Gomez lauds Liverpool's "freshness and fire" and opens up on unlikely goal quest
Joe Gomez says Liverpool have got a “freshness and fire” in their squad as they chase down four trophies.
Liverpool look anything but tired even though the fixtures are mounting up because games do not feel daunting when you are winning. The Premier League leaders will have six games in January when most of their title rivals are supposed to be enjoying a winter break.
They now face a two-legged Carabao Cup semi final with Fulham starting on Wednesday, having knocked Arsenal out of the FA Cup to reach the fourth round and are still in Europe. The big bonus was that Liverpool avoided a replay with Arsenal which would have turned their winter break into a long weekend rather than a proper rest.
Gomez himself has been filling in brilliantly at left-back because of injuries but says the togetherness of the squad is pushing them through. Liverpool defender Gomez said: “There’s definitely a good bond in the team. There’s definitely a freshness and fire about the team.
“We’ve got a bit more of a spring in our step. It’s a quick turnaround now again. Because we won, thankfully, it gets us a bit of a break in between fixtures (as no replay). It’s another big game on Wednesday, we want to get to another final, over two legs but we’ll go for it.
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Joe Gomez turned in another fine display at Arsenal, where he was up against Bukayo Saka (Getty Images)“We don’t want to get giddy. We’re all just full of desire and want to make the best out of the season. All we can do is take it one game at a time, I know it’s a cliche, but there’s desire and we have a platform to build on.
“We can’t take that for granted, as we know with last season, it’s not always plain-sailing and we went through rough patches but we built from it and learnt from it. So we have to keep at it. See where it takes us.
“We’ve got top players who we’ve missed this year - Thiago, Robbo (Andy Robertson), Kostas (Tsimikas), Mo Salah going to AFCON. But the gaffer keeps reiterating, we can all do a job defensively and we can all defend, means we don’t have to worry about who’s missing. We have to keep that mentality. Still early and there’s a long way to go but we can only take one at a time.”
Gomez has filled in at left-back in recent weeks (AFP via Getty Images)That mentality appears to be doing the trick. Liverpool are bang in form, forgetting the fixture pile-up and have been a welcome surprise this season which many believed might be one of transition.
But Jurgen Klopp always ensures his players are up for every game and he is blessed to have squad members like Gomez who is humble, determined to do a job and has filled in brilliantly in whatever role is needed. They will need to give him something extra special as the unsung hero of the group should they win trophies this season.
Gomez, traditionally a centre half or right-back, laughed: "It’s different at left-back! It’s been a challenge to adapt. Small, minor differences that maybe aren’t noted, maybe how you receive the ball and so on.
“But I’m just, people at the club know me now, they know I will give my all. I’ve been here long enough now but I’m grateful to play for the club. Attack each game, dig in as a team and try to do what we can do as a collective. We have some injuries but we will keep persevering.”
But Gomez is now suddenly aware of one missing ingredient - a lack of goals. Incredibly, Gomez has never scored for Liverpool and did laugh when asked about one half chance at Arsenal.
Liverpool are still challenging on four fronts this season (Getty Images)He added: “Ha, it’s funny! I’ve gone eight years and now everyone is talking about it, I don’t know what’s sparked it. I want to affect the game when I’m forward as well and be positive. Hopefully it comes, we’ll see how I celebrate.”
But when asked whether he would take his shirt off to celebrate, he smiled: “I’ll leave that to Mo!”
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