“Rival forwards will love Alisson antics” – Should Liverpool be worried about their new goalkeeper’s dribbling?

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Liverpool goalkeeper Alisson has been called out for his antics during his club’s victory over Brighton & Hove Albion on Sunday, with some believing that opposing teams will now be ready for his style of play. 

The Reds defeated the south coast side 1-0 thanks to a goal from club star Mohamed Salah, but it was the club’s record signing that grabbed the headlines with his ‘confident’ ability on the ball drawing both praise and criticism.

After a poor back pass from Virgil van Dijk, Alisson waited until the last possible moment to chip the ball over the Anthony Knockaert’s leg and then control the ball as he looked to continue Liverpool’s possession.

With criticism coming from both football pundits Alan Shearer and Ian Wright, who believe rival forwards will love Alisson’s antics, Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp has come out in support of his ‘keeper’s style, suggesting that it’s fine if he does it, as long as it works.

“That’s not too cool for a manager. If it works then it’s cool,” Klopp said (via the Evening Standard).

“I had a few centre-halves who were able to do things a centre-half should not do, like Mats Hummels (at Borussia Dortmund) constantly doing things which made no sense but he was really good in there.

“Alisson is obviously a goalkeeper who can play football, which is good. He’s confident enough to do it. He didn’t do it for showing off, he did it to sort the situation.

“He has a nice level of confidence, so he uses that. I like the save from the header more than the chip, but the chip was the right thing to do in that situation.”

Alisson himself spoke to reporters (via the Mirror) about the incident and stressed that it was “the right decision in that moment” of the match.

Meanwhile, Klopp continued to back his goalkeeper, adding: “I didn’t have kittens but of course there was a different heart-rate at that moment.

“It was not for showing off. It was the right decision in that moment.

“Obviously nobody is really used to that and that’s why there was this surprise and then it was all good again.

“Too often in the second half we put him in a situation where we needed him in a similar situation by playing back passes in the wrong moments, stuff like that, it made no sense.

Alisson – Confidence or weakness?

The Brazilian is a new addition to Klopp’s squad after making a big-money move from AS Roma in the summer for a transfer fee of £65m.

Questions were of course asked, given the magnitude of the transfer fee, but the 25-year-old has been brought in to breathe more reliability into the Liverpool defence as they look to succeed both domestically and in Europe this season.

His ability with his feet was a main factor in bringing him to the Premier League. Last season, he completed an average of 0.3 dribbles a game when combining his Serie A outings with his Champions League appearances (0.2/0.1 separately).

All recorded dribbles were successful, proving his ability on the ball to be effective, or at the very least, not damaging.

However, that doesn’t mean he isn’t prone to an error or two. In fact, he made three defensive errors in 34 appearances in the league for Roma last season, averaging just one defensive error every 11.33 games.

Furthermore, he averaged a 78.9% pass success rate, far better than compared to former Reds number one Loris Karius, who achieved an average of 67.2%.

How did Alisson’s dink go down on Saturday?

Most people seem to be in favour of Alisson’s chip against Brighton, with many praising his start to life at the club this season.

The post “Rival forwards will love Alisson antics” – Should Liverpool be worried about their new goalkeeper’s dribbling? appeared first on Squawka News.



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