'Joe Gomez has used our situation to grow and done really well'
Jürgen Klopp has paid tribute to the performances and leadership Joe Gomez has displayed for Liverpool in recent weeks.
Gomez has been a starter in all of the Reds' fixtures since Virgil van Dijk suffered his knee ligament injury last month, helping the Premier League champions record five victories and three clean sheets.
The 23-year-old could make his 100th career league appearance at Manchester City at the weekend and Klopp reflected on the development of his versatile defender.
Asked for an assessment of the former Charlton Athletic youngster in Van Dijk's absence, Klopp told reporters: "Very good, very good.
"He's still young, so impressive number, impressive boy.
"He came here before me, so he's here even longer than me. He played left-back, he played right-back, when Brendan [Rodgers] played with three in the back, different positions.
"He played together with Kolo Toure, Mamadou Sakho, Martin Skrtel, all these guys, then Dejan Lovren, Virgil van Dijk, Joel Matip. So he had so many different partners but he was always the kid in the line pretty much and that changed now obviously completely.
"And how everybody in life, we have to grow in situations like this and he did that. He used the last few weeks obviously, pretty much thrown in cold water if you want, and used it really well.
"[He] did really well and I'm really happy about the performances he put in. Very important for us obviously."
