Saturday 22 July 2017 10:41, UK
Joel Matip has vowed to improve his personal game for Liverpool this season.
The 25-year-old Cameroon centre-back admits he was not satisfied with his first season at Anfield following a free transfer from Schalke last summer.
Matip says his instantaneous relationship with fellow defender Dejan Lovren has helped him settle and he is hoping to avoid injury this term and maintain consistency.
Quoted in the Liverpool Echo, he said: "Last season was not the worst one but I think I can still improve a lot and I will improve a lot. I need time for this.
"I get help from everybody and I will use this to get better. You always need a little bit of time to adapt to a new league. You need some time to know your team-mates and understand them without saying something. I'm not 35 so I hope I still can improve."
"The intensity was not really a surprise because I watched a lot of games before I came to the Premier League. It's a lot of fun to play every week against great teams, players and have these unbelievable team-mates who I can play with.
"The Bundesliga is not as physical, but I played with Schalke in Europe so I knew this kind of play. It's a special art but not every player is very physical in this league, there are different types of strikers.
"From the first day Dejan came to me, there was a good relationship between us. We can talk in German and that also helps. It was really easy to get a good relationship with him. "We have a different way of playing and I think this fits well together.
"I'm working on my fitness but I have no problems, no pain. I'm on a good way. I hope that this time I stay fit a bit longer. I want to improve for myself, not for other people. I will improve, but I don't know what the club will do. That's not my area. I only focus on the things I can change."
