"Pure stupidity"; "He is such a dinosaur" - Liverpool fans blame Jurgen Klopp for 26-year-old star struggling in win against Wolves
Liverpool fans slammed Jurgen Klopp for playing Joe Gomez as an inverted right-back in place of the injured Trent Alexander-Arnold.
Despite the 26-year-old struggling at times, the Reds secured an impressive 3-1 comeback win against Wolverhampton Wanderers at the Molineux today (September 16).
Even though Liverpool came into the game on a three-match win streak, it was Wolves who took a well-deserved lead in the seventh minute. Pedro Neto weaved his way through the defensive duo of Joe Gomez and Joel Matip before squaring the ball to Hwang Hee-chan who scored.
Wolves dominated the first half and would have added another goal, but Matheus Cunha failed to connect well with Neto's cross. The Reds came out strong in the second half, tying the game in the 55th minute with a Cody Gakpo goal.
Andy Robertson then netted in the 85th minute before Hugo Bueno's own goal in the 91st minute secured all three points for Liverpool.
However, fans were furious with Jurgen Klopp for playing Joe Gomez as an inverted right-back in the absence of Alexander-Arnold, who missed the game due to a hamstring injury. Gomez is traditionally a centre-back, rather than a full-back.
He struggled to adapt to his new role, enabling the likes of Pedro Neto to run down the left flank with relative ease. This created a slew of defensive issues for the Reds, particularly in the first half.
Some of the fan reactions on X (formerly Twitter) can be viewed below:
"Klopp is such a dinosaur that he’s actually just asked Gomez to be Trent instead of adapting looool. He has a whole team of coaching staff who think this is fine too," one fan wrote.
"Nothing more frustrating than Jurgen Klopp asking Joe Gomez to try and play that role he's been asked today. pure stupidity and strange, don't get it at all," another fan tweeted.
Joe Gomez, to his credit, had a better second half, earning a FotMob rating of 7.4. He had an 89% pass accuracy, 10 recoveries, three duels won, and two-headed clearances.
Wolverhampton Wanderers vs Jurgen Klopp's Liverpool: Exploring the stats from Premier League clash
Jurgen Klopp's Liverpool had to show great resilience in the second half to pull off a 3-1 comeback win against Wolverhampton Wanderers away from home. On that note, let us take a look at the stats to see how both teams performed.
The Reds' second-half domination was enough to see their total possession rise to 67%. They also completed 721 passes with an accuracy of 87%. Meanwhile, Wolves only had 33% of the ball and just completed 359 passes (80% accuracy).
The Merseysiders also had 16 shots, with six being on target. Whereas, Wolves had a total of 11 shots, but only two were on target.