Liverpool Echo writer Ian Doyle was left concerned by the performance of one Reds player in Monday afternoon’s 4-4 draw against Greuther Furth.
A very eventful second half saw Jurgen Klopp’s side 3-1 ahead at one stage before going 4-3 down and ultimately rescuing a share of the spoils thanks to Mo Salah.
Joel Matip was among the 11 players introduced at half-time, but he didn’t enjoy his best day in a red shirt, particularly in the lead-up to Lukas Petkov’s goal which pulled it back to 3-2, being far too weak in the tackle to allow the German to score.
In his player ratings piece for the Liverpool Echo, Doyle wrote of the Cameroon defender: “Worryingly off the pace and indecisive for large parts of his showing and weak in dealing with second Greuther goal.”
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Even allowing for it being a pre-season game with much-changed line-ups and some cobwebs still to be shaken off, Matip will be very disappointed with his display against Greuther Furth.
His part in Petkov’s strike left a lot to be desired, and he was the lowest-rated Liverpool player by Sofascore with a mere 5.5, being ‘credited’ with an error leading to a goal.
With Jarell Quansah alongside him at centre-back during the second half, ideally the Cameroonian would’ve been a steady guiding hand for the youngster alongside him, but at times it didn’t work out quite like that.
It’s not a performance Matip will care to remember, but we know he’s capable of much better and hopefully it was just a case of pre-season kinks being ironed out ahead of the serious stuff starting back in August.
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Thanks to the poor performance of Matip.It is on the onus of FSG to either back Klop or push LFC to the doldrums. Although it is preseason the fact of the matter is that practice breeds perfection. Mario will be perfect to bring the club to the doldrums.
It’s pretty obvious that big Joel is play like a player who knows he’s 4th choice and will be busy sitting on the bench for much of next season and that’s if he makes the match day squad. Quansah, despite Matip playing alongside him looks quite impressive, he’s pretty physical and good with the ball at his feet. Other than Matip, Adrian and Tsimikas struggled quite badly.
Second pre-season game no need to draw any conclusions. It wasn’t that long ago that these game’s only drew a one line stop press in the Echo.