Liverpool are through to the next round of the League Cup and drew Bournemouth at Anfield in the week of December 14 for the quarter-finals. The game they won to get there wasn’t very good and Liverpool won it on penalties. But all we really want to talk about is Joe Gomez, so let’s dig into it…
Joe Gomez Game Winning Goal Horn (a little)
The match ended 1-1 after regulation. Both goals were scored from the penalty spot. Then there were penalties and Liverpool scored six to Chelsea’s five. And Joe Gomez confidently donned the Reds number six. Joe Gomez scored a goal. A winning goal.
Of course, it won’t go down as such. Goals on penalties don’t count from this point of view, and officially Gomez still hasn’t scored a goal at Liverpool. But you and I know differently. We know he stepped up and sealed Liverpool’s League Cup win over Chelsea. Joe Gomez, Liverpool scorer (a little).
Fans of stupid sanctions
It wasn’t the best first half you’ve ever seen, with Liverpool’s youngsters and fringe players running around like they wanted to impress manager Andoni Iraola, but rarely to any real effect while the more senior stars in the line-up looked a little disinterested – and that was with the Reds still looking the better team.
It wasn’t the best second half either, although the introduction of senior stars like Bradley Barcola and Florian Wirtz gave the Reds a slight, if ultimately inconsequential, boost in the final third.
But most importantly, the football wasn’t great. Add to that a stupid tackle from Ryan Gravenberch to give Chelsea an opener they didn’t deserve during the game and a stupid handball from Wesley Fofana to give Liverpool the leveler and in short, it was the game. thing It definitely happened, but you’d be hard-pressed to remember anything in particular GOOD from the perspective of players who actually play football.
Boring football fans
So yes, you’d be forgiven for seeing Liverpool v Chelsea under the lights at Anfield on schedule and expecting a good game of football – or, if not strictly good for a number of reasons, at least interesting and engaging. That would have been stupid of you. Because it’s the League Cup and more often than not, like in the Europa League, these autumn meetings end up being downright sleepwalking.
If ASMR and putting you to sleep football are your thing, we’re not going to be ashamed and are happy that you’re probably having more fun than the rest of us. At least until Joe Gomez scored a goal (kinda) and won the match. Then we all had fun. But damn, it was a tough task to get there.
Joe Gomez
Less sarcastically, even outside of the winning penalty, Gomez once again reminded everyone that if he wasn’t made of tissue paper and daydreams, he would probably be ranked among the best defenders in the world. SO. Maybe this time he’ll finally stay in shape. Fingers crossed. Forever.
Giorgi Mamardashvili
Meanwhile, the Liverpool goalkeeper made no significant mistakes as a ball stopper, which, to be fair, is a goalkeeper’s first job. But going from Alisson most weeks to Mamardashvili in the cups can’t help but highlight how uncomfortable the Georgian remains on the ball and how nervous he seems when called upon to push into his box (let alone leave it) or gather in the air.
The consensus on the 26-year-old upon his signing was that these aspects of his game were weak but that he would become the complete keeper the Reds needed. We’re in his second full season at the club and we’re still waiting to see signs of it, and it’s starting to feel like this situation isn’t benefiting anyone – Mamardashvili perhaps most of all. And that’s really what’s starting to seem the most awkward about the situation. We’re in year two and it seems clear that this is a player that will never be what the Reds need at the position. At this point, the choice not to resell this summer feels like a career loss.
Playing for this club means everything and we know that every game, especially here, is huge for us and we want to do our best to represent the jersey. I think we did it tonight.
Obviously it’s a new management team and we want to show that fight, show that courage. It’s a mentality and I think that’s what we’re known for and we always try to live up to that standard, and I think we did that tonight. It was important that the guys kept fighting until the end and we did that.
Arsenal travel to Anfield next Sunday, and with that a chance for Iraola’s Reds to perhaps better assess where they stand. The Gunners are the best team in the league not guilty of engaging in a £900m financial doping to get to this position. They find themselves in the position the Reds were in for the better part of a decade, at least until last season. Perhaps this is Liverpool’s opportunity to show that last year was an exception rather than a new normal.
We’d say our hopes are high for a great game whatever the result, but we would have thought Liverpool hosting Chelsea under the lights at Anfield would make for an awesome game so…
Gn sports
