Joe Gomez is in a pretty happy place right now: key player for Liverpool, ready to add more titles to his collection…and an 80-rated player on FIFA 20.
That latter one is key, obviously. Having been on the platform as a youngster coming through, in the 50s and 60s for overall skill rating initially, reaching the 80 marker is a bit of a milestone event.
Gomez says the players do take note—some, anyway—and for a youngster trying to make the grade, being included for the first time is a legit experience.
That said, our No. 12 is not happy with his 30 rating for shooting—but in a video with Soccer AM looking at his and his team-mates’ surprising statistics, Gomez was overall pleased to have gotten a significant bump up compared to last season.
Part of the chat centres around Gomez predicting who comes out on top of a range of attributes, and there’s some bewilderment on his part which is pretty intriguing to note, given he spends every day with the boys watching them strut their stuff at Melwood.
Undoubtedly, the biggest outrage comes when he’s asked to pick the only five-star rated player in the squad for skill.
Somewhat understandably, Gomez goes for either one of Sadio Mane or Bobby Firmino—but it’s neither, and it’s not his third guess either, Mo Salah.
Instead, Xherdan Shaqiri claims that particular honour; a reasonable rating for the Swiss man, Gomez says, but Firmino should also share the trait. “Shaq’s fair enough, but especially Bobby! It doesn’t get much more flair than that!”
After watching his drag-backs and backheeled assists with awe for the past few seasons, we’d have to agree.
On the defensive side of the stat attack, Gomez doesn’t correctly pick who the quickest player is in Liverpool’s back line, but does get Virgil van Dijk having the highest defensive rating.
His partner in crime just missed out on winning the Ballon d’Or for 2019 and Gomez feels it was the right time for the Dutchman to have scooped the award.
“Last year I was gutted Virg didn’t win and I think he deserved it. His achievements, what he’s done and the overall effect on the team; that impact is measurable by where we are as a club now and Virg is a big influence on that. I think he did deserve it.”
We also get to hear which member of the squad has the nickname “Henry the Hoover,” while Gomez also correctly predicts Jordan Henderson is one of the best passers at the club.
Strength is a different matter entirely, with there clearly being an element of differentiation between what FIFA view as important there and what the players experience on the training pitch!
Gomez comes across extremely well in the interview and, as usual, it’s clear to see the bonds between the players when he talks about his team-mates. Must be hard not to like each other when you get to do open-top bus tours with them with regularity!
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