choice CB behind Quansah - I don’t want to hear how he’s ahead of Quansah at CB, he’s not. All his good performances have come at RB or LB. CB has been very tough for him.
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To be fair, Gomez did not have many chances to play CB this season - he simply had to play full-back positions purely due to injuries to our full-backs: Bradley was injured until late November, Trent was injured for a month in September, Robbo is out since October and Tsimi since December. I am pretty sure he will mostly play CB in the second half of the season - all fullbacks are due to return from injury soon, Matip remains injured and we might play two games a week until the end of the season - and I have no doubt he is very much capable to play there well.
Anyway, he will surely start at full-back position tomorrow. Robbo might get a few minutes off the bench at most.
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He played CB last season and was shite.
Many players were shite last season. Doesn’t mean it was position-related. More likely form-related. Whenever Gomez played CB this season (sure, not many times, due to reasons described above), he performed well. I would back him to play well at CB in the second half of the season.
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He’s been underperforming at CB for a number of years, that’s why he resurgence this season has been so surprising and pleasing. He’s been excellent at RB, very good at LB and - as you correctly point out - barely played at CB.
Full Back allows him to play on the front foot, which is how he prefers to play, and it covers up his weakness in the air. At CB he can panic when having to play backwards, is weak against big strikers and loses the flight of the ball in the air causing him to be a way below average player in aerial challenges. None of that is a factor at RB or LB and he is surprisingly good going forward.
For CB he may have to play at CB due to the amount of games but it’s far from ideal. Quansah is a significantly better CB on current form and if Matip wasn’t injured then Gomez wouldn’t be in the frame for appearances at CB at all. He’s an excellent 2nd choice RB, an emergency option for LB (which probably won’t be needed anymore with Robertson, Tsimikas and Beck all here) and he’s a deep depth option for CB that unfortunately may be required due to Matip’s injury.
But the main three CBs for the second half of the season are van Dijk, Konate and Quansah - there’s no doubt about that.
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Klopp will have the option to move Trent in to CM as he has done when needing to attack a few times now with the ability to call on Gomez and Bradley.
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Frustrating for Bacjetic, both for the player and us as fans. Watching him in the 2nd half of last season in the 10 matches or so he played, he was probably, along with Jones, the best players in our midfield.
Still only 19, I hope he does not lose hope because despite our midfield revamp, there is more than just a role for Bacjetic. Having no updates look worrying. Was hoping he can come back in the cup matches.
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