It can be tough to shine in a defence that contains Virgil Van Dijk. The Dutchman is regarded by many as the best centre-back in Europe, most likely in the world too. And this has been the case for the best part of four years.
And yet, Joel Matip’s performance levels this season means that he’s been able to do just that. There was an expectancy that with the arrival of Ibrahima Konate, plus the return of Joe Gomez, Matip’s place in the Liverpool defensive pecking order would fall.
Yet the reality has been quite the opposite. He’s been Van Dijk’s most consistent partner and is on course to accumulate his most Premier League appearance in a single season, something he will achieve should he play in seven of Liverpool’s remaining nine league matches.
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And providing there are no injury set-backs, something that’s plagued much of Matip’s Anfield career, you’d back him to achieve that goal.
The 30-year-old’s impressive performances were publicly rewarded last month when he scooped the Premier League’s Player of the Month award. That’s routinely a prize reserved for attacking players, with the last central defender to win it being coincidentally Van Dijk back in 2018. You'd have to go way back to 2013 for the last time a non-Liverpool defender won it - Spurs’ Jan Vertonghen.
Although the award came predominantly in recognition for his performances in the month of February, a run of four games which included a goal against Leeds, Reds fans who have watched him all year would be quick to point out that such good displays have been consistent throughout the whole campaign.
His success rates in terms of defensive duels (70 per cent) and aerial duels (62 per cent) unsurprisingly rank amongst the league’s best in his position, yet they don’t alone capture his influence for Jurgen Klopp’s side.
He’s calm and composed when under pressure, very much like his defensive partner. He’s also an accurate and reliable passer of the ball, that’s like Van Dijk too. Yet he betters the Dutchman, and pretty much everyone else, with his ability to step out and drive with the ball at his feet.
No Premier League central defender has made more progressive runs per 90 (3.48) than Matip this season, and that has proved to be a crucial form of ball progression for Liverpool, aiding them in getting through the lines centrally and into more dangerous areas inside the opposition half.
Matip’s quality has never been in doubt, yet he seems to have discovered an even higher level to his game this year, almost certainly as a consequence of being able to sustain a more consistent run in the team.
Klopp and his staff will be hoping that his injury woes are now behind him, because if he can remain fit and available for the rest of this season and beyond thereafter, then there’s a fair case to be made that Liverpool are blessed with two of the current best central defenders around.
