Jamie Carragher shared that he spotted Liverpool goalkeeping coach John Achterberg signalling to goalkeeper Alisson Becker ahead of Riyad Mahrez taking a penalty during Sunday’s game with Manchester City.
The Sky Sports pundit shared that he spotted the Reds goalkeeper being told to dive to his right and said it showed how much analysis goes on behind the scenes at clubs regarding small details such as that.
“The goalkeeping coach, John Achterberg, you can see that he’s telling him (Alisson) there that obviously if that’s the way you’re face, it is top right,” said Carragher on Sky Sports Premier League (October 7, 18:32).
“And it goes exactly there and the keeper dives that way and look at the reaction, that’s the analysis you have to do.
“We’re talking about penalty takers now, we know Aguero is the penalty taker, but that’s much the analysis has gone now, there will be three or five players who the goalkeeper has been told about.
“It’s not just at Liverpool, there will be analysis of four or five players at most clubs, about where they put it and that’s just a little reminder (the signal) but okay Mahrez there.
“He actually (Achterberg) turns around to have his back to the pitch as I don’t think he wants to be jumping around on the sidelines so the City bench know what he is telling him so if it’s penalty and not quite sure, have a little look at the bench, makes the signal, it goes over the bar but he dives the right way.”
Mahrez ended up missing the penalty by blazing his effort over the bar and the clash between the Reds and Man City ended 0-0 as a result.
OPINION
It seems Alisson got a fantastic insight into which way Mahrez was going to fire his penalty but it didn’t matter in the end. The Man City attacker instead fired his effort way over the bar and won’t live down that miss for a while. Mahrez have the perfect opportunity to give his side an early season boost in the race for the Premier League title but instead he just had them calling for his head. It’s interesting that Achterberg had information on Mahrez ready to when you consider it was a surprise that the winger stepped up to take the spot-kick. This is because the 27-year-old’s recent record with penalties is dismal to say the least and perhaps he shouldn’t have been on spot-kick duty. However all this ended up working in the Reds’ favour as they left Anfield with a point instead of nothing to show from their recent clash with last season’s Premier League champions. While it wasn’t the win fans would have been dreaming of, it’s a valuable point to pick up.
