Liverpool could fall into West Ham ‘reality’ trap – but forgotten man could definitely be part of the answer | OneFootball

It is truly one of the defining viewpoints of our time:

Nuno Espirito Santo’s side have improved markedly recently, but the sentiment stands: reading a great deal into a win over West Ham is fundamentally just quite a stupid thing to do.

Of course, the alternative for Liverpool fans wanting a half-full glass to sup from is to fondly remember the first half-hour against Nottingham Forest, or to drag their minds all the way back to those days in early November when Arne Slot actually seemed to have figured things out.

Beating a team containing a player bizarrely desperate to be sent off is a low bar to clear, but the sort Liverpool have nevertheless landed face-first trying to vault this season.

Slot made enough tangible changes to claim credit for the result. The decision to drop Mo Salah was sound, even if it creates a different problem further down the line after Florian Wirtz put in his best individual Premier League performance and Alexander Isak repaid an infinitesimal amount of his British record fee.

The biggest call, the one many supporters have been forlornly demanding all campaign, is for a defender to be picked at right back.

Joe Gomez had last started in the Premier League 11 months before, away at West Ham in a team which emphasises the transitional natures of Liverpool’s struggles.

Alisson; Alexander-Arnold, Van Dijk, Gomez, Robertson; Gravenberch, Mac Allister; Salah, Jones, Gakpo; Diaz has become Alisson; Gomez, Konate, Van Dijk, Kerkez; Gravenberch, Mac Allister, Gakpo, Szoboszlai, Wirtz, Isak in less than a year and there are more than a few kinks to iron out.

But Gomez offers the stability and safety Liverpool need in a post-Trent world.

The only question that can be asked of the 28-year-old is entirely and painfully relevant. Without the injury issues which have plagued his decade at Anfield, there would be no decision for Slot to make.

Yet a fit and available Gomez must now be a starter in a more settled defence as Liverpool continue to try making sense of their varied and expensive attacking ingredients.

“I just try to keep a positive energy and try to influence the boys in the right way,” he said of what has become an increasingly off-field role at Liverpool of late. “I need to set an example on the training pitch, be positive, just keeping the mood and the overall balance.”

But within that role model has always resided an excellent player who has been cruelly sidelined for too long.

The more Slot can learn to trust him, the better Liverpool will be for it. And far more importantly, the greater chance Gomez has of cracking .