diff --git a/spacy/matcher/phrasematcher.pyx b/spacy/matcher/phrasematcher.pyx
index ce7cbbf9f..b6c9e01d2 100644
--- a/spacy/matcher/phrasematcher.pyx
+++ b/spacy/matcher/phrasematcher.pyx
@@ -49,7 +49,7 @@ cdef class PhraseMatcher:
         self._terminal_hash = 826361138722620965
         map_init(self.mem, self.c_map, 8)
 
-        if isinstance(attr, long):
+        if isinstance(attr, (int, long)):
             self.attr = attr
         else:
             attr = attr.upper()
@@ -79,7 +79,7 @@ cdef class PhraseMatcher:
         return key in self._callbacks
 
     def __reduce__(self):
-        data = (self.vocab, self._docs, self._callbacks)
+        data = (self.vocab, self._docs, self._callbacks, self.attr)
         return (unpickle_matcher, data, None, None)
 
     def remove(self, key):
@@ -171,15 +171,15 @@ cdef class PhraseMatcher:
         for doc in docs:
             if len(doc) == 0:
                 continue
-            if self.attr in (POS, TAG, LEMMA) and not doc.is_tagged:
-                raise ValueError(Errors.E155.format())
-            if self.attr == DEP and not doc.is_parsed:
-                raise ValueError(Errors.E156.format())
-            if self._validate and (doc.is_tagged or doc.is_parsed) \
-              and self.attr not in (DEP, POS, TAG, LEMMA):
-                string_attr = self.vocab.strings[self.attr]
-                user_warning(Warnings.W012.format(key=key, attr=string_attr))
             if isinstance(doc, Doc):
+                if self.attr in (POS, TAG, LEMMA) and not doc.is_tagged:
+                    raise ValueError(Errors.E155.format())
+                if self.attr == DEP and not doc.is_parsed:
+                    raise ValueError(Errors.E156.format())
+                if self._validate and (doc.is_tagged or doc.is_parsed) \
+                  and self.attr not in (DEP, POS, TAG, LEMMA):
+                    string_attr = self.vocab.strings[self.attr]
+                    user_warning(Warnings.W012.format(key=key, attr=string_attr))
                 keyword = self._convert_to_array(doc)
             else:
                 keyword = doc
@@ -310,8 +310,8 @@ cdef class PhraseMatcher:
         return [Token.get_struct_attr(&doc.c[i], self.attr) for i in range(len(doc))]
 
 
-def unpickle_matcher(vocab, docs, callbacks):
-    matcher = PhraseMatcher(vocab)
+def unpickle_matcher(vocab, docs, callbacks, attr):
+    matcher = PhraseMatcher(vocab, attr=attr)
     for key, specs in docs.items():
         callback = callbacks.get(key, None)
         matcher.add(key, callback, *specs)