Klopp: It has been a frustrating period for Joe but his time will come

Jurgen Klopp has urged Joe Gomez to not lose heart over his lack of first team opportunities this season.

The central defender missed a large chunk of last season season due to a serious knee injury and it was expected that once returning to full fitness he would be part of the rotation with Virgil Van Dijk and Joel Matip.

However the addition of Ibrahima Konate has complicated matters for the England international as the Frenchman has not missed a beat when called upon and has cemented the main back up role for Van Dijk and Matip at this point of time.

To this point of time, Gomez has made four Premier League appearances this season totaling up a little more than 15 minutes all up. Three of those have come on the brink of injury time, with his longest time on the pitch coming against Man City where he registered 12 minutes of action.

He has seen much more action in the Carabao Cup, playing 90 minutes on three occasions and one substitute appearance in the semi final tie against Arsenal while also making two cameos in the Champions League.

The FA Cup might represent an opportunity for Gomez with the Reds having been drawn at home to Norwich in the next round. Klopp will almost certainly ring the changes for that one and utilise some of the squad men like Gomez who need minutes. The upcoming League Cup final might have been another possible opportunity for the boss to rotate the squad but given the opponent that day is Chelsea then in all likelihood Klopp will go full strength and Gomez will be fortunate to even make the bench.

The Reds are still chasing silverware on four fronts and there's good value to be had in betting markets. If you fancy Liverpool for a quadruple then why not take advantage of a bet365 bonus offer and attempt to cash in. The Premier League title seems unlikely at this stage but things can change quickly. The Reds are a great bet to secure a domestic cup double though. 

The misfortune of Gomez continued on the weekend as he had been pencilled in to start against Cardiff, but for a COVID-19 diagnosis ruling him out

Naturally the lack of consistent gametime has led to speculation over the future of Gomez with Aston Villa being mentioned on more than one occasion.

While going through plenty of hard times with his body, Gomez is still only 24 and yet to enter his prime years as a defender. It is for that reason that you sense the club will fight tooth and nail to keep the former Charlton youth player.

Especially as there is a bit of age gap between the current incumbents to Gomez and Konate leading to a scenario that the younger pairing will  take over the mantle in coming seasons.

But for now Jurgen Klopp is calling for patience from his player as the Echo reported:

"It's really unlucky for Joe, he has consistently played on an incredible level and has been one of the best centre-halves in England, but then the big injury came and little injuries on top of that

.

"Then he got COVID, that timing was really bad because he would definitely have played against Cardiff and that would have given him some rhythm and momentum so it has been tough (for him.)

Klopp has long been the voice of reason when balancing playing a game of Football compared to the bigger picture of everyday life in the middle of a global pandemic.

Once again he came through with some clear perspective.

"The only thing I can say as well, there are tougher things than being a squad player at the moment for Liverpool.

"There are much tougher things out there and the only answer in football is you have to fight through these moments and show you are ready for the moment when the situation changes. That's it.

"We had too often only one centre-half available or even none, so we couldn't have reacted differently, but the quality of the boys, especially Joe who has not played a lot of football in the last few months, is incredible.

But he praised the attitude of Gomez and implied his time will come.

"Having him in training just shows what a high quality squad we have. It is never nice for the players (that miss out on playing) , I understand that 100 per cent, but Joe takes it really professionally.

"He is a young lad and everything will be fine in the future but at the moment, it's for sure harder.”