Gomez was really, really poor at the start of 20/21. He’s barely had a good game since we won the league.
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Yeah I think we sometimes overrated our own Gomez (and not only him). Doesn’t take much for lines like “best in the league/best English/best in Europe” to appear with certain players (with certain players it’s true). Heard that even about Sakho in the past, let alone Gomez. But happens at every club I guess.
He had some brilliant spells for us, namely the first part of 18/19, I remember I had specifically him and Gini as our two best players, the way they started that season. Couldn’t decide between the two who played better (possibly Gini as it’s a more all action role).
I’d say we never really spoke enough about his weaknesses, probably because he was young(er), talented, fast, could play, English, etc. An Englishman surnamed Gomez, that’s the full package! Even when his form was ‘alright’. Some things were always evident and Klopp spoke about them here and there.
We’ll see what happens, I wouldn’t write him off yet. For me, since Virg is in, I always had Matip as our 2nd best CB on paper in terms of quality when they’re fit and in normal form, but it’s not like there was a huge hole between Matip and the rest. They all had their good spells and bad spells. Sometimes form, more often injuries, sometimes both. F*ck, even Lovren had his best period early alongside Virg on that route to Kiev.
When you look at our defence now (players we count on), it’s a “perfect” situation; 8 players for 4 positions, all tied under contracts.
Doesn’t mean we might not still have an eye on the market (and the Academy!) for possible upgrades and changes, but it could happen that someone like Gomez and Williams (at some point maybe even Tsimi) want to go out and play more games. Will depend on our evaluation and offers I guess.
I’m calm about the situation, I don’t think Matip will necessarily be there for 50 games a season for the next eternity. Konate is showing some good stuff, some not so good stuff, very much a work in progress, I’d say so far so good, considering everything. But I think we bought him because he has some raw qualities and we believe we can improve him (also work on that prevention from injuries!) with time. Question about his ceiling, we’ll find that out at some point.
And if it turns out that Gomez goes somewhere else and we find the deal to be good enough to move on, that’s also a possibility.
When you have one of the best sides in Europe, things like this happen, so it’s no drama for me, as long our next moves are on point more often than not to keep us at that level.
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Well, that’s not my recollection.
We conceded loads in the few league games he played (a rate of more than 2 goals per game with him on the pitch), no clean sheets, he had to be subbed off against Villa because he was all over the place. Everton and Leeds were poor performances. That’s how it was. He did have a couple of good games in the CL.
After winning the league he had to be subbed off at half time against City because he was having a shocker, and at home to Chelsea not long after he had one of his worst games for the club.
There were a lot of really bad performances packed into a run of not so many games.
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Van Dijk was also in all of those games - until Prickford tried to amuptate his leg, but no one seems to call him out for not playing well.
And it wasn’t just Gomez, the whole team played piss poor at the start of last season
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In case you guys didn’t know, Joe got his own thread
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Because Van Dijk wasn’t as bad as Gomez? That’s probably why. He does get called out if he makes a mistake, like he did vs Leeds. But it wasn’t Van Dijk who Klopp had to take off twice because he’d lost the plot.
Last I’ll say on the matter. If you think Gomez played well in that time period, we were clearly watching different games.
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England has a dearth of talent at center back. Cart horses mostly, with one or two promising players like Konsa and Tomori (decent shouts to broaden it). Even then, I would have Gomez over any of them.
As for form, yes, long injury, then not seeing the action - yet - to be able to get back to his best. The form argument is fine. But he is a good player and I would have him over any other English central defender.
Mind you… if we sold him, I am confident we wouldn’t skip a beat and could buy a very good central defender with the dough. I am equally confident that they wouldn’t be English, which probably tells the story.
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Well considering he hasn’t played for a while, then yeah
NEW: Neco Williams is expected to move in search of more regular game time in the next year or so. Liverpool would listen to offers on the basis they have high hopes for youngster Conor Bradley, who has kicked on impressively over the past 12 months. #awlive [@JamesPearceLFC]
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From the little I’ve seen Bradley is nowhere near ready for the 1st team yet.
Neco might do better in a different system judging by his international performances though.
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It’s only Pearce he knows no more than you or me. 
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To be fair to Pearce, he says in the next year or so, so it might not be an immediate move away. Although, it is difficult to imagine his performances haven’t caught the interest of some clubs…
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I dont think Pearce is saying anything unexpected though. We know last summer Neco was keen to leave and the club willing to facilitate that if a fair offer came in.
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So Neco Williams (who there is recent history of maybe being unsure of his future due to lack of game time and has since not got much more game time) is expected to move sometime in the next year or two but might not. Liverpool would listen to offers which they may or may not accept. And Bradley has been impressing a little and we have high hopes for him.
James Pearce really putting his money where his mouth is with such specific knowledge that could only possibly come from inside sources due to the level of detail!
Have to sell papers somehow!! Rewriting what everyone has know since last summer as new information with a snapping headline will keep his paycheck coming for another week as he can go celebrate Xmas with his family satisfied his employers are happy with him.
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The club are amazing at not leaking stuff from our side and even persuading those in the players camp and the other club involved to be quieter than usual too.
We let the likes of Joyce, Reddy and Pearce etc. know literally JUST before a deal is complete that it’s going on and they all rush to have the exclusive. Every now and again a hiccup will happen to stop that going ahead like Fekir.
We also sometimes let those (mostly Pearce) know when we like a player sure but not interested, they’d be too expensive, we have too full a squad etc etc like with Thiago and Alisson. So us saying we aren’t in for a player isn’t even that reliable.
If you know or can find out about who is reliable at the other ends of deals you can sometimes get an inclining of what’s happening. Like someone in France or Germany who is reliable may start talking about Konate then English sources starting saying the same thing like it’s their own info. But that’s hard because so many are linked to us it’s hard to narrow it down to who is reliable or not.
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Except each time Gomez was taken off, it was for midfielders. Jones against City, and Milner against Aston Villa. Just based on their individual characteristics, you’d take off Gomez vs Virgil any time. Neither was to put on another centre-back, which would suggest we made a change tactically rather than because Gomez was doing poorly.
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Look at the stated time frame though. Outside of those who see something in neco to suggest he can play in the attack, I think most fans would view him as a Phil Neville type player for us…fight for a few years for appearances whereever he can get them before reaching an age where he decides he has to be competing for a place every week. The time frame in the tweet kind of allows for that while giving Bradley the time he’d need to develop in at a Neco replacement.
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James Pearce may or may not be putting his money where his mouth is