Forget Van Dijk – Why This Talented Liverpool Youngster Would Be A Great Partner For Joel Matip At The Back

Why Klopp Should Use Joe Gomez As Centre-half Instead Of Dejan Lovren

Before the start of the 2017/18 season, Joe Gomez was linked to joining the likes of Newcastle United or Brighton on loan, with Liverpool forcing a move for Southampton’s Virgil Van Dijk back then.

But with the Merseyside club failing to get a deal in place for the Dutch defender, any sort of loan deal for Gomez was scrapped. However, Jurgen Klopp might have never actually sent him on loan, especially after his impressive performances in pre-season in both right-back and centre-back roles.

With Liverpool’s defence leaking goals and keeping their last season’s horrible defensive record in mind, Jurgen Klopp has a major problem on his hands. Especially with the error prone Dejan Lovren, who has been receiving constant criticism from fans and experts for his errors leading to goals.

With Nathaniel Clyne out until December and Dejan Lovren making mistake after mistake, Klopp only has Joel Matip and Ragnar Klavan as other available options, having sold Mamadou Sakho to Crystal Palace in the summer.

Although Ragnar Klavan is a senior defender and has lot of experience playing as a centre-back, he is definitely not good enough to be even the second choice centre-back for Reds.

This is where the impressive Joe Gomez can cement his place in the side. Jurgen Klopp’s only remaining and advisable choice to partner Joel Matip would be Gomez. Lovren has time and again showcased his errors at the back and the time has come for Klopp to pick Joe Gomez to replace the Croatian international.

Although Joe Gomez has played majority of his football in the right-back position in his Reds career, he is naturally a centre-back. He has already shown in pre-season and the first few games of the 2017/18 season that he is capable of handling the best players in the league, with his solid performances at right-back.

Gomez and Trent Alexander-Arnold are the only fit right-backs at Klopp’s disposal at the moment and an injury or suspension to either of the two – just like what happened in the mid-week, when Gomez was shown a red in the Champions League game against Sevilla, would be a catastrophic situation.

Keeping this in mind, Klopp might not play Gomez at centre-back for the time being. But this does not mean he doesn’t stand a chance in the future. He would be better off playing at right-back until Nathaniel Clyne returns from his injury.

Young Gomez has worked incredibly hard to recover from his ACL injury and thoroughly deserves to be a part of Klopp’s first team. He has been defensively consistent and also offers plenty going forward.

If Jurgen Klopp cannot land Virgil Van Dijk in January, then Joe Gomez has all the attributes to step in and partner Joel Matip instead of the error-prone Dejan Lovren.