Despite being in Liverpool’s first team for longer than anyone else in Arne Slot’s current squad, Joe Gomez has still never scored for the club.
Nine-and-a-half years and 235 appearances after Brendan Rodgers signed him from Charlton as an 18-year-old, the defender continues to wait on that elusive first goal for the Reds, having even seen Alisson Becker famously get on the scoresheet in that time!
However, thanks to one significant change at Anfield over the past few months, the England international – who admitted that he was very close to leaving Merseyside in the summer – now feels that his chances of getting that long-standing monkey off his back have improved.
As per Daily Mail, Gomez attributed the corner kick routines of new set-piece coach Aaron Briggs to enhancing his chances of finally scoring for Liverpool. Whereas previously the 27-year-old always minded the fort at the back, he’s now planted in the opposition penalty area from that particular dead-ball routine.
The Reds defender said: “Going up for corners is a big thing. That is one thing that has hindered me this whole time as I was never up, so my odds have been boosted!”
The Londoner jokingly added that, if he were to eventually find the net, he doesn’t have a special celebration planned.
Slot said after the win over Girona on Tuesday that he’d really wanted the under-fire Darwin Nunez to score, but if Liverpool fans had their pick of one player to net a crucial goal this season, we suspect that many would opt for Gomez.
A tremendous servant to the club, and one who’s played a pivotal role in the success we enjoyed under Jurgen Klopp, it seems an anomaly that the defender has never added his name to the scoresheet in all his time at Anfield.
The manner in which the Reds now set up from corner kicks might indeed enhance his prospects of netting that elusive goal, especially with the set-piece prowess of Trent Alexander-Arnold and Andy Robertson to send the ball into the penalty area.
Maybe it’s just as well that Gomez doesn’t have a celebration planned, for when he finally scores for Liverpool, instinct will surely take over as a near decade-long wait is lifted from his shoulders. One thing is for certain – you wouldn’t find a more popular goalscorer in red if it were to finally happen!
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