BBC pundit Garth Crooks has highlighted the performance of Liverpool defender Joel Matip against Southampton as evidence that ‘something quite special is brewing at Anfield.’
Matip started alongside Virgil van Dijk and ended the game playing with Joe Gomez after the Netherlands international went off injured as Liverpool romped to an easy 3-0 win.
Crooks has now pinpointed the camaraderie between Matip and Gomez during the match, and praised Matip’s assured display despite being out of the team for a while.
In his column for BBC Sport, Crooks said: “Something quite special is brewing at Anfield – I can feel it. When you have players who are out of the side and desperate to get in, and when they do they perform like they were never away, you know something is going on.
“Joel Matip was that player. The smile on his face when he scored his goal – not to mention the camaraderie between himself and Joe Gomez, two players competing for the same shirt – speaks volumes about the harmony within the dressing room. If I was Jose Mourinho I would be very concerned by all this.”
OPINION
This is an insightful take on the situation at Liverpool from Crooks, and he is absolutely spot on. You do not get the feeling that the players sitting on the bench at Anfield are unhappy. That is a testament to the team spirit and camaraderie that Jurgen Klopp and his staff have managed to foster at the club over the past three seasons. Matip has been out of the team for much of the season amid some injury issues, but his performance on Saturday proved his class and showed the depth that Liverpool now have in their ranks. The Cameroon international may well go on to find game time hard to come by this season, but Klopp will know that when called upon, Matip will deliver. The injury to van Dijk may in fact open the door to him for a couple of weeks, depending on the severity of the problem, and in many ways that is a positive for Liverpool. It will allow them to display their depth and help continue that spirit that Klopp has created at the club.
