Virgil is a fantastic defender, Gomez is not. He still has potential/time to become very good. But these are all hopes, not the reality. He did have quality spells for us. Last season he even managed to complete a season without injuries. But even when he was on form, the things he needs to improve were always clear and remained to this day. Put that work in and don’t sink mentally.
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Joe at his best shits all over every other defender in this league not named Virgil Van Dyk.
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Thats my view, there was a period last season when he bailed Van Dijk out in multiple games.
Not sure if its confidence or something else but exactly as you say on his day he is the 2nd best central defender in the league.
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A period… I can remember a lot of players having periods.
To be fair to Gomez, he had more than one period. I think the best he played for us remains the start of that 18/19 season. Then he also had another quality period in the middle of last season. Matip started last season and rightly so for me, he was the one who took over for a while since 2019.
For me, even when he’s in form, some defensive issues are still visible. We criticize some other CB’s in the league for the same stuff, so I don’t see this as an objective view of Gomez.
The fact is that he was/is the youngest, has pace and technique… all that earned him more patience/credit among fans. I like him, but let’s not make him better than he is.
I just hope he wakes up now and shows that he can be good without his romance with Big Bro.
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Gomez is always going to suffer a bit playing with Van Dijk because Virgil is a rare player in that there are no obvious flaws. Very few players in the history of the game are better than Van Dijk. That’s what we compare Joe to.
And the other problem he has is that because of the Aura that surround Virg, all the opposition play is directed at Joe. He has to deal with far more than Virgil does. He simply has far more opportunity to make mistake than Virgil does.
Going forward Virgiless, I don’t have any worries about Joe and I back him to find him best form again. Klopp will make him feel 10 feet tall.
Although I would not okay him on the left. He is used to the right and I’d let him rediscover his form there. Fabinho can do the left side.
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That’s interesting because Matip never played LCB for us. So we’ll see how that pans out.
I think it’s Joe and Joel on the right. Virg and Fab in the left.
If Joe ends up on the left, then it’s because Klopp thinks it’s fine, and I’m alright with that, but I’ve never been happy swapping right and left centre back positions.
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I’ll prefer Gomez on left as usually our cover there is better than at right, with both Mane and Robbo supporting way more.
Joe is one of the best young centre backs in the world. All players go through some iffy moments, and that’ll pass.
I have no qualms whatsoever about Joe. Any team losing their first choice keeper and defensive rock will get questions asked of them. But I reckon our Joe can answer them, and answer them in style.
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Gomez isn’t the second best defender in the league, nor is he that close. You can’t simply ignore this many poor games and only highlight his good periods to talk about him in that manner, that’s just obvious bias. A player like Laporte is much more complete than Gomez is. Matip is also a better defender for sure.
The system we’ve played suits Gomez down to the ground - the high line, high risk/high reward strategy. It’s a tough system to play, one that many defenders aren’t capable of, but it’s one that makes the most out of Gomez’ best attributes. If he was to play in a side that plays fairly deep he’d be a pretty bog standard premier league defender because he’s not so good at defending the box. At his best he suits us perfectly, but the opposite is also undeniably true.
The problem in recent months has been the fact that he keeps losing his duels in dangerous positions which he wasn’t doing previously, and his attempt at playing attackers offside have been truly awful. If he can right these mistakes we can start talking about him being with the top defenders in the league again but until then he’s miles away in reality. With Van Dijk next to him his relative lack of aerial ability hasn’t been highlighted or noticed too much, now I fear it will be. We’ll need to see some significant improvement from Joe in the next few months.
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Joe hasn’t been his best but neither has the defence, which for me is about our tactics, this high line has been killing our defensive poise. It is too easy to time a run in behind if the pressure isn’t on the ball.
Against Everton, there 1st goal came from trying to play the high line and Joe got caught out. After that goal we dropped deeper as they progressed with the ball and IMO we comfortably held them out, that was until Trent was lazy and didn’t bust a gut to get goal side of his man, DCL then pulled on to Robbo, some say Joe should have followed him, however that is not what we do we tend to mark space more than marking the man. Then a great cross and a fantastic leap from DCL and even if Joe had been marking him he doesn’t have the leap/athleticism to be able to win the ball. Even Joel and big Virg would have struggled.
We now need to continue playing as we did most of the game against Everton, press when we have good shape and pressure but then drop as the opposition get good possession with their heads up.
I guess the Matip vs Gomez argument is over for now. Big season for Joe now, I think he can do it.
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Aurelio 
That guy. Such wonderful skills. Such a wobbly body.
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He started wobbly, but how much of that was Adrian… but by the end was pretty impervious. Long may it continue.
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Think he’s been very good over the past few games and stepped up massively as, currently, the only fit senior CB. If he can stay inury free this might be a massive year for him stepping from VVD’s partner to a proper established top CB in his own right.
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Been solid again today, especially playing with a younger CB partner. Good to see his form back.
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Still a few weak moments though, did a Lovren there when he went to the ground Zapata had struck the corner of the goal. Went through his zone a few times.
Also noticed something since he’s been playing LCB. He doesn’t open up enough when our goalkeeper is in possession and we’re pressed. He stands too central and not enough making himself available.
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Very good last night again bar the first 10 minutes or so trying to settle into the shape. Maybe losing VVD is a blessing in disguise forcing the other defenders like Gomez, TAA and Robertson to lead as leaders now
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