What The Joe Gomez Injury Means For Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool

A week after his appointment as the new Liverpool manager, it already feels as though Jurgen Klopp’s honeymoon period is over.

The Liverpool Echo’s James Pearce reported yesterday evening that the injury suffered by Joe Gomez on England Under-21s’ duty against Kazakhstan is worse than first feared, and could result in the defender missing the rest of the season.

Joe’s absence poses a considerable challenge for Klopp ahead of his debut in the Liverpool dugout away against Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday afternoon.

The 18-year-old made an instant impact at Anfield following his arrival from Charlton in June for what the BBC reported as a £3.5m deal.

Despite speculation that the 18-year-old would be loaned out to gain first-team experience, the quality of Gomez’s performance in pre-season was sufficient to persuade the now departed Reds boss, Brendan Rodgers, to include him in Liverpool’s starting side for the first five matches of the new campaign.

The teenager provided a late, match-winning assist for Philippe Coutinho on his Premier League debut against Stoke and went on to retain his place for the away trips to Arsenal and Manchester United on either side of the September international break.

While the comprehensive nature of the Merseysiders’ 3-1 defeat at Old Trafford ultimately cost Joe Gomez his place in the starting side in the league, he subsequently started in both of Liverpool’s Europa League group fixtures.

Joe Gomez’s game by numbers: 5 tackles won 5 interceptions 4 clearances 3 blocks Looks a real talent. #LFC pic.twitter.com/wrzjAKSx5h

— Squawka Football (@Squawka) August 24, 2015

Tuesday night’s injury comes as a considerable blow to Klopp, a coach famed for his ability to get the best out of young, hungry footballers of the sort Gomez patently is.

In the first instance, Liverpool will suffer for the loss of the teenager’s versatility.

After all, the seamlessness with which Joe Gomez integrated into the Liverpool defence as a left-back was such that it is easy to forget the 18-year-old is naturally right-footed, and plied the majority of his trade at under-age level as a centre-half.

It is a reflection of the remarkably developed tactical and positional intelligence which has characterized Joe’s nascent senior career, therefore, that he has already played across all three major defensive positions at Championship and Premier League level and looked comfortable in each.

The teenager’s absence will thus weaken the depth of Klopp’s roster across all three areas of his backline. Indeed, Gomez’s injury has done much to highlight the relative thinness of Liverpool’s cover in both full-back positions.

While last summer’s £12m recruit Alberto Moreno is, on paper, a more than adequate replacement for Joe Gomez at left-back, there is a reason why Rodgers dropped the Spain international in favour of a right-footed 18-year-old centre-half at the start of this season.

The former Sevilla player showed glimpses of quality in attack in 2014/15, but his first year at Anfield was marked by a series of high-profile defensive errors which led commentators such as the Mirror’s Hamish Mackay to question whether he is cut out for the Premier League.

With Jose Enrique seemingly on his way out of the club, Klopp has only the academy talent, Joe Maguire, 19, to act as cover beyond a still unproven starter in Moreno.

At right-back, too, Gomez’s absence leaves Klopp’s squad looking exposed.

There is no doubting Nathaniel Clyne’s worth as a starter in that role, but his stand-in under Rodgers, Emre Can, is best deployed as a box-to-box midfielder (his disastrous showing in last season’s 6-1 humiliation against Stoke is evidence enough of this). Furthermore, the promising but injury-blighted Jon Flanagan is set to be on the sidelines for roughly as long as Joe Gomez.

It is a testament to Joe Gomez’s quality that his absence can cause Liverpool so many headaches. However, the difficulty that Klopp will experience in attempting to cover for the teenager between now and January is also a chastening reminder of the size of the challenge that he faces in reviving the Anfield club’s flagging season.

[Photo by Clive Mason/Getty Images]