Liverpool legend John Aldridge has claimed that Reds goalkeeper Alisson was the main culprit in the calamitous goal his side shipped against Fulham on Sunday.
The Brazilian was involved in a mixup with Virgil van Dijk, and was caught short when his defender elected to head the ball back to him, allowing Ryan Babel to steal in and level proceedings.
Liverpool went on to win 2-1, but that didn’t stop Aldridge from highlighting the error in his column for the Liverpool Echo.
He said: “I think most of the blame has to go to Alisson. I think from a goalkeeper’s point of view you have to get the ball first and take the player out.
“In my day goalkeepers would have seen it as a great opportunity to whack the onrushing opposition player.
“If he gets to the ball first then the forward backs out. If Alisson had been a bit bolder, just taken the ball and not looked at the player then he’d have been all right. Alisson has saved us many times this year and the one good thing about it is that the mistake didn’t cost us any points so again it’s forgotten.”
OPINION
Aldridge is right on this one. The initial back pass from James Milner could be a lot better, and Virgil van Dijk doesn’t exactly cover himself in glory with his headed back pass to the keeper, but Alisson hesitates far too much, seems to come partway and then stop, and is ultimately made to pay for his indecisiveness. The Brazilian has been exemplary for the vast majority of this season, and everybody, even the best goalkeepers, make mistakes, but the timing of this lapse in judgement couldn’t have been much worse. If it wasn’t for Milner stepping up and expertly firing home a penalty in the latter stages of proceedings, the Reds would have dropped two invaluable points, and that could have been the title race done and dusted. There has to be an element of recognition that mistakes do happen, but at this stage in the season, Liverpool can really, really do without them.
