Once Ibrahima Konate and Virgil van Dijk have recovered from their World Cup exertions and are back in the Liverpool squad, Jurgen Klopp will have four senior central defenders competing for two spots. It is a position the Reds’ manager has not been in too often in 2022/23.
Liverpool played 22 matches prior to the mid-season break, and for only three of them were the leading quartet of centre-backs all available. It’s just as well that Van Dijk and Joe Gomez have remained fit throughout, as Konate and Joel Matip each missed 13 games.
The Reds have had a goal difference of zero across the time that either of the latter pair have played in the Premier League this season. Matip’s three appearances were against Fulham (which ended 2-2), Brighton (3-3) and Arsenal (2-3, though 2-2 at the time he went off). His lack of game time, combined with the difficulties Liverpool faced in those matches, means we haven’t seen many of the 31-year-old’s trademark runs up field this term.
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It was therefore good to see Matip on the charge in the recent friendly win over AC Milan, especially as it led to the opening goal. At full flow, the 195cm tall defender is a sight to behold. Against the Italian side he picked up the ball in the Liverpool half and carried it to the edge of the final third.
Matip then passed to Roberto Firmino and kept moving forward. The Brazilian returned the ball to the centre-back, who nudged it into the path of Mohamed Salah for him to score. The pair memorably linked up in similar fashion against Leeds last season and here they were doing likewise when facing the defending Serie A champions. Granted, it was only a friendly, but how many centre-backs are picking up assists like that?
There have only been 15 Premier League goals set up by players in that position so far this season ( per WhoScored ), and many will have been earned in set piece situations. Or to look at it another way: Matip completed a pass into the penalty area for Salah’s goal when Gomez, Konate and Van Dijk have made two between them in the league this season ( per FBRef ).
Not that the pass is the hard part, of course. Any player good enough to represent Liverpool could have set up the chance against Milan if they were in that position, but how many – and especially centre-backs – would be? The dribble was the most important factor.
On this front, Matip has few peers in his position. Opta have a metric called carries, which are a measure of how many times a player moves at least five metres with the ball at their feet. While numerous instances of this occur in a match, carries which lead to shots or key passes are far less common.
Per The Analyst, Matip completed seven of these in the league last season, with one leading to an assist (when he set up Luis Diaz for a goal at Brighton ). That means the former Cameroon international mustered five more chance creating carries than the Reds’ other centre-backs offered in total. Across the Premier League, only Antonio Rudiger among central defenders recorded more than Matip.
His lack of gametime means the former Schalke defender has not made any of these contributions in either league or Europe so far this season. As only Van Dijk among his immediate colleagues has in the Premier League, and only one at that, it shouldn’t take Matip long to catch up.
He should imminently receive opportunities to get off the mark too, with himself and Gomez having been available for training throughout the World Cup period. For as long as Klopp has his main foursome available, he may be able to rotate them to ensure their strengths match up well with the team they will be facing.
When the lesser sides look to ‘park the bus’ against the Reds, they had better be prepared to deal with the line-breaking runs of Matip. Liverpool’s not-so-secret weapon is back and has shown he’s ready to wreak his unique brand of havoc in the second half of 2022/23.
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