Joe Gomez‘s lack of involvement for Liverpool against Nottingham Forest bemused some, but Arne Slot has explained why he didn’t feature.Forest coasted to victory at Anfield on Saturday afternoon, with the Reds beaten 3-0 and unable to stop the current malaise they are in.Ibrahima Konate was again one of Liverpool’s worst players, with many feeling that Gomez deserved to start at centre-back or come in at right-back in the absence of Conor Bradley and Jeremie Frimpong.• READ: Alexander Isak “hardly had a kick” as Ibrahima Konate “alarming” yet againBut speaking in his press conference after the game, Slot revealed that the Reds’ longest-serving current player was unavailable for selection. “We had to start the game with a midfielder at right full-back because both of our full-backs are injured,” Slot said.“Joe Gomez is also a player who can play there but hasn’t trained the whole week.“I don’t think he was fully ready to start this game.” Gomez may not have been fit for Saturday’s defeat to Forest, but he must wonder what he has done wrong to earn so little playing time under Arne Slot.Just 43 minutes of action have come his way in the Premier League this season, across four cameo appearances, and his only two starts have come in the Carabao Cup.Konate’s form this campaign is now more than a cause for concern, with the Frenchman looking like a player flustered at the slightest inconvenience.His performances are consistently error-strewn, not helping those around him, and a spell out of the team feels like the best solution.With Virgil van Dijk needing to be managed carefully at the age of 34, and Giovanni Leoni out for the season, Gomez must feature more.The 28-year-old isn’t perfect and injuries continue to hamper him, but he is an experienced figure who can do a dependable job at both centre-back and right-back if given a run of games.Seeing Dominik Szoboszlai, Liverpool’s best player this season, thrown back into an auxiliary right-back role against Forest was frustrating, and Gomez is the more natural option there.This could be his final season at Anfield having arrived back in 2015, but like many fringe players, he merits more faith from Slot, especially with key men struggling.