Alisson puts calamities behind him with assured performance
Towering goalkeeper returns to form and gives Klopp’s side platform for their precious victory in Budapest
If Jurgen Klopp is hunting a turning point in this most erratic season, he may look no further than the 46th minute at the Ferenc Puskas Arena. RB Leipzig’s Christopher Nkunku dashed towards Alisson Becker, poised to write an all-too-familiar script for the Liverpool coach. Klopp had watched his side domipool nate most of the first half and create numerous chances. Here was the Bundesliga side’s chance to shift momentum and potentially prey on Liverpool’s fragile confidence.
Instead, keeper Alisson did what he has done for most of his Liverpool career, standing tall and lifting an arm to ricochet the ball to safety. He made a critical save look straightforward.
In Alisson’s list of game-changing interventions, this may not rate among his greatest. It may struggle to make the top 10. But in the context of the last few weeks its value can be measured. Within 12 minutes, Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane had put Liverpool two-up. In securing his 50th clean sheet for the club, Alisson was back making a positive contribution again.
“You can imagine he will sleep well on the flight home. He helped us a lot,” said Klopp, a reference to the sleepless night the keeper suffered after his recent mishaps against Manchester City. What made it more consequential is how the strutting authority re-emerged as the game proceeded. This felt like we were witnessing the Brazilian successfully overcoming the struggle to reconnect with his former self. One of the least expected side effects of Liverpool’s recent troubles came when Alisson started seeing a hand grenade where once he saw a backpass. Nobody is quite sure when this
affliction started. Perhaps it began around the 70-minute mark against Manchester City, extending to last weekend’s late collapse against Leicester.
Liverpool’s defenders’ idea for a remedy in Hungary was novel, Alisson continuously fed possession with increasingly forceful passes to his feet so as to test his state of mind. Initially, this served only to highlight the malady even more, as the combination of anxiety, panic and carelessness that proved so disruptive in his last two performances took time to eradicate.
Alisson is usually so adept in possession, there were moments during Liverpool’s more dominant periods last season when Klopp could have been tempted to play him at centreback. Not in the last few weeks.
Even his first few long goal kicks last night resembled a golfer aiming for the 18th green and locating the first tee. He could only shake his head each time the radar went askew during a first half in which he battled his demons, baffled by the misdirection.
On the eve of this first leg, Klopp had railed against the idea he needed a break from management. When Alisson was slow to react to a fourth-minute header from Dani Olmo – fortunate to see it bounce off a post – he may have wondered whether his keeper was the one in need of some time out. But Alisson is one of those senior figures granted the opportunity to play through his confidence issues.
Amid all the conversations about the club’s 16 central defensive pairings in the absence of Virgil van Dijk, Joe Gomez and Joel Matip, the impact on the goalkeeper had gone unnoticed until recently. Familiarity in the back four might revive the security that has been lacking.
Klopp will want to see more clean sheets before accepting that conclusion. But if he arrived in Hungary desperate for a positive result, he may be returning with another precious commodity. The world’s best keeper could be on his way back.