Former Chelsea defender Jason Cundy believes that Liverpool centre half Joe Gomez should be an automatic starter for England moving forward.
The 22-year-old was snubbed in favour of Everton centre back Michael Keane for the Three Lions’ defeat to the Czech Republic on Friday, with Manchester United’s Harry Maguire the other starter.
Now, Cundy has had his say: “I think England’s best partnership at centre half is going to be Gomez and Maguire, that’s what I think,” he told talkSPORT. “Do I think Gomez is a better player than Keane? 100%.
“It’s not even a battle, it’s not even close. Gomez has to start. The problem Gomez has got is he hasn’t played as many games, and when he has played he’s looked a little bit ring-rusty. That would be who I would go with.”
“For me, England’s best partnership at centre half is Gomez and Maguire.”
“Is Gomez better than Keane? 100%. It’s not even close, it’s not a battle.”
“Gomez has got to start.”’?@JasonCundy05 says Joe Gomez or #LFC must be starting for England. ??????? pic.twitter.com/jxXpplNSbh
— talkSPORT (@talkSPORT) October 12, 2019
OPINION
Cundy’s right, the issue for Gomez right now is that he’s not getting enough games at club level. Joel Matip has established himself as Jurgen Klopp’s first choice centre half alongside Virgil van Dijk, while even Dejan Lovren played ahead of Gomez against Leicester City last time out. Perhaps that was a tactical decision made for that game only, but it certainly wasn’t a good sign for Gomez. However, the positive thing is that Southgate selected him for this England squad regardless. That shows that he obviously rates the former Charlton Athletic man highly. However, the lack of football for the Reds is what saw Keane get the nod ahead of him on Friday. Having said that, the struggles of the Everton man will surely have opened Southgate’s eyes to the fact that he needs to be playing Gomez. He is simply a class above Keane, John Stones, Tyrone Mings and anyone else you care to mention, maybe even Maguire as well. Yes, he’s not playing for his club, but he still remains a far superior player to Keane.
