Wednesday at LFC: Patience, focus and mutual respect
Recognition for a need for patience from Joe Gomez, words of warning from Jürgen Klopp and Joel Matip’s reciprocation of Liverpool fans’ support for him…
All this and more features in today's round-up of all the latest LFC news.
Our top three stories…
Our lead story today came from an exclusive chat with Gomez, who explained why he now must be patient in order to recognise his dream of returning to first-team action for Liverpool after his long injury lay-off.
He told us: “After a long-term injury, you’ve got to be careful with how far you push it. I’ve just got to be patient and build up my minutes, gradually taking my time getting back to full fitness. It’s all part of the journey.”
Elsewhere, the boss has stern words for anyone getting carried away with the Reds’ excellent start to the season – though he believes he doesn’t need anyone within his squad to hear them.
“If I went to the players and said ‘Don’t think we are first’ or ‘We are first but nothing has been reached’ they would think I’m silly because they know this already. Stay cool, play football and see what happens.”
Meanwhile, it’s fair to say Liverpool fans have taken Matip to their hearts after his seamless transition into the back four following a summer switch from Schalke – and the feeling is more than mutual, it would appear.
“My heart was at Schalke but now my ambitions are with Liverpool. I feel the soul of this club. This is a great club famous across the world for its supporters. Everyone respects Liverpool like no other club.”
Any other business…
Our commanding No.32 has been out in the local community this week, dropping by St Michael and All Angels Catholic Primary School to lend a hand with the Premier League Primary Stars Programme. Click here to read about the event.
In other news, Liverpool have confirmed their FA Youth Cup third-round tie with Crystal Palace will be played at Prenton Park on Saturday December 17, kicking off at 3pm.
On social media…
Coming up on Thursday on Liverpoolfc.com…
We’ll hear exclusively from Nathaniel Clyne, while we’ll be bringing you all the news from Jürgen Klopp’s pre-Sunderland press conference at Melwood. In addition on a bumper-packed day, we’ll also have photographs from the Reds’ latest training session. Don’t miss out.