I’ve had enough of him now - too inconsistent and clearly doesn’t have the ability to remain focussed and concentrate for 100mins. His contract has become a sideshow and his Spanish is probably coming along nicely.
I would have liked the club to have forked out on Guehi when we had the chance, even if there are questions about him playing RCB.
Quansah must be replaying that half a game over and over and over trying to figure out what he did that was so much worse…
id be all for Gomez getting a run now, i know hes not the forums favorite and is derided from pillar to post, but i think hes more than servicable with a run of games under his belt, and at some point, Slot needs to bring some form of meritocracy into it.
either that or Gomez is horrible at training to a level i cant even think of
I don’t see someone right footed, with ability, used to playing at LCB (because of his ability…), necessarily being in trouble if he has to switch to RCB.
It’s more when someone like Skrtel, Konate and similar ones, who are right footed and more limited on the ball, are put at LCB.
If Guehi comes, I will have some other question marks (don’t get me wrong, I kinda like the idea of getting him). Him going from LCB to RCB is the least of my worries, or no worry at all.
Gomez will only get his chance when Konate gets injured. He’s an emergency option and that’s all.
But he is the third centre back. Regardless of how good you think he is, by refusing to turn to Joe under any circumstances, he is just giving konate to license to 5/10 his way through the rest of his contract.
Konate has been an absolute shit show this season, and it is legitimate to ask what it takes to give Gomez a game, and if one of your starting centre back having a collapse in form isn’t enough to turn to your number three, why the fuck is he still here?
One of his appearances towards the end of the season, maybe even his last, there was a penalty he conceded after being absolutely dropped in the shit by an awful pass from someone, I think Dom. Slot’s comment after the game was that it wasn’t his fault but he needs to think about why he’s present so often for our screw ups, with it coming on the back of conceding an own goal after Virgil blasted a clearance into him (something Virgil had also done a few weeks earlier as well with Robbo).
I thought it was incredibly ungenerous at the time and looks harder and harder to understand with each Iboucentric goal we concede this year.
Gomez might get a game soon, in which if he does well, he might stay in for a while. Hard to predict. Peak Gomez at CB is behind us. His weaknesses were always known, regardless if he was in form or not. Obviously the best Gomez was the start of 18/19 and a good period of 19/20, too. I guess the trust in the level he would provide and staying fit isn’t great. The situation at CB definitely isn’t good.
All four of these away losses have seen teams utilise the same tactics. Man mark Van Dijk, block the passing lanes into the LB and Gravenberch, let Konate have the ball and eventually he will just gift it back to you. Before to his right he had somebody who was world class at moving the ball forwards, now he’s got more of a runner and the opposition don’t have to worry anywhere near as much about shutting down our right side.
The elite levels he’s shown defensively in the past also seem to have deserted him and unfortunately right now he is quite clearly the obvious weak link in the team. He could do with coming out of the team for a bit but alas, Slot seemingly has no faith in Gomez to be able to put a run of games together (or just in his ability generally).
Conor is absolutely able to move the ball from that position, he has shown he has the ability. Obviously not to TAA’s level but enough to make a difference in our ball progression.
The issue is that it’s not his natural game, it’s not the first thing he thinks of. He needs to be instructed to do it.
I always get accused of being a Gomez fanboy, but I think it’s undeniable that his progressive passing of the ball is excellent, even if defensively he is a level below what he was at his best. He can play punch passes through midfield with purpose accuracy.
I saw comments like this in the match thread moaning that Konate was the player that the opposition were allowing on the ball, because they confident he can’t do anything with it.
I think in the past you accept that about Konate because he is so good defensively. But when we are at the point where he simultaneously looks like a defensive liability and the place where possession goes to die, then I don’t see why we wouldn’t have a look at Gomez. At least on the ball the opposition can’t just relax.
Yeah this is pretty much where I’m at as well. Previously you would always default to Ibou because you get the upside of him being the much superior defender but that just has not been the case this season. Whilst I don’t think Gomez is a world beater on the ball himself he’s quite clearly far more capable than Konate in that regard and right now it feels like it’s a relatively straight forward switch that could help to unlock a few areas of the pitch.
When Konate has become so unpredictable and soul destroying to those around him with his form guide from game to game… add to this his non-committal contract saga… then throw the young guy Nallo in for a few weeks. Even give Pinnington a run out…
To me, Konate is playing with an ‘up yours’ arrogance he has no right to own… Either sign a new contract, and get back to some consistent form, or AS should reclaim the narrative on squad commitment from him..!
…and he’s been sent off again…
Yeah he is a bit slow… but this RM saga coming so quickly on the back of the Arnold debacle, can’t be making for good camaraderie
What was the point of retaining Joe Gomez if he’s not going to be trusted? Had young Leoni been fit, would he have jumped the queue to stand in for Konate? I don’t understand it. If Gomez is the putative third-choice centre back then why can’t he get a game ahead of a clearly inconsistent Konate? He may not be everybody’s cup of tea, but he’s hardly the worst player in the world, even with his fitness issues. Interesting that Konate had a fairly decent game against RM (who he may be joining soon), yet has often failed to impress against other teams (who he isn’t likely to join).
He was set to move to Inter with Guehi coming in, but that fell through.
Joe might not have a full 90mins in his tank at the moment. Maybe those days are gone forever, who knows.
Good to have on the bench though,and since the injury to the Young Lion, we have not had a chance to bring in a replacement.
If AS thinks the Grav can do a job there, we might see a deep lying midfielder landing before another CB
There’s nothing to understand, that’s how Slot operates. If he trusts a player, he will play him. If he doesn’t, he won’t, no matter how badly someone ahead of him is doing.
It’s not happening only with Konate. Chiesa can’t get more than 10 minutes, no matter how well he’s doing. Gakpo who has been rightly dropped for his terrible form came on 20 minutes before he did. Anyone remember Endo? Maybe, he could start a game or two, especially when you have to read the lineup to realise that Gravenberch is playing, or when Mac Allister has been struggling. Same case with Elliott and Quansah last year.
Slot just keeps recycling the same players regardless of form.
We’re still at a point where the club are satisfied enough to have him as one of the backup defenders and Gomez satisfied enough to be at Liverpool, although knowing he’s probably not gonna start. That also won’t last forever. Contract until 2027, he’ll be 30 then.
Impossible to tell with Leoni. He played an hour or so against a Championship side. Looked decent, but just impossible to tell how that would’ve went. We need to see more of him, what’s his level, etc. Now it’s time for him to recover and get fit when he can.
I think it was Milan.
And it’s interesting, as Allegri has introduced a 3 at the back system for this season.