Football
Glenn Price, Liverpool correspondent 7y

Liverpool defender Joel Matip hails 'amazing' Philippe Coutinho

Liverpool defender Joel Matip has hailed the brilliance of teammate Philippe Coutinho and said it is tough to train against him at Melwood every day.

Coutinho was involved in one goal and scored the other as Liverpool beat West Bromwich Albion 2-1 at Anfield on Saturday.

The Brazilian's low strike, his fifth goal of the season, made it 2-0 to the home side before the break.

"If you are one against one with Philippe in training, it's the same as you see on the field," Matip said. "It is very hard to play against him.

"With the ball he is amazing, and he does amazing things."

The defender said it had been "hard to play against a side like West Brom" but stressed that the result was the most important thing.

"We know in these kinds of games you have to fight for every ball, so we're happy with the three points," he added.

Matip, who joined Liverpool on a free transfer from Schalke in the summer, impressed but said he was disappointed with Gareth McAuley's late consolation goal.

"It went really well until the last 10 minutes. Then we had to protect our goal," he said.

"In Germany there are not too many teams like that [West Brom], but last year there were a couple of sides who played exactly like this -- hitting balls really high.

"Of course for a defender you always prefer a clean sheet. 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."

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