Given his poor performance, Joe Gomez will soon have competition

One of the players who underperformed during the 4-1 surge against Napoli at the Estadio Diego Armando Maradona was defender Joe Gomez. Even a section of Reds fans christened him as the new Harry Maguire, evidence of the poor form he showed at the start of the Champions League group stage.

German coach Jürgen Klopp has given him the confidence to partner Dutchman Virgil van Dijk in defence. His presence is mainly due to the injuries the team has suffered in recent weeks, which has also affected performance. Cameroon's Joel Matip was unavailable with a muscular problem in previous days, although he played against Napoli and is expected to be more active in the future.

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The good news for Reds fans is that another defender is soon to return, which could generate competition for Hallo Gomez and motivate him to improve his performance. Frenchman Ibrahima Konaté, who after several weeks out with a knee problem, is set to return to the pitch sooner than planned.

The central defender had to pull out of the friendly match against Strasbourg in pre-season and since then has been out of action for Jürgen Klopp's side. For now, he is part of a long list of injured players that also includes captain Jordan Henderson, Guinea's Naby Keita and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain. The latter two were even left out of the squad for the Champions League group stage.

Ibrahima Konaté joined Liverpool in the summer of 2021 from RB Leipzig as an option to establish himself in central defence. However, the 23-year-old has had little chance to shine at Anfield, making just 29 appearances. When he returns to the pitch, he will have to take every opportunity given to him by Jürgen Klopp to show all his quality and thus establish himself in the starting line-up.