Liverpool boss Arne Slot was full of praise for Joe Gomez’s performance in Saturday’s 2-1 come-from-behind win over Brighton as he waits to learn just how much he might need to depend on the defender in the next few weeks.
Gomez replaced Ibrahima Konate at half-time at Anfield after the France defender came off the pitch nursing his left arm following an awkward fall.
Slot said after the match that he was waiting to learn the extent of the injury, but revealed the 25-year-old was “in a lot of pain”.
Should Konate now face a spell on the sidelines, Gomez showcased his ability to fill in with an impressive 45 minutes as Liverpool, second best in the first half, recovered from Ferdi Kadioglu’s 14th-minute strike with two goals in three minutes from Cody Gakpo and Mohamed Salah.
It was Gomez’s seventh appearance of the season but only two of those – both in the Carabao Cup – have been from the start.
“That says a lot about his mentality and it also says a lot about his quality, if you don’t play that much and you come in in a game where your team-mates were out-played for 45 minutes, that you can come in and play like this,” Slot said.
“It also says a lot about his mentality in recent weeks and months where didn’t play that much that he is now able, without playing a lot, to play 90 minutes on Wednesday and then put in a performance like this on Saturday.
“This is what people told me when I came in. Joe is a top, top, top professional who no matter what position he is in always gives his best for the team and for himself as well, and I think he got the reward for it because I think the fans loved what they saw. I definitely did.”
With Manchester City beaten at Bournemouth, Liverpool returned to the top of the table with the win, sitting two points clear.
Slot was disappointed with their first-half performance, saying his side “did not show up at all”, but after they twice came from behind to take a point from a 2-2 draw away to Arsenal last weekend, this was another show of their ability to grind out results.
“A lot of things happen during a season,” Slot said. “Sometimes you have to defend a lead, sometimes you have to come back after going 1-0 behind. This is a win you need in a season where you want to be competitive.
“You cannot always be from the first until the last second the best team on the pitch. Sometimes you have a difficult period, you have to fight back and that’s what we did.
“I did not ask them to score two goals – though I would love them to do that – I only asked them to play a different second half to the one they played against Nottingham Forest.
“If things go against you, you have to show up and winners always do, and fortunately we have a lot of winners in our team who showed up in the second half.”
