Matip: My teammates helped me through West Brom test
Joel Matip came through another test of his credentials on Saturday afternoon as he and Liverpool saw off a well-organised and physically imposing West Bromwich Albion side.
But, in typically humble fashion, the defender preferred to praise his teammates for helping him overcome the quintessentially English challenge posed by the Baggies, rather than accept any individual plaudits.
The summer signing was in dominant form as he dealt with the aerial threat of Tony Pulis' side throughout the weekend's 2-1 victory, with Gareth McAuley's late and somewhat fortuitous strike the only blot on the Reds' defensive copybook.
Speaking after the game, Matip was keen to share out the credit for that success, and underlined the collective desire to ensure a clean sheet is attained next time out.
"My teammates are helping me," Matip told the Liverpool Echo. "It went really well until the last 10 minutes. Then we had to protect our goal.
"In Germany there are not too many teams like that, but last year there were a couple of sides who played exactly like this – hitting balls really high. Darmstadt played in a similar way.
"It’s a different type of game then when you play against these teams, but you have to respect the way West Brom play. You have to treat everyone the same way.
"Of course for a defender you always prefer a clean sheet but the main thing is to win. I am not happy with the goal we conceded.
"Yes, we are defending well but we know these teams are very good at set-pieces. We will improve and next time hopefully they won’t get the ball.
"We have to work on it in training and make it work better. We know they are all very good at set-pieces and dangerous in the box. The season is very long and it was just about the three points."
LFCTV GO: Watch highlights of the Reds' 2-1 win over West Brom
The former Schalke man also took time to praise attacking colleague Philippe Coutinho, who grabbed a deserved goal to put the hosts 2-0 up in the first half.
Matip knows all about how dangerous the Brazilian can be simply because he has the unenviable task of facing him in training every day.
"If you are one against one with Philippe in training, it’s the same as you see on the field," he added.
"It is very hard to play against him. With the ball he is amazing and he does amazing things.
"It’s hard to play against a side like West Brom but we won. We know in these kinds of games you have to fight for every ball so we’re happy with the three points."