2018/19 Season Report Card - Alisson Becker

A couple of weeks ago I did player ratings in my monthly column for the Norwegian supporters club magazine, “the Kopite”. Even though the ratings were done the day before the Champions League Final, the ratings I gave each player in “the Kopite” will be the same as the ones I’ll be doing on here too. With just one exception - Alisson.

I gave him 8 out of 10 in the Kopite, which on reflection was…. well, it was bollocks. I did him a dis-service. Like I say, the ratings were written the day before the final, but it was not his performance in that game that caused me to revise the rating I gave him. Well it was, just not in the way you’d think, but I’ll explain that shortly.  

So why did I ‘only’ give him an eight initially? My justification for it was that he made several mistakes that have been mostly forgotten about because either they didn’t result in a goal, or if they did, never cost us points. I stand by that point, if not the overall rating. 

Two examples off the top of my head are a cross he misjudged against Cardiff that Sean Morrison should have buried (the ref would have given a foul anyway, but there didn’t look much wrong with it to me) and an incident at Anfield late in the season (can’t remember who it was against) when he came out for a ball and missed it, the ball hit him in the face and then popped up perfectly for him to grab it. 

There were other similar ones throughout the season, which I accept is no big deal as it goes with the job. All keepers make mistakes, it’s unavoidable. The only reason I bring them up is to explain why I was ‘only’ giving him an eight and not higher. Alisson made a fair few errors but I don’t think they cost us a single point. 

Sometimes it’s better to be lucky than good, but if you can be both then that’s perfect, and finally it looks like we have a keeper who fits that description. Alisson is great, and he also seems like he has Lady Luck in his corner.

Neither Mignolet or Karius could ever be described as ‘lucky’ and many wouldn’t call them ‘good’ either, although I have a lot of time for big Simon so I’ll always fight his corner. As for ‘the Instagram Kid’? Yeah, that’s not a hill I’m prepared to die on, sorry. 

It always felt to me like any time Mignolet made a mistake it ended up costing us a goal. The poor bloke never got away with anything. Alisson made some blunders this year that Mignolet would have been slated for, but most of the time his blushes were spared because the ball didn’t end up in the net, or if it did it didn’t cost us points. 

For example, he was at fault for Jesse Lingard’s goal at Anfield but no-one remembers that now because Xherdan Shaqiri came off the bench and won the game for us. Virgil bollocked him for that one, but you’ve probably forgotten that too (as I had) because we won.

The one Alisson mistake people do remember was at Leicester when he was caught showboating, but even that didn’t cost us points because we held on for the win. He learned a lesson that day and promised he wouldn’t do anything like that again, and he was true to his word. He didn’t do anything even remotely like that.

What he did do was make big saves on the rare occasions we needed him to. The Napoli one stands out, but there were others too, usually in one v one situations where he’s absolutely sensational. The one at Old Trafford to deny Lingard was special, and the one against Jordy Alba just before half time at Anfield was crucial. He was immense that night. 

Another one that springs to mind was at Burnley late on when we were holding onto a 2-1 lead. Seconds later he started the counter attack that led to us making it 3-1. There was another top save at home to Brighton that preserved a win, a cracker to deny Everton at the Kop end and he was magnificent away at Chelsea.

He’s come up big in important moments and I’m struggling to think of any keeper out there I’d rather have. I don’t know if he’s the best in the world but he’s definitely in the conversation, and there’s no-one better in the Premier League since David De Gea morphed into Massimo Taibi.

So all of the above explains how I arrived at a rating of eight, but the below explains why I was talking through my arse. 

The final made me realise the error of my ways, but not because he was my star man on the night. Yes, he had a really good game and made some fine saves, but it wasn’t one of those eye popping games when the keeper is making all kinds of spectacular saves. Virtually every save was one that you’d have been disappointed if he hadn’t made it. 

So what caused my change of heart? It was more of a realisation that he doesn’t often have to make ‘difficult’ looking saves because his fundamentals are so good that he’s rarely stretched. 

I’m no goalkeeping expert, but I’m now of the opinion that Alisson doesn’t have to make full length miraculous saves because his footwork and his positioning is so good. He makes the difficult look easy, without us even realising he’s done it.

Mignolet seems to idolise him and has even publicly stated that he has no complaints about being Alisson's back up as he's one of the best in the world. This is part of what has made me think again about what makes a great keeper. If he isn't always making brilliant saves, yet people keep saying he's one of the best in the world, why would that be? Fundamentals. Things that the layman wouldn't really notice.

This brings me back to the final. Some of those saves he made didn’t look anything special but for another keeper they might have been, that’s if they made them at all. Take the Eriksen free-kick for example. It was a good save but it wasn’t a ‘how did he keep that out?’ moment. If he’d been a step more to his right though, maybe it would have been. Or worse, maybe it would have been a goal. 

If he’d just failed to get there most of us would probably have said “the shot was too good, he had no chance”. If I had a quid for every time I've said that about a goal Mignolet let in I’d have enough to… well it wouldn’t even pay him a day’s wages, but it’s still a lot. It’s nonsense though. I realise that now.

I feel like I’ve had an epiphany. For years I’d judge keepers on their great saves or bad mistakes. The mistakes part is relevant as you don’t want a goalie who’s dropping clangers all the time, but the great saves thing is overstated. Sometimes a great save only looks great because the positioning was shit. Unless you’re a goalkeeping guru (which I'm certainly not) you probably wouldn’t even notice that.

Alisson has maybe made half a dozen “great” saves this season, but it's likely that a load of those routine ones are only routine because he’s so damn good.

The other thing that needs to be taken into account is that even when he’s made a mistake, you’d never know it from looking at him afterwards. He doesn’t let it affect him, and his team-mates don’t let it worry them either. He just keeps on being a big, bearded, dominant sexy bastard, oosing machismo.

All of this has brought a sense of calm to the position that we haven’t had since before Reina tacked on mass and sacrificed flexibility. Alisson knows he’s boss, his team-mates know he’s boss, and the crowd knows he’s boss.

The best thing is there’s still room for improvement. We’ve got ourselves a great one here.

Best Moment:

The save against Napoli. Without that, there’s no ‘number six’ and even worse, we’d have gone into the Europa League. The damage that would have done to our morale might have torpedoed the entire season.

Worst Moment:

Only being given 8 out of 10 by some divvy writing in "the Kopite". Other than that, probably the mistake at Leicester, although it was a blessing in disguise as it knocked the cockiness out of him early on.

Rating 9 / 10

Not perfect enough to get a ten but a fantastic first season.