Arne Slot was speaking after Liverpool’s 2-1 comeback win over Brighton at Anfield
Arne Slot has hailed Joe Gomez for his performance after coming on at half-time in Liverpool’s 2-1 comeback win over Brighton & Hove Albion. Goals from Cody Gakpo and Mohamed Salah were enough for the Reds to leapfrog Man City to go top of the Premier League table.
However, it wasn’t a straight-forward victory for Slot’s men, who struggled in the first half as they trailed to Ferdi Kadioglu’s early volley and then saw Ibrahima Konate limp off at half-time with an arm injury.
Gomez replaced the France international at half-time as he came on for only his third Premier League appearance of the season. The outing also marked his first showing in his favoured centre-back position in the English top-flight since September 2023.
READ MORE: Anfield announcement moments after Brighton comeback makes impact as Liverpool get seriousREAD MORE: Liverpool player ratings as Mohamed Salah the hero and two subs shine in comeback win vs Brighton
The England international has found game-time limited under Slot following his return from Euro 2024, with it well-documented that he could have left Liverpool in the summer. A transfer to Newcastle United was agreed at the end of June as part of a deal that would have seen Anthony Gordon move in the opposite direction.
However, the switch collapsed. And while Gomez’s future remained the subject of speculation, with the defender left out of the matchday squad for the Reds’ Premier League opener away at Ipswich Town as he considered his future, he ended up staying put at Anfield.
With Gomez now on standby to start against Bayer Leverkusen on Tuesday night if Konate is sidelined, Slot praised the 27-year-old’s mentality as he revealed what he was told about the defender after succeeding Jurgen Klopp as Liverpool head coach.
“It says a lot about his mentality today, it also says a lot about his quality,” the Dutchman said. “If you don’t play that much and you come in in a game where your team-mates were outplayed for 45 minutes, that you can come in and play like this.
“And it also says a lot about his mentality in the recent weeks and months where he didn’t play that much. But he was able, without playing a lot, to play 90 minutes on Wednesday and to bring in a performance like this on Saturday.
“But this is what people told me when I came in. Joe is a top, top, top professional who always, no matter what position he is in, he always gives the best for the team and for himself in the end as well.
“He got the reward for it today because I think the fans loved what they saw. I definitely did.”
Gomez wasn’t the only substitute to make a difference as Liverpool came from behind to beat Brighton, with Luis Diaz and Curtis Jones also proving instrumental in the Reds’ comeback.
And while Slot admitted he could have taken off any one of his below-par players following their first half display, he was impressed with his squad’s response after the interval as he explained his changes.
“For me, at the start of the second half we were dominant,” he said. “We were creating our chances, so that is why I didn’t really feel the need to change something.
“But if you create your chances and it doesn’t go in, and then you have so many good players on the bench that can also make a difference and have an impact on the game, you do change.
“I don’t think in the second half that anybody deserved to be taken out. In the first half, almost all deserved to be taken out but in the second half they didn’t. But if you then have the likes of Lucho and Curtis Jones, you bring them in.
“For me, it is not that much of a risk if you’re 1-0 down to bring players in who can score a goal. As long as you know these players can play with the same intensity as the ones who started, and that’s what Lucho and Curtis brought. Intensity without the ball and quality with the ball.”
