Liverpool missing Matip

Liverpool fans would have been worried when Joel Matip was ruled out of their trip to Bournemouth with an ankle injury, and their fears proved justified as the Reds capitulated on the south coast. Adam Bate examines the stats that highlight the defender’s importance…

Liverpool’s dramatic 4-3 defeat to Bournemouth, in which they conceded three times in the final quarter of an hour to surrender a two-goal lead, was their first loss since the reverse at Burnley in August. That was the previous Premier League game that Joel Matip missed. Few feel it’s a coincidence.

The summer signing also sat out Liverpool’s 4-3 classic – the opening-day win at Arsenal – but he’s played the whole game in each of their other 11 league games in the intervening period. For all the criticism of the team’s defending, they’ve shown improved solidity in those games.

That was long gone on Sunday. While Bournemouth deserve credit for their come-from-behind win, Loris Karius’s mistake gifted it to them late on and Liverpool cannot say it wasn’t coming. Indeed, the goalkeeper had bailed them out just minutes earlier.

On that occasion, Benik Afobe appeared to simply run through Matip’s replacement Lucas Leiva in order to bear down on Karius. Liverpool were rocking and in dire need of their rock. Instead they crumbled. It was reminiscent of some of the low points of last season.

Incredibly, a little over a year into his reign, the defeat to Bournemouth was the fourth time under Jurgen Klopp that Liverpool have been two goals ahead in a Premier League game and still failed to win. No other team has led by two at the break and lost since the Reds did so at Southampton in March.

Matip hasn’t been …

continue reading in source www.skysports.com