Crash test for Alisson

SCRUM TIME: Alisson LIVERPOOL have been roughing up new keeper Alisson in training in a bid to get him used to the Premier League.

Boss Jurgen Klopp revealed the Brazilian has been given the treatment using rugby crash pads.

“Set-pieces are quite different here – it makes sense to do it because the six-yard area is not a safety box, but rather (just) a proposal,” he said.

Alisson became the world’s most expensive keeper when he arrived from Roma for £66m, a price tag that was surpassed by Chelsea’s capture of Kepa Arrizabalaga for £71m.

Klopp said: “First of all, we brought him here because of the things that he is already good at. That is what we want him do.”

But with Crystal Palace sure to present a clear threat from set-pieces tonight, Liverpool’s coaching staff have brought out the crash pads.

“That is what the goalkeepers always do,” Klopp added.

Busy

“It is not really rugby, it is goalkeeper training. All the boys did it. When Loris came he did it, all the goalkeepers do it, and Alisson is doing it as well.

“We have these situations in training constantly. When we do set-pieces the box is full with 22 players. Maybe that is a bit much, but 15 certainly.

“It is busy, we do it often so that the goalkeeper gets used to that.

“It is all about timing. We will see how that is, but it is not that the goalkeeper has to change completely for this league. We have to help him, too, in situations. That is how it always is.”

Klopp also admitted he has concerns about a lack of height in his team, with just three players over six feet in their opening game against West Ham – with one of them the keeper.

“In the West Ham game we were not taller than them, but the opposite,” Klopp added.

“That is where we have to rely on our eye to defend set-pieces. It is all about timing.

“There is not just one player responsible for something – we have to have the right formation around set-pieces.

“It is not solely about Alisson, but the whole team.”

Skipper Jordan Henderson could start tonight with Joel Matip also in line for a place to give his side some much-needed height.