'Outstandingly skilled boy' Joe Gomez delights Jurgen Klopp as Liverpool's 'red wall' remains intact

Virgil van Dijk and Joe Gomez exchanged high fives after another clean sheet and Jurgen Klopp could scribble down his dream central defensive pairing for the rest of his Anfield reign.

That was the start of December last year. Then, Gomez fractured a leg at Burnley, wrecking his season because – in Klopp’s words – “with a very good team, the train does not wait”.

Gomez may still be checking the timetable if Joel Matip and Dejan Lovren were fit. Now he has the platform to re-establish himself alongside the Dutch maestro whose game he occasionally mirrors.

“These two, Joe and Virg, they like each other a lot, and they can play sensationally well together,” Klopp said.

“Last year, at the start of the season, they did exceptionally well. That bad injury took Joe out for a while. Other players showed up, and I don’t think anybody thought really we should put Joel on the bench. It is just that the boys are incredibly talented.”

Gomez, 22, is extraordinarily young to be a key component of a Liverpool defence who may win the Premier League title. He finds himself judged to the highest standards because that is what he set, only for freakish injuries to intervene at the most inopportune moments. Lest we forget, established in the starting line-up as a teenager, he damaged cruciate ligaments in the same week Klopp was appointed in 2015.

Little wonder Klopp admits to lengthy chats with this “outstandingly skilled boy” whose ambitions for club and country would undoubtedly have earned more acclaim but for ill luck. Only this silenced those justly calling for Gomez to become an England fixture at centre-back when – on those occasions he played for a country – he resembled Van Dijk.

Like his partner, Gomez can appear as if he is playing in a different gear to those around. But where the Dutchman has the capacity to read a game and switch tempo as and when required, Gomez’s inexperience naturally shows.

He gave an error-free display until the final moments against Watford at Anfield on Saturday, when a misjudged header almost pre-empted an unusual Van Dijk own goal. As so often happens with defenders, one lapse can pollute the memory of the other 89 minutes and 59 seconds.

“He’s an exceptional player, but you could see he had to fight and fight to keep concentrated. It is room for improvement in these moments,” Klopp said.

The clean sheet against Watford was not achieved with the same high-level security as the Gomez/ Van Dijk partnership demonstrated previously.

Against superior opposition, Liverpool would have been punished, although that is becoming a tired observation. There is enough evidence in Klopp’s side winning 25 of their past 26 league games to suggest that had Watford taken their chances, the game would have been reshaped by the home team’s inevitable reaction.

Liverpool keep doing enough, whether it is scaling the heights in Salzburg, or lowering them against the Premier League’s bottom club. Even when they win scruffily, there are enough world-class moments to ensure the director of the end-of-season showreel cannot have a day off, Mohamed Salah’s finishes worthy of a goal of the month nomination.

Klopp even afforded himself a wry observation about what match ratings his players deserved.

“Give them six, seven, eight, whatever. I wouldn’t even think about that. I am just happy we showed the resilience again,” he said.

They flew to Qatar on Sunday, which is either an unnecessary distraction or a chance to write more club history. The truth is, it is a bit of both.

When they get back to England, the two clubs chasing Liverpool will have played each other, which means Klopp’s mood should be even brighter whatever the outcome when Manchester City face Leicester City.

Momentum may be undermined elsewhere in the country, but Liverpool’s red wall remains firmly intact.