Joel Matip believes the break in action during the World Cup was a good thing for Liverpool and allowed him and the rest of Jurgen Klopp’s team to get back on track.
The FA Cup champions last met in competitive action on November 12 when they defeated Southampton at Anfield, and while the Reds played Lyon on Sunday and face AC Milan tomorrow, their next competitive encounter is on November 22. December when they travel to the Etihad to face Manchester City in the League Cup.
The former Schalke defender played the first 45 minutes of our 3-1 loss to the French side at the weekend, but he is “waiting” for the return of domestic football.
“It’s kind of special to have a great off season like this, but for us, maybe it wasn’t that bad to have to bring a few more players into the squad, reorganize and go back to our strengths,” the No. .32 told talkSPORT.
“For me especially, because I was injured, it gives me some extra time and some games. It will be difficult for all the teams and we will see who has the best restart, but we are looking forward to it and the team is looking good.
Liverpool currently sit sixth in the Premier League table and are 15 points behind league leaders Arsenal.
However, despite his inconsistent start to the campaign, the Cameroonian “has no doubts” about the quality of his teammates.
“If someone starts to have problems, the voices from the outside always get louder, but I have every confidence in my teammates and in the club that we are still a strong team and we can beat everyone,” he added.
“I have no doubts about the quality of our team. Outsiders will talk, but to be honest, I don’t care too much for this kind of thing.
“I trust my teammates and I believe in them, so I think we’re getting back to where we belong.”
After beating City in the Community Shield in July, many expected us to fight for the Premier League title again.
But although we have only won six of our 14 league games this term, Matip is confident that this season can still be successful for the Merseysiders.
He said: “So far we don’t have to talk about the title, we just have to improve and then we’ll see where we end up.
“If you want to win the Premier League then the time frame we have is not possible, but we just want to get better and better and then we’ll see where we end up at the end.
“At Liverpool you always want to win everything. We are still in all competitions, even if the Premier League is a long way off. There are many competitions and many points to win.
“We are far from saying that we don’t care about the Premier League and that other things are more important. We just want to get as many points as possible and beat everyone, so we’ll see.”
Despite Sunday’s result, it was great to see the 31-year-old back in action against Lyon.
He last featured competitively for Klopp’s side during their 3-2 loss to Arsenal in October and keeping him fit will be vital if we are to claim more trophies this term.
Ibou Konate has been in excellent form for France during the World Cup so I would have every right to argue that he may be Klopp’s preferred partner for Virgil Van Dijk at centre-half, but if we hope to be competitive on all four fronts . once again this season, every player on our team will need to be ready when called upon.
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