Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp has praised Joe Gomez as ‘exceptional’ after his performance against Fulham on Wednesday night.
Chelsea booked their place in the Carabao Cup final on Tuesday night, beating Middlesbrough 6-1 to overturn a first-leg deficit.
It was Liverpool’s turn on Wednesday night as they headed to West London to take on Fulham, leading 2-1 from the first leg at Anfield.
Luis Diaz fired Liverpool into an early lead and the Reds were chasing through until Issa Diop pulled one back for Fulham.
The final 15 minutes or so were a little stressful for Liverpool but Jurgen Klopp’s got the job done, booking a spot alongside Chelsea in the Carabao Cup final.
Jurgen Klopp hails Liverpool defender Joe Gomez
This was another strong display from a Liverpool side who look to be serious challengers on all fronts this season.
Even when players go down with injuries, their replacements step up – and that is the case with defender Joe Gomez.
Gomez is now shining as a left back, filling in for both Andy Robertson and Kostas Tsimikas as they deal with injuries.
Capable of playing at centre back and left back too, Gomez keeps stepping up to the challenge for Liverpool and is nearing his best form once again.
Gomez is surely in contention for an England call-up ahead of Euro 2024 and Liverpool boss Klopp has now proved to praise him.
Klopp has told Liverpool’s official website that he thinks the Reds would have been lost without Gomez because of how he has filled in for injured players on a regular basis.
Klopp noted that Gomez was ‘exceptional’ against Fulham and is simply a ‘top-class player’, showing his appreciation for the former Charlton Athletic talent.
“Without Joe nothing would’ve happened in the last pretty much 13 [or] 14 weeks since Robbo is out. Yes, because he could play there, but the things we could do with Trent when we brought Joey on, I don’t exactly [know] how many games [he] played now this year, but I would say 20-something already,” said Klopp.
”Not only games, [he] played exceptional today again. He’s a real defender and he comes inside. He’s doing that really well. He tried a couple of times obviously to finish the discussion about not scoring. I would say for my taste from a bit too far but it’s still alright. He is a life-saver, to be honest, that he was here, that he could play, and people forget how important Joey was in the best years we had. I don’t know how many games he played in the year when we became champions and how many games he played when we won the Champions League. A lot and rightly so because he’s a top-class player,” he added.
Gomez is making the most of his Liverpool opportunity right now and his performances in recent weeks have effectively ruled out a January transfer.
Reports in December suggested that Tottenham wanted to sign Gomez but feared they wouldn’t be able to sign him because of his increased importance at Anfield.
Tottenham ended up signing Radu Dragusin to bolster their defence and Liverpool will hope that this run in the team means Gomez isn’t itching to leave any time soon.
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