Ryan Fraser was the hero but now meet the fall guy...
LIVERPOOL’S LORIS KARIUS HITS BACK
I don’t need anybody to tell me it was bad... because I know
The Vitality Stadium, Bournemouth just after 3.15pm last Sunday and the home team look set to complete a remarkable victory over Liverpool.
Young Scot Ryan Fraser has already emerged as the hero, coming on as a substitute with eddie howe’s team 2-0 down and turning the game on its head by winning a penalty, scoring a goal and providing an assist — all in the space of 35 breathless minutes.
With only minutes remaining and the score at 3-3, Bournemouth striker Benik Afobe moves on to a loose ball and drives it towards goal. Liverpool goalkeeper Loris Karius makes a quite brilliant save, standing squat to divert the ball over the crossbar with his upper arm.
The save was not mentioned in the newspaper reports the next day and does not feature on the highlights packages.
What has, of course, been front and centre of the coverage is the mistake Karius made two minutes later, spilling a low shot to allow Nathan Ake to bundle home Bournemouth’s dramatic winner. Welcome to the life of a goalkeeper.
‘It was my mistake, no doubt about it,’ said Karius. ‘I wanted to catch the ball and I didn’t.
‘I think it looked a bit easier on TV than it was. The ball was flying weird and went by the side of Nathaniel Clyne, so I didn’t have much time.
wasn’t easy but I should have caught it and I don’t need anybody to tell me it was bad... because I know. I am sorry that it cost us a point.’
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp’s first move after the defeat was to take his squad to Barcelona for two days. It was not a reactive measure. They were going anyway.
The headlines followed Karius to Spain, the coverage given life by Sky pundits Jamie Carragher and Gary Neville. Carragher suggested the young German does not look like a Liverpool goalkeeper and Neville said Karius transmitted anxiety to his defenders.
‘Carragher was here at Liverpool for a long time, so maybe after the game he was a bit frustrated,’ said Karius. ‘he is probably still a supporter. I have to accept it.
‘What critics say right after the game, I don’t know what I think. If you asked them again would they say it now?
‘I don’t care what Gary Neville said. he was a manager for a short bit and now he is back to being an expert again.
‘But he is always very critical. I think he does it to everyone. I just hope that when I do well he will comment on that. We will see in the future.’
Karius is sitting in a cafe in Liverpool city centre. This interview was in the diary before the Bournemouth game. Some players would have reneged on the arrangement, saying they wished to concentrate on tomorrow’s game against West ham.
It is to the 23-year-old’s credit that he didn’t do that. So he is here, tall and lean, folded in to a booth at the window. he is not here to make excuses and does not seem overly distressed by what happened to him days earlier. But it is.
As we talk about his days as a 16-year-old goalkeeper at Manchester City, he presents a frank assessment of a sporting life.
‘I think people sometimes believe we are like robots because we get paid good money or whatever,’ he said. ‘They think we have no emotions or feelings, that we can never have a bad day.
‘That’s not how it works, we are still humans. We make mistakes. We have better days, worse days. The fact we get paid well doesn’t really change that.
‘It’s always good to have support from the fans. It really helps the players. And it’s right that they expect much.
‘But sometimes I am not sure if everyone understands the whole package of professional football and what we have to deal with. Of course, we enjoy playing football every day. It is the dream job. But it can be hard, so it has two sides.’
Karius has faced challenges in football before. In July 2009, only nine days after his 16th birthday, he was signed by City from Stuttgart.
Complaints in Germany followed, with Stuttgart claiming the english club had lured their young protege with money.
The goalkeeper himself admits he soon had more fundamental problems. ‘I was with another German player living with a family in Manchester but we didn’t really connect well with them, so that gave us a hard time,’ he reflected.
‘We didn’t really feel at home. It wasn’t right. After three months, we explained that to the club. We decided we had to say something. They moved us to another family and that was really, really good.
‘I still have contact with them now. Sometimes I go and see them. I went a couple of weeks ago for Sunday roast. That family changed everything for me so, in total, it was a really good experience. My friend was a German boy but he left after one year. he isn’t playing now.’
Karius never played for City and moved back to Germany, to Mainz, after two years.
It was not a failed experiment, though. he trained regularly with the first team under then manager Roberto Mancini, sharing pitch time with players like Vincent Kompany, Craig Bellamy and Mario Balotelli.
But one player stands out and Karius said: ‘Joe hart was really good to train with. he always talked to me, not just about training but also in general on football, on life.
‘he was such a good person to talk to. You could understand a bit more what it is to be a first-choice goalkeeper.
‘It was good training, really high quality. But, of course, you have to realise that you are only 16 and that you have a long way to go. You can’t let the life they live and the cars they drive affect you.
‘It was tough to understand that their life and the focus on the club was something you hadn’t earned yet and were not entitled to.
‘I had to be careful not to get into it too much. But it was a great time for me. I don’t regret any of it.’
One of Karius’ many tattoos is a date, December 1, 2012. That was when he made his professional debut for Mainz.
he came on as a substitute after the Mainz goalkeeper was sent off. he didn’t concede a goal and his team won. Nevertheless, he was not to appear again, even on the bench, for the first team for another year.
‘There were two older keepers,’ the German reflected. ‘One came back from suspension, the other from injury. The coach decided it was too early for me but I felt I didn’t get a chance.
‘It was the first really hard time of my professional career. I trained with the reserves for four months. It took a year to get back in.
‘When you are that young, you don’t understand and have no patience. But a year later, I was back in and this time I stayed in.’
Another of the Liverpool keeper’s tattoos is the name of his grandfather, Karl. As a boy, Karius’ father harold wanted him to follow his interest in motocross.
his mother Christine was not keen, having already seen her hus‘It
band break both kneecaps. Karl, meanwhile, spotted another talent.
‘My father didn’t watch football and it was my grandad who got me in to it,’ he said. ‘He always drove me half an hour to training every day when my parents were working. He was my biggest supporter.
‘But he didn’t get the chance to see me play professionally. He passed away before my debut.
‘So I have my grandad’s name on a tattoo and I have some guardian angels there for him. It was sad but I can’t change it. I know he will still be watching me, so it’s no problem.’
ForMer Manchester United defender Patrice evra described his Premier League debut as like being thrown in to a washing machine. Tomorrow at Anfield, Karius will find himself back on the spin cycle.
West Ham and Andy Carroll will provide a full physical and emotional test — and he knows it.
other goalkeepers have been here before and come through. David de Gea at Manchester United and, further back, Bruce Grobbelaar at Liverpool.
Karius has not spoken one-to-one at length with Klopp this week but the message has been clear.
‘I don’t need people to say: “Hey. Come on! Let’s go again…”. I know. They (Klopp and his team-mates) have told me that everybody makes mistakes. I was very down after the game, but they said we are one team and they have my back. That’s all that matters.’
People at Liverpool say Klopp’s faith in Karius is absolute. The goalkeeper still gets some stiffness in the hand he broke pre-season and is adapting to the Premier League.
‘I’m sure there will a lot of crosses this weekend with Andy Carroll up front,’ added Karius. ‘For some teams, that is the biggest chance they have against us.
‘You must stay calm and make the right decisions. The first few games I struggled but after that, I felt really comfortable. You can’t expect help from the referees.’
In an interview with German newspaper Bild, Karius described his manager as ‘ambitious, detailed and positively crazy’. I asked him what he means.
‘There isn’t one session where he (Klopp) doesn’t watch, on the field and in the gym,’ he said. ‘There is not one thing where he says: “I will let my assistant do that”.
‘He never takes his eye off us. We all believe in him. If you see the way Liverpool play now, you can see he changed everything for the better.’
And the crazy bit? ‘I think he just has a lot of adrenaline and that’s what I meant,’ he said smiling. ‘When we score, something switches in his head and he wants to go crazy with us on the field. In training, he is different, focused and calm. That’s a good mix.’
Karius is aware of Liverpool’s affinity with goalkeepers and has noticed the way the Kop still applaud the opposition No 1.
one day he would like to be spoken of like Tommy Lawrence, ray Clemence and Pepe reina.
At the moment, that looks a while off and a good performance in front of the cameras tomorrow would do for now.
There’s no panic from the impressive young German, though. Not yet. It is remarkable how phlegmatic modern sportsmen can be.
‘I know the history and maybe in the future I can be a part of that,’ he continued.
‘This is a new beginning. If I don’t play well every week, then people think that is my best level.
‘They probably haven’t bothered to look at my past, so everything I have done in Germany I now have to do again here.
‘When a striker misses a chance, people say he should have scored but five minutes later they don’t talk about it anymore.
‘In our position, it’s not like that. Goalkeepers do not get second chances but we can win games and be praised so that’s the way it is.
‘I’m not unhappy. I choose to be a goalkeeper and this is how it is.’