Jurgen Klopp criticises Gareth Southgate for selecting John Stones over Liverpool’s Joe Gomez for England… despite Man City defender playing ZERO minutes this term
- Jurgen Klopp has questioned why Joe Gomez was left out of the England squad
- Gomez was not in the squad for England’s latest World Cup qualifiers
- But John Stones was included and started against Andorra and Hungary
- ‘Obviously there is a special thing for Mr Stones,’ Klopp said on Friday
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has hit out at Gareth Southgate for not picking Joe Gomez for England’s recent World Cup qualifiers – especially after including John Stones despite playing no football this season for Manchester City.
‘Sometimes Gareth reacts if you are not playing for your club you can’t play for the national team,’ Klopp told his Friday press conference ahead of his team’s trip to Watford in the Premier League.
‘Obviously there is a special thing for Mr Stones.’
Jurgen Klopp believes Joe Gomez should have been included in the last England squad
Klopp took aim at England coach Gareth Southgate for picking John Stones over Gomez
Klopp has been easing Gomez back into action after he missed the majority of last season with a serious knee injury sustained while in England training.
Gomez has only played 12 minutes of Premier League football this season, with Virgil van Dijk and Joel Matip proving unmoveable at the heart of the Reds’ defence.
But he has been given valuable game time in the Champions League and Carabao Cup and Klopp would have liked for him to have got more minutes under his belt for England this month.
However, Gomez was left out by Southgate for the World Cup qualifiers against Andorra and Hungary while Stones started both games, scoring in the 1-1 draw with Hungary.
And Klopp was disappointed that his player wasn’t given a chance by Southgate and missed out on more match action.
Klopp said Southgate had reneged on his stance of picking players performing for their clubs
Stones has not played any minutes for Manchester City but was given the nod by Southgate
‘He’s in top shape. Joe hasn’t been called up, it would have helped him. He’s an exceptional centre-half,’ he added.
‘We have five exceptional centre-backs. Nat Phillips isn’t in the squad but [neither is Ibrahima] Konate and Joe as well.
‘Last year taught us we need at least four centre-backs but when they are all healthy, we get these questions.
Stones repaid Southgate’s faith in him by scoring for England in the 1-1 draw with Hungary
Gomez has struggled to get back in the Liverpool first team since retuning from injury
‘It’s not perfect every week for them but it’s the situation and they deal really well with it because of their quality.’
While Klopp was frustrated to see Gomez not play for England, he was angry that Curtis Jones has returned injured from under-21 duty and will be unavailable to face Watford.
‘Curtis Jones came back injured. Great. That’s not OK as well but it is really difficult to get in proper contact even with the English federation because they do what they want,’ he said.
Liverpool midfielder Curtis Jones played for the under-21s in Andorra and returned injured
‘He didn’t train, wasn’t involved in the first game and then he played a few minutes in the second game against Andorra – great.
‘Very important he played there. Came back with a slight injury and not available tomorrow. These are the situations we have to deal with and this is why we have these massive squads where we use players like machines.
‘When the federations don’t start helping us – and I mean all of them, whoever it is, the Premier League, the FA – they have to think about the game and not their own interests but that is how it is in the moment.’