ALISSON IN WONDERLAND

The best in the business with no frills, no posing, no fuss... Reds’ keeper is simply unbeatable

GOOD old VAR might well have poked its nose in, but Alisson was not to know that.

After more than half an hour of idleness in the wind, the Liverpool goalkeeper was suddenly confronted by two Norwich attackers, unattended, untroubled by a flag and with an unlikely goal there for the taking.

Alisson Becker stood tall, not committing himself too early as Lukas Rupp bore down on him.

Rupp blinked first, choosing to offload to his striking wingman, Teemu Pukki.

But Alisson had read it, dropped smartly to his right and intercepted the danger with a clearing scoop.

It did not look the most spectacular piece of goalkeeping – and there is every chance the line-drawers of Stockley Park might have chalked off a successful effort – but Alisson, as a rule, does not do spectacular.

He just does everything with assured efficiency, with authoritative intelligence.

Apart from that moment, he had very little to do here but the confidence he gives to his defenders is obvious and his distributio isn assured and safe.

Amidst the blizzard of statistics that spill out from this remarkable Liverpool run, Alisson’s numbers should not go unprompted.

He has conceded only eight goals in 18 Premier League appearances and this was his 10th clean sheet in those matches.

He won the Lev Yashin award for the world’s best goalkeeper at the Ballon D’Or event and while most of us maybe do not see enough of others around Europe, it is hard to dispute that accolade.

Remember, had it not been for a last-minute save against Napoli in Liverpool’s final group game of the 2018/19 Champions League, his team would not even have made it to the knock-out stages.

Alisson is every bit as crucial a cog in this Liverpool machine as Virgil van Dijk or Mohamed Salah or Roberto Firmino or Jordan Henderson or the match-winner and substitute Sadio Mane.

That is a hundred goals in English football for Mane, a rare talent.

Again, VAR might have smiled on Liverpool as Christoph Zimmermann fell under Mane’s attentions but the Senegal striker’s touch, swivel and left-foot finish were of the quality every observer has come to expect.

If anything, he has an under-appreciated array of finishes – left, right, head.

And after this particular number – surprising Tim Krul at his near post – every observer was left saying exactly the same thing about this remorseless Klopp project.

This remarkable team just keeps finding a way to win, keeps finding a way to solve any problem that confronts them. Do not, though, let this mantra fool you into thinking any of their 25 Premier League triumphs have been fortunate.

Not a single victory has been nothing less than deserved.

Certainly not this one.

Norwich were – to coin an old-fashioned word – plucky, but while Alex Tettey hit the outside of a post with a surprise strike, they only registered one attempt on target.

That came in the dying minutes when Pukki managed to dart in to half a yard of freedom from Van Dijk.

Pukki looked up, decided to take on Alisson from 18 yards and the shot fizzed straight into the Brazilian’s gloves.

Very routine, tidy, no drama at all, no mistake, symptomatic of Alisson’s body of work.

He will have busier times – much, much busier times.

Indeed, he might not have needed to make that first-half intervention.

But Alisson, humble and unassuming, symbolises this relentless Liverpool team – the best in his business with no frills, no posing, no fuss. And pretty much unbeatable.

Alisson had little to do here, but the confidence that he gives to his defenders is obvious

and his distribution assured and safe.