Juergen Klopp said keeper Alisson would hopefully “learn from his mistake” after gifting Leicester City a goal. (Source: REUTERS)
Liverpool manager Juergen Klopp said keeper Alisson would hopefully “learn from his mistake” after gifting Leicester City a goal in the visitors’ 2-1 win at the King Power Stadium on Saturday.
With Liverpool two up and apparently heading for an easy win in the Premier League game, the Brazilian refused to take the easy option of just clearing his lines when put under pressure by a poor Virgil van Dyke backpass after the break. Instead Alisson tried to beat Kelechi Iheanacho with a step over but was robbed of the ball by the striker who centred for Algerian Rachid Ghezzal to find an empty net and spark a Leicester fightback.
The mistake was eerily reminiscent of previous keeper Loris Karius’s performance in the Champions League final and clearly not what is expected of the 66-million-pound ($85.54-million) newcomer. “He knows it was his mistake but I told him the best game to do this was in a win,” said Klopp.
Less than a week earlier, Alisson had been praised for his outrageous dink over Anthony Knockaert in the 1-0 win over Brighton & Hove Albion, a piece of skill that was loudly cheered by supporters on the Kop.
Klopp had reacted to that by saying: “That’s not too cool for a manager. If it works then it’s cool.” He is unlikely to be so forgiving this time, having struggled so long to identify the right keeper to bring stability at the back.
“It was clear it would happen after last week but I didn’t expect it to happen in the next match,” joked Klopp. “We all have to learn from this,” he added in reference to the casual defending that put Alisson under pressure in the first place.
Last week Alisson said he would carry on dribbling after being questioned about his unorthodox piece of skill against Brighton. “If sometimes there is a situation where there is dribbling, I do it carefully,” he said.
“It could be too risky but it’s part of the game, we are a team that plays from the back with the ball on the ground. Mistakes may happen, but we work hard during the week to everything correctly during the matches.”
Klopp said he was delighted with Liverpool’s latest win which makes this the first time they have started with four successive victories in the Premier League era. “If someone had told me a month ago that we would have four wins out of four, I would have bought it,” he said.