Liverpool continued to strengthen their title challenge on Saturday evening as they clinched a 1-0 victory over Huddersfield at the John Smith’s Stadium.
Jurgen Klopp’s side were far from their vintage best against the Terriers but they claimed another three points on an evening when Mo Salah scored his first away goal of the season.
Salah’s struggle to emulate his form from last season has coincided with a slight lack of fluidity from Liverpool in the final-third and that is certainly no coincidence.
That neither Liverpool or Salah have managed to move into top gear yet this season is an immensely promising indicator of what may lie ahead for the Reds; if they are capable of collecting 23 points from 9 fixtures without blowing anybody away, who knows how high they can climb when they reach their pinnacle.
Salah’s decisive first-half strike and the intelligent through ball from Xherdan Shaqiri which preceded the Egyptian’s right-footed finish have naturally dominated the post-match narrative, but BBC Sport pundit Garth Crooks was eager to single out Joe Gomez (valued at £25.2 million by Transfermarkt) for his involvement in the opening goal.
Indeed, certainly not for the first time this season, Crooks named Gomez in his team of the week column and he cited his incisive pass into Shaqiri’s feet as the crucial ball in the buildup to Liverpool’s only goal of the game.
‘Everybody was talking about the ball from Xherdan Shaqiri to Mohamed Salah which provided Liverpool with their winning goal at Huddersfield, but not me.
‘It was the ball from Gomez to Shaqiri that unlocked Huddersfield’s gates and let the Reds in the back door.’
At the end of a week in which Gomez helped England to victory over Spain with a solid performance alongside Harry Maguire in central defence, his telling contribution against Huddersfield served to illuminate his diverse range of qualities: not only does Gomez possess an exceptional defensive-minded brain, he is capable of influencing proceedings in the final-third with his composure in possession and shrewd eye for a forward pass.
That ability manifested itself once again at the weekend when he slotted the ball through the eye of a needle to find Shaqiri and, without Gomez’s brave decision to attempt a high-risk pass from the back, Liverpool could have drawn a blank against a strong contender for relegation.
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