BBC Sport pundit Garth Crooks has claimed the performance of Joel Matip for Liverpool at the weekend is proof that “something special is brewing” at the club.
The giant centre-back was handed his first start of the season by manager Jurgen Klopp and responded with a solid performance and the team’s second goal in their 2-0 win against Southampton.
Crooks was particularly struck by the camaraderie between Matip and fellow centre-back Joe Gomez, and claimed Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho will be green with envy.
“Something quite special is brewing at Anfield – I can feel it,” Crooks wrote in his BBC Sport column as he named Matip in his team of the week. “When you have players who are out of the side and desperate to get in, and when they do they perform like they were never away, you know something is going on.
“Joel Matip was that player. The smile on his face when he scored his goal – not to mention the camaraderie between himself and Joe Gomez, two players competing for the same shirt – speaks volumes about the harmony within the dressing room. If I was Jose Mourinho I would be very concerned by all this.”
OPINION
Crooks is right. The signals of content coming from Anfield will have Mourinho and all the other Premier League title challengers seriously worried. They all know Liverpool have a mighty fine team, but the early indications are the squad is buying into the pursuit of the league holy grail, as well. It is vital over the course of the campaign that Klopp can keep key squad men such as Matip, Xherdan Shaqiri, Daniel Sturridge, Nathaniel Clyne and company motivated and happy. They will have big roles to play, especially if Liverpool go far in the cup competitions. It is hugely encouraging that Matip and Gomez, who are both competing to be Virgil van Dijk’s regular starting partner, combined so effectively and happily when the big Dutchman was withdrawn on Saturday with a rib injury. Van Dijk can’t possibly play every game – no player can – and quality back-ups who can slot straight in are essential.