Jamie Carragher claimed during his commentary stint for Sky Sports PL (04/10/20) that Joe Gomez couldn’t handle Ollie Watkins as Aston Villa put seven past Liverpool on Sunday evening.
As the remarkable scenes unfolded at Villa Park, Carragher made it clear that Gomez ‘needs to come off’ as the home team struck their fifth goal through Ross Barkley.
In the end, Jurgen Klopp did put Gomez out of his misery and he was substituted as Fabinho ended up deputising for him at the back.
Aside from the hat-trick which Watkins scored, Carragher was impressed with the way he held the ball up and caused Gomez all sorts of problems on the night.
“He does really well again Watkins, he hasn’t been able to handle him, Gomez,” Carragher told Sky Sports. “Not just in terms of the goals.
“I said before that goal [Villa’s fifth] that Gomez needs to come off. He needs to put Fabinho at centre-back. Bring someone in midfield. Get Henderson in midfield. Put some leadership in there.
“This game looks well gone. In some ways you have to look back to Joe Gomez’s mental state after this game, he has been that poor.”
Liverpool’s trophies under Jurgen Klopp
- Champions League
2018/19
- UEFA Super Cup
2019
- FIFA Club World Cup
2019
- Premier League
2019/20
Before yesterday’s game, Watkins was still searching for his first Premier League goal following his big-money move to Villa from Brentford this summer.
His performances prior to Sunday’s game were of top-quality and he was just missing that goal to ease the pressure and get his engine started.
Well, Watkins is now steaming ahead after netting the perfect hat-trick inside the first half, and against Gomes and Virgil van Dijk
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