Jurgen Klopp has suggested that he’s responsible for Joe Gomez having never scored for Liverpool, but hinted at one possible plan to help the 26-year-old to net that elusive first goal.
The Reds’ longest-serving current player has made 210 appearances for us without getting his name on the scoresheet, a record which extends to 245 matches across his entire senior career for club and country (Transfermarkt).
The sight of the defender gaining possession within 30 yards of goal has frequently elicited cries of “Shoot!” from an Anfield populace desperate to see him break his duck, but his manager may have a much more dependable solution, should the right scenario arise.
Regarding Gomez’s wait for a goal at Liverpool, Klopp said (via Daily Mail): “I don’t know how I would react if he scores – it would be spontaneous. I would let him take a penalty, but in the 89th minute if we were winning 4-0!
“The longer without a goal, the more difficult it is. He is our protection at set pieces. He’s not even in the other penalty area to get hit by the ball because we need his speed if the opposition clear.”
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Gomez is the only current Liverpool player to have been at the club (or in the first team) when Klopp took charge in 2015, so it’d be a shame if he were never to score under the German, although time is swiftly running out in that regard.
Incredibly, the 26-year-old has even seen a goalkeeper find the net for the Reds while still waiting for a first goal of his own, with Alisson Becker the unlikeliest of match winners against West Brom in the run-in to the 2020/21 season.
If we were to get a penalty in the circumstances that the manager described, it’d have echoes of Chelsea from the business end of their title-winning 2004/05 campaign, when they gave Claude Makelele the chance to finally get on the scoresheet by letting him take a spot kick against Charlton in their first league match after being crowned champions. The French midfielder’s effort from 12 yards was saved but he steered home the rebound.
There may simply be too much at stake for Liverpool to afford Gomez the same luxury in the final two months of this term, but perhaps if we had one match where Klopp had licence to allow the 26-year-old go forward for a set piece, we could see the Reds’ number 2 stick his head on a lofted ball to break his duck at long last.
Surely, one day, that goal will come for the Londoner. Just imagine the scenes if it’s the winner in our current manager’s final game in charge and it earns us a trophy in the process!