Liverpool's Cameroonian defender Joel Matip has praised the influence of Philippe Coutinho after he scored in Liverpool's 2-1 win over West Brom on Saturday.
The Brazilian play-maker added his fifth goal of the season with an excellent finish past an in-form Ben Foster, and Matip admits he can empathise with the Baggies defenders having played against Coutinho in training.
Speaking tothe Liverpool Echo, he said:If you are one against one with Philippe in training, it's the same as you see on the field.
It is very hard to play against him. With the ball he is amazing and he does amazing things.
It's hard to play against a side like West Brom but we won. We know in these kinds of games you have to fight for every ball so we're happy with the three points.�
Matip admitted that it was difficult to defend against West Brom's direct style of play at times, but felt he and his teammates dealt well with their threats.
My team-mates are helping me,� he added. "It went really well until the last 10 minutes. Then we had to protect our goal.
In Germany there are not too many teams like that, but last year there were a couple of sides who played exactly like this “ hitting balls really high. Darmstadt played in a similar way.
Joel Matip's game by numbers vs. West Brom:
100% aerial duels won
61 passes completed
11 clearances
1 interception
Settling in well. pic.twitter.com/NXALBK4qGm
It's a different type of game then when you play against these teams, but you have to respect the way West Brom play. You have to treat everyone the same way.
Of course for a defender you always prefer a clean sheet but the main thing is to win. I am not happy with the goal we conceded. Yes, we are defending well but we know these teams are very good at set-pieces. We will improve and next time hopefully they won't get the ball.
We have to work on it in training and make it work better. We know they are all very good at set-pieces and dangerous in the box. The season is very long and it was just about the three points.�
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