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2018/19 Season Report Card - Alisson Becker


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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. 

 

alisson1_600.jpg

 

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. 

 

 

This is just a teaser, click here to view the full article

 

Please note, 'Season Report Cards' are only be available to TLW subscribers. Subscriptions are just £2 per month and can be purchased here.

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  • dave u pinned this topic

You could also make the argument that a lot of the saves in the "great" category are usually as a result of who plays in front of the keeper - Smalling and Jones (for instance) are bound to give any keeper more chance to shine.

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All that, and he can ping it 50 yards to set up counter attacks!

 

All his saves are pushed out wide and away from danger. They don't just hit his gloves.

Except for one against Barca in the 4-0 game. Think Messi hit a shot across the goal, and ordinarily Alisson would've palmed it wide. But Courinho was out wide. So he palmed it straight out in front of himself to where Matip (I think) was standing. He took a touch and cleared. 

Any other keeper, you'd think he'd fucked up by parrying the ball into the "danger zone". But at that time, that was the safest place in the box. 

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