Garth Crooks heaped praise on Liverpool defender Joel Matip while naming him in his Team of the Week after his display in the 3-1 win over Arsenal.
The BBC pundit pointed out that he thought the centre-back was outstanding against Southampton last week before adding that the player scored a glorious goal against Arsenal and made a brilliant tackle to stop Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang getting on the scoresheet.
Crooks then proceeded to take a dig at Arsenal manager Unai Emery’s tactics against Liverpool as he suggested that he should have instructed his side not to play it out from the back, considering they were playing a Reds side who breathe fire and brimstone.
“He was outstanding against Southampton last week and scored a glorious goal this week against Arsenal,” wrote Crooks on the BBC Sport website.
“And it was the Cameroon international whose brilliant recovery and tackle stopped Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang from putting the Gunners back in the game.
“It’s all very well Arsenal (and other teams for that matter) trying to play nice, controlled football in their own third of the field when the opposition are breathing fire and brimstone but you must have players who have the confidence and the ability to cope with that pressure and Arsenal clearly don’t.
“There’s a time to play at the back and a time to boot it and on this occasion, it was the latter.”
OPINION
Matip is in the form of his life as it all seems to be coming together for the centre-back. The 28-year-old used to make many a Liverpool fan nervous when playing at the back as he seemed to be suspectable to a mistake, however, he now appears to inspire confidence when playing as he just seems so reassured on the ball. Matip made three tackles, three interceptions, one clearance and notably made one block in the clash with Arsenal, as per WhoScored, and Emery no doubt was wishing the Cameroonian defender wasn’t on the pitch as his team probably would have been able to grab more than one goal. Also just like Crooks referred to, Matip wasn’t just useful at the back but he made a difference in the opposition’s box for a change. The centre-back opened the scoring for Liverpool by rising like a salmon to fire the ball home in the 41st minute, and the Reds didn’t look back from there. Given that Matip is 6ft 5in tall, as per Transfermarkt, perhaps he’ll start using his physical stature more in order to rack up more goals, after all including the effort against Arsenal he has only managed five goals in 102 outings.
