Liverpool moved back to the top of the Premier League table when they beat Southampton on Friday night.
talkSPORT pundit Micky Gray has claimed that Liverpool defender Joel Matip was panicking during his side’s 3-1 win over Southampton on Friday night.
Saints striker Shane Long opened the scoring early on when he found the space in the penalty area and coolly guided the ball home. Naby Keita pulled a goal back for the visitors just before the break.
But in the second half, particularly with the introduction of Jordan Henderson, the Reds scored two late goals to seal a valuable win in the race for the Premier League title.
Speaking to Matchday Live on talkSPORT (06/04/2019 at 1:20 pm), former Sunderland player Gray claimed that centre-back Matip struggled during what was a very poor first-half showing.
“They looked nervous [first 20 minutes],” Gray told talkSPORT. “The one that stood out, who looked a little bit panicky, was Matip for me, who was playing centre-half alongside Van Dijk.
“You only have to look at the first goal. The gap between the two centre-halves and there was no communication between them. It’s something Van Dijk has pretty much had throughout the whole of the season. But when the ball was falling to his [Matip’s] feet he looked nervy and he was trying to get rid of the ball as much as he possibly could.”
The home team, who were pressing high up the pitch and doing what Liverpool usually do to opposition teams, were causing Klopp’s defence a lot of problems.
Both centre-backs were at fault for the opening goal and they could have found themselves more than a goal behind had Southampton been more ruthless.
But the Merseyside club produced a champion-like performance to seal a valuable three points in the race to win the Premier League title.
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