Forget Fabinho: £140k-p/w LFC monster who had 85 touches was Klopp's real hero today - opinion

Liverpool continued their run of perfect form in the Premier League winning their fourth game on the bounce against Burnley this afternoon at Turf Moor – but it wasn’t the usual comfortable performance we are used to seeing from the Merseyside giants.

Jurgen Klopp reunited his infamous front three of Sadio Mane, Bobby Firmino and Mo Salah in the starting line up, however none of them were able to find the back of the net in a tight game for the travelling side.

The player who did manage to secure the three points for the side was Fabinho, who found the back of the net late into the first half.

However this particular game was less about the attacking presence and much more focused on the defensive attributes of this Liverpool side, as the performance was less than inspiring from an offensive perspective, with the Reds registering less shots on targets than Burnley.

One player who was integral to holding off a very physical Burnley from taking anything away from the game, was Joel Matip, who put on a phenomenal defensive performance and was Klopp’s real hero.

According to SofaScore, Matip was the highest rated outfield player (7.4), only beaten by his goalkeeper, Alisson Becker (8.8) – and for good reason too. The defender won 100% of his ground duels, made 5 clearances, 2 tackles and one interception as well as having a massive 85 touches of the ball, proving he was getting thoroughly stuck into the game against Burnley and determined to not let them equalise.

In fact, the £140k-p/w monster made more touches, more tackles and won more duels than his much heralded centre back partner, Virgil van Dijk, and in turn, was crucial to the side in a difficult game away from home.

Despite a less than comfortable win that