Virgil van Dijk has praised the “presence” of new Liverpool goalkeeper Alisson Becker after his side’s opening weekend victory against West Ham United in the Premier League.
Liverpool moved quickly to sign Alisson from AS Roma – where he made 64 appearances across all competitions – this summer despite rumoured interest from Real Madrid and Chelsea.
Last season, Loris Karius appeared to be settling in as the Reds’ first-choice goalkeeper until a double mistake in the Champions League final defeat to Real Madrid ended his chances of holding down the No.1 spot.
Alisson went straight into the team for Liverpool’s Premier League opener and he kept a clean sheet as the hosts romped to a 4-0 victory thanks to goals from Mohamed Salah and Daniel Sturridge, as well as a Sadio Mane brace.
And Van Dijk, who has been a major factor in Liverpool’s defensive improvement since January, believes signing Alisson is already paying off.
“We speak a lot. He’s very vocal and that helps. It helps me and everyone in the backline. I think his presence is very good as well,” Van Dijk told the club’s official website.
“He has a lot of qualities on the ball that help us playing. We’ve worked on [our relationship] the whole pre-season and we’ll keep practising. There’s still a lot to do.”
A new centre-back partnership?
Due to injuries to a number of centre-backs, Jurgen Klopp was forced to deploy Joe Gomez in the middle with Van Dijk at the weekend.
The duo prevented West Ham from posing much of a threat with the visitors managing just two shots 0n target.
“I was not really worried, to be fair,” said Van Dijk when asked about starting next to Gomez.
“I’ve played a couple of games in pre-season with Joe at centre-back and I have a very good relationship with him, a very good understanding outside of the pitch as well.”
Liverpool travel to Selhurst Park to take on Crystal Palace on Monday night.
The post Van Dijk excited by Alisson “presence” for Liverpool appeared first on Squawka News.
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