The inclusion of Joe Gomez and James Milner on the right-hand side of the Liverpool backline may have set tongues wagging on the blue half of manchester.
Both options in the back four played a strong part in preserving an impressive clean sheet against the incumbent champions.
This led Dominic King to tweet that the No.2 should, on the basis of ‘that performance’, start for Gareth Southgate’s men in their opening clash of the World Cup campaign.
One little footnote to this game. On that performance, Joe Gomez doesn’t just go to the World Cup: he stars against Iran. An absolutely exceptional display 🔴
— Dominic King (@DominicKing_DM) October 16, 2022
It was a more than compelling performance given that Gomez had been thrust into the limelight to cover for an injured Ibrahima Konate and should hand Jurgen Klopp another selection headache once the Frenchman and Joel Matip are back in action.
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Assuming that the former Charlton Athletic prodigy can maintain such a standard going forward, he has to be considered the nail-on partner for Virgil van Dijk.
It’s a bold call given how reliable the ex-RB Leipzig star has been when called upon, though it’s difficult to see our German tactician abandoning his commitment to a merit-based system.