COMMENTARY
Liverpool might have picked up victory against Fulham on Sunday afternoon but it was not all plain sailing for the Reds at Craven Cottage. The performance of Joel Matip at the heart of defence did not help their cause in the slightest, with the giant centre back looking all out of sorts against a side battling to survive in the Premier League. What the 27-year-old possesses in terms of a physical presence he lacks in composure and that was startlingly evident in London. He has actually been quite a consistent performer for Jurgen Klopp this season but whether it was the pressure of the occasion, knowing that victory was a must to go back to the top of the table, or some other factor, Matip was some way off the expected standards. The manager might accept that this was a one off but at the same time there can be no room for errors in the title race and having someone who is capable of an mistake-strewn performance in the side is asking for trouble.
This is Futbol has gathered a selection of the supporters’ tweets:
https://twitter.com/Leebrennan_lfc/status/1107295923904884736
Matip is just so useless at those corners lol
— Bassam (@BassamLFC) March 17, 2019
Joel Matip moves like there’s a small man inside his brain controlling his body pic.twitter.com/m5svTEfAG6
— Dominic (@DomBobb18) March 17, 2019
https://twitter.com/F1ashPoint/status/1107304372780892160
https://twitter.com/VigilanteSteve/status/1107304438144868354
@LFC get those braindead players Matip and Fabinho of the field. They will cost us
— mønnes|0xd33 (@moennes) March 17, 2019
https://twitter.com/VigilanteSteve/status/1107304719842766848
That was a let off. Sloppy defending from Matip to give Fulham a chance to break #FULLIV #LFC
— Ben McCluskey (@ben_mccluskey) March 17, 2019
https://twitter.com/greg_johnson7/status/1107304609096323072