Karius has been a regular for Liverpool since the turn of the year, starting all but one in the Premier League.
The German was also preferred to Simon Mignolet in the Champions League last-16 first-leg against Porto last month.
Karius joined Liverpool in the summer of 2016 but has not been able to nail down a starting spot until now.
Former West Ham defender Gale believes Karius was always Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp’s preferred goalkeeper.
And Gale says Karius is now gaining the confidence he needs to be a regular starter for the Reds.
“Well I think he fancied him all along as his No 1 but then he made them mistakes and had to leave him out, just pull him out of the firing line,” Gale said.
“What I did like about him though was when he was asked to be interviewed when he was having a bad time (last season), he came out and did the interview.
“He got criticised for that and people said ‘he should be shutting his mouth at this particular time because he isn’t playing too well’. But it’s the way that he’s been brought up that he came out and did the interview.
“I think keepers need to have that kind of confidence, the kind of confidence that when they make a mistake, don’t worry about it.
“That’s gone, on you go with the next save, on you go with the next back pass or whatever or the next cross. Just forget about it, put it out of your mind and get on with the game.
“The lesser keepers for 10 minutes, 15 minutes, are having kittens and worrying and that’s what it does to the players playing in front of them.
“So this boy has to get a little bit more confidence, which he’s getting at the moment, and then you’ll see the best out of him.
“So hopefully he’s the difference for Liverpool now. He’s still got it all to prove, he’s got to do it over a period of time.
“You can’t come in and have your stats over half a dozen games and all of a sudden he’s the answer. Let’s see what happens when he makes a mistake.”
