Alisson: It Was Bad Judgment

Goalkeeper Alisson Becker regrets decision that led to Liverpool conceding their first goal of the season

Liverpool walked off the pitch at King Stadium winners on Saturday afternoon, having earned their fourth successive victory of the season. However, the only blemish on an otherwise perfect record was the first and only goal conceded by the Reds.

The abomination came when Virgil van Dijk sent an errant back pass to Alisson. Instead of booting the ball out of the danger zone near the goal, the Brazilian keeper attempted to dribble out of danger. While he’s shown a capability in doing that over the past few games, it didn’t work out this time. He was skinned and of the ball by Kelechi Iheanacho yards out of his goal, leading to Rachid Ghezzal scoring in a virtually open net.

After the game, Alisson admitted annoyance at himself and the decision he made to play with fire.

“It was bad judgement,” he told ESPN Brazil after the match.

“I made a mistake reading the play. I didn’t get a very good pass. We talked about that in the dressing room and I spoke to Virgil. It wasn’t a good pass but I could have just kicked it long.

“It was a bad reaction to a mistake, a defensive mistake. The most important thing was we got the win. I am angry that I made a mistake that put the team in a difficult situation. When one person makes a mistake, it affects everyone and everyone fought back together. We have to improve still but the result is what matters at the moment.

“I wanted to keep playing and keep the possession. Now everyone is going to analyse that.

“I’m not going to be stupid and make the same mistake. We have to learn from our mistakes. It is part of my game [playing with the ball at his feet] but I am not going to be arrogant to stand here and say I’m going to keep doing it. We have to learn from our mistakes.

“If it is necessary the dribble has to be the last resort. Unfortunately, today, it caused the goal.”

Hopefully today’s mistake was a lesson learned without any points being dropped. What’s important is that Alisson didn’t let his head drop after the goal was scored and kept helping the team and making good decisions after. It seems that Klopp has forgiven him, and as long as he takes this experience to heart, then we should too. In the mean time, Liverpool go into the international break with 12 out of a possible 12 points in the bank.

Source: liverpooloffside.sbnation.com