Jurgen Klopp has urged Joe Gomez to keep his morale high and challenged the defender to seize his next opportunity in the Liverpool team.
Gomez hasn't started since the penalty shoot-out win over Leicester in the Carabao Cup before Christmas and has played just 15 minutes since that quarter-final triumph at Anfield.
The arrival of Ibrahima Konate in the summer has made competition for places at centre-back tougher for the England international, who missed nine months of action between November 2020 and August 2021 with a serious knee injury.
With Virgil van Dijk and Joel Matip both holding up after their own respective recoveries from long-term lay-offs, Gomez has been limited to just four Premier League appearances all season.
Klopp, though, has told the former Charlton Athletic youngster to sit tight and remain ready for when his eventual opportunity arrives after he missed Sunday's FA Cup meeting with Cardiff City due to a COVID-19 diagnosis.
And while the Reds boss has sympathy for Gomez, he believes he must make the most of any future games that come his way as the 24-year-old looks to get his career back on track at Anfield.
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"It's really unlucky for Joe," Klopp said. "He has consistently played on an incredible level and has been one of the best centre-halves in England, but then the big injury came and little injuries on top of that.
"Then he got COVID, that timing was really bad because he would definitely have played against Cardiff and that would have given him some rhythm and momentum.
"He couldn't play that because of COVID so it has been tough.
"The only thing I can say as well, there are tougher things than being a squad player at the moment for Liverpool.
"There are much tougher things out there and the only answer in football is you have to fight through these moments and show you are ready for the moment when the situation changes. That's it.
"We had too often only one centre-half available or even none, so we couldn't have reacted differently, but the quality of the boys, especially Joe who has not played a lot of football in the last few months, is incredible.
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"Having him in training just shows what a high quality squad we have if someone like Joe has only played 15 minutes since Leicester (on December 22).
"It is never nice for the players, I understand that 100 per cent, but Joe takes it really professionally.
"He is a young lad and everything will be fine in the future but at the moment, it's for sure harder."
Liverpool entertain Leicester on Thursday evening as the Premier League returns and Klopp said he is is expecting a response from a side whose grip on the FA Cup was relinquished by a 4-1 drubbing at Nottingham Forest at the weekend.
Klopp added: "I didn't see what Brendan said, I saw the game and Nottingham [played well], we should not forget that. It looked like every Championship team caused everyone problems.
"Cardiff caused us problems in their away game so that's just a cup competition.
"When you lose a game...yes, I've lost cup games against lower division teams and what I said after that, I cannot remember anymore.
"But the way I know Brendan, I think he said what he said for one reason - because he wants to see a reaction from his players.
"And that is the one thing I am concerned about and I am thinking about. That is the Leicester team I am thinking about and not the Leicester team who lost to Nottingham Forest.
"We heard it and hopefully we are prepared."
