Liverpool managed to overcome Ajax on Tuesday night, and one of the Reds’ often unacknowledged stars, Joel Matip, played a pivotal role, according to Thierry Henry.
The Arsenal legend made note of the player’s performance in his post-match analysis for CBS Sports.
Henry stated that he was “happy for Matip” who is a one of those players “people will not talk about a lot when mentioning Liverpool.”
“You are going to mention van Dijk, Salah, Mane back in the days or Firmino.
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“But Joel [Matip] always comes and does the job. He often scores important goals actually. Headers. Unlucky in some situations, but when he scores, they are good and important.”
Matip of course returned to the starting XI on the night in place of a faltering Joe Gomez who has struggled at the back when called upon this season.
Trent Alexander-Arnold has also been having a bit of a torrid time at the back recently, so the onus is on the right-sided centre-back to offer him protection.
Gomez failed to rise to the demands of that difficult challenge, but since the beginning of last season, Matip has shown he is more than capable of providing the stability required in that role.
And after seeing Matip score a goal late on, Klopp can reflect on his decision to recall the Cameroonian as inspired.
That said, despite managing to grab all three points against Ajax, concerns over Liverpool’s performances persist.
They once again only managed to win the game by a one goal margin, and failed to deliver the type of convincing performance Reds fans have become accustomed to witnessing over the years.
And Liverpool’s defensive problems were again exposed via Mohammed Kudus’ equaliser. Ajax managed to carve Liverpool open with ease.
The result was positive for Liverpool, but to suggest they’ve turned a corner would be far-fetched.
Performance improvement is still required at Anfield if they are to mount a title challenge this term.
Topics: Liverpool, Joel Matip, Thierry Henry
Robert Worthington