Peter Crouch has insisted that Liverpool defenders Joel Matip and Dejan Lovren are far better than everyone says.
The former England defender was handed his first Premier League start of the season on Wednesday night when he spearheaded the Stoke City attack in their 3-0 defeat to Liverpool.
Crouch did not add to the four goals he has scored this season as he explained how tough it was to come up against the Liverpool centre-back duo for 90 minutes.
“People talk about Liverpool not being solid but I thought the two central defenders, Dejan Lovren and Joel Matip, were really difficult to play against,” Crouch told the Daily Mail.
“They were decent. I know they have come in for a lot of stick but they were really, really solid. They are going to be in the top four, fighting until the end of the season.”
Matip sustained a muscle injury against Stoke and is set to miss Liverpool’s Premier League clash against Brighton at the AMEX Stadium on Saturday.
OPINION
Crouch is right about Matip. He is a commanding centre-back who has been damned by association with the likes of Lovren, Ragnar Klavan and Alberto Moreno in the last few seasons. The giant 26-year-old would walk into every team in the Premier League and it is ridiculous to claim he is a liability, as some have said. But Lovren is hit and miss. He can be very good when he is on his game, but can also be very bad. The Croatian would be the ideal third or fourth centre-back for a club of Liverpool’s standing, rather than the second choice as he is at the moment.