I’ve been kind of reluctant to put down in words something that’s
been on my mind whilst watching Liverpool’s first three matches of the season.
When players and the team are going through a good run of form it seems that
anything you say which isn’t 100% positive is interpreted as a negative by some
people. I really don’t want to be negative in this piece but I do want to bring
some realism to discussions about this player.
During the first three matches of this season Liverpool have
been defensively excellent, three clean sheets and we hadn’t really given away
any clean cut chances until the Arsenal game when Simon Mignolet, who was being
decreed as an imposter at this time last year, showed that he has truly left
the poor form of them days behind him by proving equal to the gooners most
dangerous efforts. Martin Skrtel has shown us that he just might be able to
break from his form history of being good one year and poor the next. Nathanial
Clyne has come into the side and immediately looked like he has been at the
club for years. Dejan Lovren, whilst not yet looking the €20m powerful leader
we were promised last summer has at looked like he might just have something to
offer the first team. On top of all these players as the pick of the bunch is
an 18 youngster signed from mid-table Championship side Charlton Athletic for a
fee in the region of €3m – Joe Gomez.
It’s a wide held belief that, in spite of what the manager
may claim now in hindsight, Gomez was signed with the intention of loaning him
out to gain further first team experience. That he managed to do enough in
training and pre-season friendlies to not only convince the manager to keep him
within the club to develop, but also to put him in the starting line-up for the
first league game of a season which saw the manager on the brink from the first
whistle was an incredible testament to his character and ability.
Gomez has taken to this challenge better than I think even
the most optimistic of supporters may have thought possible. He has looked
assured in defence, comfortable in possession and he has looked dangerous going
forward. It used to be that I could sound like an auld arse here and say “haven’t
seen potential like that since….” But in fairness its only a couple of years
since Raheem Sterling was showing incredible potential as an 18 year old at the
club so I won’t go down that route. Sufficed to say Gomez has bags of
potential.
However, as with any 18 year old the important bit when
eulogising over their performances is to remember their age and inexperience. At
the moment he is playing to an incredibly high level but as we have all
experienced when watching young players trying to adapt to senior football it
is perfectly natural for them to be inconsistent. Right now his form shows no
sign of dissipating but that is often the case with developing players. Another
truism for developing players is that inevitably their form hits a patch where
they find it hard to perform at all. This period often turns out to be the acid
test in that those who recover their form after this period go on to have
careers in the higher echelons of the league whereas those who don’t tend to
transfer downwards until they find their level
Gomez has a number of attributes, both developed and
achieved, which are helping him to shine at this level. His height, strength
and pace give him an immediate means to level the playing field against older
more experienced players somewhat. His technique and tactical awareness ensure
that he not only functions within the team he positively influences
performance. I believe that, at this point, his lack of experience and youth
are also contributing to his rich vein of form. He clearly has a lot of self-belief
so his confidence is high from the get go. He has yet to receive a rinsing from
any opponent thus far so he is unaware of the dangers which lie ahead from
unforgiving opponents when they identify a weakness. At some point in the future this will come and
it is at this point we will find out if Gomez will go on to be truly world
class or if he will simply become a good level defender.
At the moment I am thoroughly enjoying watching this guy
play and I’m very much looking forward to seeing him develop but when I keep
hearing people talking incredulously about his performances “In spite of his
age” I can’t help but feel that we need to remember at this early stage perhaps
his performance isn’t in spite of his age, maybe it’s because of it.
This article was first published on The Red Article Blog
