THEY CAN MATCH OUR CLEAN SHEET KINGS OF 40 YEARS AGO
IF LIVERPOOL had been able to field this defence five years ago, Brendan Rodgers would have won the Premier League by 10 points. They conceded 50 goals that season. When this season began with a run of clean sheets, some said Liverpool were getting away with it, but it’s been going on for over half a season now and they’ve still only conceded 10. Alisson doesn’t always get the man-of-the-match award but he gives the back four confidence and they are giving him the same in return. I said when Virgil van Dijk arrived at Anfield that he was worth £75million and he’s improved since then. Above all, he brings calmness. There have been good Liverpool central defenders in the past 10 years — Daniel Agger, Martin Skrtel — but they have so often had a rash one among them. Not any more. It’s 40 years this season since we went through a 42-game league season conceding only 16 goals, just four at home. I was the captain of that team and remember what an imperative the clean sheets were. If we were 4-0 up, it was an article of faith that we would not concede. That was the great Bob Paisley’s way. I see such similarities between then and now.