Joël Matip

[Vermilion]

Here is the slightly garbled translated reaction from the Schalke faithfull - a mix of emotions and quite a bit of anger aimed at various parties

https://translate.google.com/transla...-text=&act=url

Someone on there's sig translates as....


Then came the penalty shoot-out. We all had the pants full, but when I ran it quite fluid.
(Paul Breitner)

[Vermilion]

Couldn't find the obligatory, so looked for one to post...

@ the music. It's gets worse too, damn thing had me searching for other tabs or vids i thought were playing music by mistake in the background!! [ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qvww-Gn3Ydo"]JOEL MATIP Skills Schalke | Welcome Liverpool - YouTube[/ame]

[redmike65]

Somewhere on the planet is a dungeon containing unemployed musicians chained to desks churning out the worst syncopated synth based ****e imaginable for youtube football compilations. Maybe this is actually the dark secret of Guantanamo Bay

[Shaggy]

http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/liverpool-fc-boss-jurgen-klopp-10902720

Liverpool FC boss Jurgen Klopp confident Joel Matip will save him millions after beating off competition to land him

22:30, 16 FEB 2016
BY JAMES PEARCE

The German feels his new central defender is a steal on a free transfer and will save him from shelling out alternative options

Jurgen Klopp believes Liverpool have saved themselves millions of pounds by snapping up Joel Matip on a free transfer.

The Cameroon centre-back has agreed to join the Reds when his contract with Schalke expires this summer.

Klopp, who was the driving force behind bringing Matip to Anfield, says Liverpool beat off some serious competition to secure his signature.

And the Reds boss is convinced the deal represents great business for a combative defender who boasts more than six years of Bundesliga experience.

“It was an easy choice,” Klopp said. “He's 24, he's played around 200 Bundesliga games, he's played Champions League, played Europa League and was a German Cup winner in 2011.

“He wanted a new challenge and he's made big steps in his development in the last few years.

“He's become a really experienced centre-half – tall at 1.98m, but flexible and quick. A perfect header of the ball, he scores four or five goals a season, and is good in the build-up.

“I know in England it is really difficult to sign a player without paying a transfer fee but I thought it cannot be a reason not to take him just because you cannot put a number behind his name.

“If you asked in Germany what other clubs would have paid for him had he still been under contract, you can just take that number.

“It's clear there were a lot of other clubs interested. In Germany, for a player of his quality, who is out of contract, there is a lot of competition.

“Maybe Schalke aren't too famous in England but in Germany they're a big club who have played the last four or five years in the Champions League. They made him a big offer to stay, they wanted to keep him.

“There are probably only three or four clubs in Germany who could get a player like Matip when he is at Schalke – Dortmund, and that's not possible, Bayern, maybe Leverkusen and maybe Wolfsburg. Finish.

“The rest, no chance. Then you have to think about other countries and that is what he wanted to do, and we moved early enough. You should watch him on YouTube.”

Asked if Matip was his choice rather than a name put forward by other members of the transfer committee, Klopp's response was an emphatic: “Yes.”

Having admired him when the defender played for Borussia Dortmund's arch rivals Schalke, the Reds boss believes he's perfectly equipped to deal with the demands of Premier League football.

“He's a high quality centre-half,” Klopp added.

“You cannot play in a club like Schalke for six years, always in the starting line-up, without having big quality.

“If it was one, two or three years ago when he was under contract he would not have been ready for a change but I knew about his thoughts.

“I knew he was thinking about doing something else because he had been with Schalke since the youth team in 2000 - a long time and he wanted to do something completely different.

“This was our chance, but for sure there were a lot of clubs interested in him. It's good because he knows that I know him, and it is not a coincidence or something else.

“He won't be coming here having to show the manager special things, but of course he has to work hard and improve. He can be a really good centre-half in the Premier League.”

Germany-born Matip, who has 27 caps for Cameroon, is Klopp's second signing following the £5.1million January deal for midfielder Marko Grujic, who was loaned back to Red Star Belgrade until May.

There will be more to follow ahead of next season but Klopp doesn't envisage a summer as busy as 2015 when Liverpool made seven new signings.

"I don't have a number in mind," he added.

"We have to make solutions and we will make solutions. Also maybe players will make solutions and say they do not want to be here any more, so you have to be prepared.

"But seven really sounds a lot. We have enough strikers – five with Roberto (Firmino) – but not too many wingers, just a few young ones with great potential.

"We have to decide early and at the right moment on transfers, but it is about a squad where you can play different systems and react to different situations.

"It always changes. We went into this season with five centre-halves if you think of Joe (Gomez) and then at one stage we seemed to only have one and a half!

"It was like who can we play? So you prepare as much as possible and look for the highest quality you can get."

[baitman]

piss poor highlights video. almost always leaves the other player on the deck, i see plenty of penalties.

[Assassin]

piss poor highlights video. almost always leaves the other player on the deck, i see plenty of penalties.

That first challenge

I was wondering if Schalke had put this video together to put clubs off buying him

[Rich]

Matippia

[Chris]

Klopp loves him!! A few more months of Marty at most then it's over!!

[Alex]

Klopp has always maintained a good team starts with a solid defence. So hopefully its the thing he addresses first (It seems to be)

[RichC]

Klopp has always maintained a good team starts with a solid defence. So hopefully its the thing he addresses first (It seems to be)

Most good teams do, it's good to see us going back to basics and looking to build from the back.

A new keeper would certainly be nice for this

[Alex]

I feel like a new keeper is like a watched pot. If we keep thinking about it, itll never happen.

[The_weatherman]

Most good teams do, it's good to see us going back to basics and looking to build from the back.

A new keeper would certainly be nice for this

I think that both Houllier and Rafa said something similar when they first arrived, gives me confidence really, no use having a fancy attack if you can't defend.

[Cormack74]

Hadn't ever seen Matip (well maybe I had without paying him any attention but anyway).

So I recorded the weekend game against Stuttgart and just finished it this evening. I'm going to try and do the same for the remainder of the season and presuming I do I'll provide updates for those that don't have access to the Bundeslegia.

He started the game in true LFC defender style - first involvement was an ugly slice out of play and the second was failing to pick up a Stuttgart player in the box who should have scored.

Thankfully he improved thereafter. He's strong, doing a very good job shepperding out of play one of the opposing attackers who had got into a dangerous position on the byline and an equally good job putting in a block on a fella who was in the area and bearing down on goal.

Also looked good bringing the ball out and his longer passes were generally accurate although he seemed to exclusively favour hitting the ball right to left.

Potentially he's a threat in the opposition penalty box and had three (possibly 4) headers at goal from dead ball situations. Unfortunately even though they were all from 8 yards or less he didn't manage to hit the target with any of them and really should have.

Overall a six or a six and a half. Early days though.

[Lee]

Interesting. Cheers for posting that.

Did he play on the right or the left side? Did he look pacy?

[Cormack74]

Interesting. Cheers for posting that.

Did he play on the right or the left side? Did he look pacy?

On the right. In fact I can't remember him using his left foot but that might just be coincidence.

Difficult to tell if he is pacy. He didn't get into a situation where he had to run back to cover where it would have been obvious. Equally when he ran with the ball into midfield there was nothing to suggest that he was especially fast however he did seem to eat up the yards.

I guess if you're six four and solid it takes a bit of momentum to get going but once you're into your stride you cover the ground at a reasonable rate just by having a decent length of stride.