After beating Aston Villa, Jurgen Klopp heaped praise on his ‘outstanding’ Liverpool center-back duo.
The Reds were missing their major defensive pairings in Virgil van Dijk and Ibrahima Konate due to suspension and injury, respectively. That meant Joe Gomez and Joel Matip took their place in the lineup.
And neither player made a mistake as Liverpool recorded their first Premier League clean sheet of the 2023-24 season. They stifled a strong Villa onslaught throughout, with Dominik Szoboszlai, Mo Salah, and a Matty Cash own goal securing all three points for the Reds.
Klopp stated of Gomez and Matip’s performances, “Both centre-halves played an exceptional game.” To be honest, with different employment. Diaby is hiding in midfield on a nine-and-a-half, ten. As a result, Joey had to step in. Joel is left in a one-on-one match with Ollie Watkins. As much as I admire Joel, I believe we can all agree that Ollie Watkins is a touch faster than Joel, and he did it exceptionally well. The males in front of them were aware of this reality, therefore they were fully immersed in the situation throughout the counter-pressing moments.
“It was outstanding until the 2-0, then because of the intensity of how we played, stuff like this, you could see the front line settle slightly higher.” That is human, but it is not beneficial in these situations, so we did not have the same hold. But, in reality, outstanding performance.
“And Joey, I’m overjoyed for him. To be honest, it was already like that when he came on against Newcastle. That was exactly how it appeared. It’s extremely useful when you have good center-halves, but if you leave them alone, the pitch becomes too large to defend. Today, we were tremendously together, really compact, and the dedication was first-rate, which is why we played the way we did.”
Szoboszlai scored his first goal for Liverpool after coming from RB Leipzig for £60 million. The midfielder’s brilliantly placed half-volley from outside the area arrowed into the far corner in the third minute.
Szoboszlai has started all four of the Reds’ games since his arrival, and Klopp has been quite impressed. “A machine, huh?” said Liverpool manager Klopp. That completes all four games. Quite remarkable, to say the least. Tactically astute, and completely prepared for the dirty portion of the game – that is, the hard work that isn’t the fancy things like shooting, crossing, and running forward.
“No, he’s really closing in on his opponents. It was crucial how Curt and Dom protected the half-spaces close to Darwin. And what a target! I noticed it from behind. That was the most precise strike I’d seen in a long time. That was his somewhat less-than-ideal foot. That was yet another outstanding performance.”