Liverpool’s Joel Matip has admitted that a mistake like the one he made against West Bromwich Albion cannot happen again.
The 26-year-old defender scored an own goal by awkwardly slotting Craig Dawson’s shot past Simon Mignolet to help the Reds’ opponent WBA win 3-2 on Saturday.
The defeat not only caused Liverpool to shockingly exit the FA Cup in the fourth round but also ended their 19 game unbeaten streak at Anfield.
Matip’s performance had fans fuming on social media as they heavily criticised the defender’s performance, with a lot of them believing the defender was one of the reason why they loss the game.
However, the 26-year-old has now come out and taken some of the blame for the result, revealing his mistake help “kill” his side.
“We started in front, our offensive play was okay, but in the defence we had problems,” Matip said, as quoted by the Daily Star.
“Mistakes like my one kill every team, this mistake cannot happen, I have to clear this ball.”
The centre-back has made 26 appearances for the Reds this season, helping his side record eight clean sheets in his outings.
OPINION
Matip shouldn’t be publicly taking the blame for Liverpool’s defeat, as several players under performed. While the Reds only lost by one goal, Matip’s own goal can have easily been just a consolation for the Baggies, if Liverpool took their chances. The Reds had 23 shots in that game, which should have been more than enough to score plenty of goals in order to win the game. While it’s true that Matip’s mistake was comically bad, he shouldn’t take it upon himself to shield his teammates from criticism, as they deserve it for their performance. Hopefully, Matip is able to recover from his mistake that has clearly caused him to feel guilt and perform to the best of his ability in the second half of the season.