Sky Sports pundit Jamie Carragher recently appeared on an episode of the Pitch to Post Preview, to share his thoughts on the upcoming game between Manchester City and Liverpool.
One topic of conversation on the recent episode was who Liverpool are going to play at centre-back for their trip to the Etihad on Sunday. The Reds are, of course, without Virgil van Dijk after his long-term knee injury and Fabinho is also set to miss out on the fixture, having picked up a hamstring injury in October.
Last weekend saw 23-year-old Nat Phillips start alongside Joe Gomez in the 2-1 win against West Ham, whilst 19-year-old Rhys Williams impressed in the 5-0 win against Atalanta in midweek but Carragher believes that Joel Matip will get the nod to start against Pep Guardiola’s side.
Here’s what he had to say during the podcast:
“I think he will go with Matip. I just think the big-game experience, and he [Jurgen Klopp] wasn’t shy in putting him straight in against Everton as well – another tough game for Liverpool away from home. The only thing [to consider] is his fitness and playing games but I don’t think that’s ever really been a problem for Matip because he’s injured so often, that he’s always in that position where he’s coming back maybe without having the full training programme, or games under his belt, or a pre-season because he is very injury-prone.
“I actually think Matip has possibly been ready maybe for the last game or two, and the manager is maybe almost keeping in reserve for the City game and making sure he’s got two recognised, senior centre-backs for that game. So I fully expect Matip to play.”
TIF Thoughts on Carragher’s Matip claim…
As Carragher suggests, Matip has been extremely injury-prone during his Liverpool career, since signing on a free transfer from Schalke in 2016.
Should Matip start against City?
Yes
No
That may make Carragher’s claim that Klopp has saved him specifically for this game a rather bold one, as it could be argued that having to rely on a player – particularly in these circumstances – that is not often available is fairly high-risk.
The 29-year-old Cameroonian did recently return to training, so perhaps he will be deemed ready to start by Klopp at the Etihad on Sunday, with Carragher suggesting that the German manager may well have been resting him to ensure that he is ready to start alongside Gomez for the game against Pep Guardiola’s side.