Alisson injury has underlined Liverpool’s strength under Jurgen Klopp

When Alisson Becker was withdrawn through injury midway through Liverpool’s opening game of the Premier League season against Norwich City a sense of dread set in around Anfield. The Brazilian goalkeeper was key to the Reds’ success the season before, providing a sense of stability that had been so desperately lacking before his arrival. Everyone remembers Loris Karius’ performance in the 2018 Champions League final.

Indeed, Alisson’s early season injury was seen as a big blow to Liverpool and their chances of winning a first Premier League title. Adrian was thrown into the first team just weeks after he was signed as a free agent during the summer and there were some initial signs of shakiness from the deputy. Since then, however, the dread has ebbed away.

Liverpool have barely missed Alisson. The Brazilian might have helped his team to one or two more clean sheets, particularly in the Champions League group stage defeat suffered away to Napoli, but the Anfield side currently sit top of the Premier League table, five points clear of defending champions Manchester City, with six wins from their opening six fixtures.

Alisson could make a return to first team action this weekend with Jurgen Klopp’s side taking on Sheffield United on Saturday afternoon. However, in his absence Liverpool’s strength was underlined. While Man City have struggled without Aymeric Laporte, with the Frenchman ruled out for five to six months through injury, Liverpool absorbed the injury to their starting goalkeeper.

Liverpool’s depth has been questioned. It’s true that City have greater options from front to back, left to right. Pep Guardiola has the likes of Leroy Sane, Riyad Mahrez and Phil Foden in reserve, Klopp has players of a lower calibre. But it might just be the case that Klopp’s philosophy as a coach and the way it keeps his team playing in the same manner no matter who is on the pitch is sustaining them.

City over the past two seasons set a new precedent at the top of the Premier League table. Guardiola’s side might well be the best team in the division’s history. But Liverpool have started extremely strongly and it’s difficult to envisage where they might stumble. While many feared that Alisson’s injury would expose any weaknesses they had, it actually served only to highlight and demonstrate just how strong they are.

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Top Premier League Goalkeepers in 2018/19: Alisson

Alisson-diving(1)

Though Liverpool did not win the league in the end it was by the narrowest of margins and while the whole team shined in their respective positions, a lot has to be owed to goalkeeper Alisson who kept the Reds in contention right up to the final 70 minutes of the league season.

Jurgen Klopp spent almost £67m on the Brazilian shot stopper which for a small time became the world record transfer fee for a goalkeeper. It was broken by Chelsea when they signed Kepa Arrizabalaga for £71m. However it was Alisson that emerged from the Premier League season as the best goalkeeper in England if not Europe.

Liverpool were attracted to the services of Alisson after they met his then side Roma in last seasons Champions League semi-finals. Ironically Liverpool put 7 goals past the Romans, but Klopp could see the wider picture which included Alisson keeping 22 clean sheets for Roma that season in Serie A.

Alisson’s competitive debut started off in style as he kept a clean sheet in Liverpool’s 4-0 rout of West Ham. Alisson would go on to play every league game of the campaign for Liverpool which was by far their most successful season since winning the league title in 1990.

As far as clean sheets were concerned Alisson did not concede in goal for Liverpool’s first three games of the season. Overall he helped keep 21 clean sheets for the Reds in a remarkable season that saw Liverpool reach 97 points and lose just 1 game and still not win the league. However his 21 clean sheets was the best record in the league with Manchester City’s Ederson coming in 2nd with 20.

Alisson did not pick up any players of the month awards but these are usually given to strikers and this was the case again this season when 8 of the 9 awards went to forwards. The only exception being Virgil van Dijk, Alisson’s Liverpool teammate.

With 22 goals conceded Liverpool shipped the least amount of goals in the league beating eventual champions Manchester City by one goal. And in the Champions League, Alisson has played every game so far, with the final coming up against Tottenham on Saturday. He was able to keep a further 2 clean sheets from 6 group games played. In the knock out stages he kept clean sheets in the home games v Bayern Munich, Porto and Barcelona.

For all leagues in European Fantasy Football goalkeepers Alisson is ranked as number 1 and earned 136 points over the season. He finished 6 points clear of Manchester City’s Ederson. His discipline was also very good with just 1 yellow card shown during the whole season. At this time Alisson is valued at 10m to bring into your team. It is inevitable that the Brazilian will be at Liverpool for many more years and he has proved this season that he is amongst the world’s finest goalkeepers.

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Liverpool must continue on their path of relentless improvement

In any other season, with the exception of last season, Liverpool would have been champions. In fact, had they registered their tally of 97 points in any other Premier League campaign besides the last two, Jurgen Klopp’s side would have been the strongest in the history of the division, at least numerically.

Liverpool fans don’t need another message of consolation reminding them of just how unfortunate they were to finish such an astonishing season second to Manchester City. There has been enough of those over the past couple days. This doesn’t help to ease the pain in any way.

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The Anfield side must use that pain to continue to improve, though. Of course, they still have a Champions League final against Tottenham Hotspur to look forward to, but when that matter has been settled and pre-season begins again there will be no doubting Liverpool’s aim for the campaign ahead – win the Premier League title.

Last year, they identified deficiencies in their squad, in goals, at centre back and in the centre of midfield, and so Alisson Becker, Virgil Van Dijk and Fabinho were all swiftly signed for something close to a combined £200 million. All three players have since delivered on their promise, even if Fabinho took a little longer to find his feet at his new club.

It’s this sort of ruthless drive that will be required again this summer if Liverpool are to draw Manchester City in at the top of the English game. They could still use another centre back, for instance, so they aren’t so reliant on Joel Matip and Dejan Lovren when Joe Gomez isn’t available. Matthijs de Ligt has been linked, with the Dutchman certainly fitting the bill of a signing that screams ambition. The Ajax teenager might, however, be an unrealistic target with Barcelona expected to complete a deal soon.

Depth is also required in the attacking third. Divock Origi and Daniel Sturridge have performed adequately enough in the recent absence of Roberto Firmino, but there has been an element of fluke to their goals. Liverpool must look to add depth, perhaps in the form of someone like Thorgan Hazard or Timo Werner, not just to provide options, but to press existing attackers to new levels. Liverpool’s season might have ended in disappointment, but they must use that to go even further next season.

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Virgil Van Dijk becoming the world’s best defender

Virgil Van Dijk Liverpool

Few central defenders keep Robert Lewandowski completely quiet. There’s even fewer who do it in the manner in which Virgil van Dijk did on Wednesday.

Rio Ferdinand may think otherwise, but the evidence has become compelling, Van Dijk is the best central defender in world football. The giant Dutchman is yet to put a foot wrong since arriving at Anfield for a world-record fee.

Plenty raised their eyebrows when Liverpool paid £75 million for his services, questioning whether he was actually good enough to warrant such a fee. The doubts were raised as a result of his nondescript performances for Southampton in the months leading up to the move. Continue reading

Bayern result shows Liverpool focus is on the Premier League

Liverpool Manchester United Bayern Munich Premier League Champions League

It’s been a while since Liverpool had to choose between the Premier League and the Champions League. With the top four the best they could hope for in recent years, the latter took precedence.

For a club with as rich a history in Europe as the Reds, it made sense. A run to the Europa League final in 2016 provided cherished memories for fans that had been starved of anything special for several years.

The run to the Champions League final last season did the same. Thrilling wins over the likes of Manchester City and Roma are still talked about. They were exciting occasions that sit among Liverpool’s best nights in Europe.  Continue reading

Defensive crisis drags down Liverpool title challenge

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As 2018 came to an end, Liverpool would have been very happy indeed. Champions League heartbreak aside they had enjoyed a very good year. Having matched Manchester City toe to toe across 2018 they entered 2019 top of the Premier League table and four points ahead of the champions.

Adding Virgil Van Dijk in the January transfer window and Alisson Becker in the summer had transformed the once weak Reds backline into a formidable outfit. 12 of their 21 games before the turn of the year had seen them keep clean sheets. They had conceded just ten goals in that period, the best in the league. Manchester City were their closest competitors with a tally of 17 conceded.

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Serie A must continue purchase of World Class players to enhance image

Seven years ago, one French Club, Paris Saint Germain invaded Serie A and plundered the league’s top stars from its top teams. Jérémy Ménez, Javier Pastore, Thiago Motta, Ezequiel Lavezzi, Marco Verratti, Thiago Sliva and Zlatan Ibrahimovic. Later, Marquinhos and Edison Cavani joined the fray. PSG’s incursion was propelled by current owners, Qatar Sports Investments, spearheaded by Nasser Al-Khelaifi.

It wasn’t just the ability of the oil rich investors to price away the best talents from other clubs as was the case with Neymar last season, but it exposed how vulnerable and financially weak clubs in Italy were at that particular period. Let’s look at it from this perspective, the strength of a league is predicated on the strength of its clubs. Thus, Serie A became weak in the eyes of its opposing leagues.

It’s worth to note that, during those trial moments, Juventus were putting in place the right structures, both administratively and infrastructure (The Allianz Stadium). They managed to sign the likes of Carlos Tevez from Manchester City, Arturo Vidal from Bayer Leverkusen, got Andrea Pirlo on a Bossman and a world class potential in Paul Pobga. The results are six scudetti on the bounce and two Champions League finals in the last five years. They continue to attract some of the best talents in Douglas Costa, Blaise Matuidi and Emre Can.

This season,the backdrop to Juventus campaign is the arrival of Cristiano Ronaldo. Portuguese Captain is a symbol of perseverance, whiles his great achievements and showy personality drags the media to his orbit. A report this year from D’Marie Analytics, a social media research firm estimates that a post by Ronaldo across Instagram, Facebook and Twitter is worth a cumulative $728,973.35, making him both the most valuable soccer player and athlete overall.

And of course, commercially, there are all sorts of financial spin offs when you sign Cristiano Ronaldo, from merchandise to image rights.

According to Gazzetta dello Sport, Ronaldo’s debut match against Chievo attracted 2,330,234 unique viewers, with an audience share of 11.9 percent. That’s a 68 percent increase in viewers on Juve’s first match of last season, when they faced Cagliari at home. It is also the fourth-highest total since the Italian branch of Sky launched, surpassed only by the Derby d’Italia in 2013 and 2016, and Roma-Juventus in August 2015. Another Broadcast giant ESPN signed a multi-year deal to broadcast Serie A in the United States It’s difficult to quantify how much of this attention is contributed by the competitiveness of the league after Napoli gave Juventus a hard fought for the scudetto last season.

Cristiano Ronaldo’s entrance has brought the sheen that Serie A needs.

It is however important for the other top teams Inter Milan, Napoli, AC Milan and AS Roma to leverage on the current attraction to lure elite players to their abode.

The two San Siro outfits, AC Milan and Inter are beginning to recover their financial muscle after the change of ownerships from Italian families to foreign Investors, as well as Roma. Things are beginning to look up for AC Milan under the current owners Elliot Hudge Fund Management who have brought back Leonardo in the position of Sporting director, alongside Paolo Maldini as sporting strategy and development director.

AC Milan’s transfer activities have not triggered the kind of excitement that greeted the appointment of their former heroes. Paolo Maldini’s name seems to have overshadowed their purchases in the summer and rightly so because names likes, Tiémoué Bakayoko, Alen Halilovic, Samu Castillejo and Diego Laxalt do not generate euphoria. But the Rossoneri take consolation in the signature of Gonzalo Higuain and Mattia Caldara.

Inter Milan managed to sign Radja Nainggolan from AS Roma and Kwadwo Asamoah from Inter whiles keeping Ivan Peresic and their priciest asset, Captain Maruo Icardi. The reports about Luka Modric wanting to join the Nerazzurri drew a lot of enthusiasm around the club and showed further proof of the kind of players that Serie A are missing. Though the player decided otherwise, it was a sign of ambition on the part of the Nerazzurri.

Despite the acquisition of Javier Pastori and Steven Nzonzi by AS Roma this summer, the Giallorossi have lost world class goalkeeper Alison Becker to Liverpool and Kevin Strootman to Marseille. Whiles Mauricio Sarri and Jorginho have joined Chelsea from Napoli. Last year, three players from Serie A mounted the FIFPro World XI podium. Two of them, Dani Alves and Gialuigi Buffon are currently PSG players. Cristiano Ronaldo may be on the podium in the next FIFA Mens Best Player Award Event but it will be based on his performance at Real Madrid.

Serie A need a continue purchase of world class players to continue enjoying the attention it’s currently attracting.

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EPL Best XI – Mo Salah stars again

Roberto Firmino Mo Salah

The third weekend of the 2018-19 Premier League season saw Liverpool, Chelsea and Watford continue their winning starts to the new campaign, while Manchester City were held to a 1-1 draw by newly promoted Wolves. But which players stood out to make the EPL Best XI of the Weekend?

GK: Alisson, Liverpool – seven points
With three clean sheets from three matches, Alisson couldn’t have had a better start to life as Liverpool goalkeeper. The Brazilian picked up seven points this weekend, taking his tally for the season to a very impressive 21 points.

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How Ambitious are Roma this Season?

Roma have not really positioned themselves as a threat on the domestic front. However, victory against Torino over the weekend and their famous run to the semi-final of the Champions League last season, should remind them of their ability and provide some optimism as the season ages.

Prior to the commencement of the league, AS Roma Coach Francesco Eusebio stated that “This year I want to stay above the Milanese clubs, even though I know that Inter have had a very strong transfer market, we can be stronger than last season. We have no limits as to how well we could do and we will do our talking on the pitch. We will fight to go as far as we can possibly go.” It’s fair to say comments like this, inherently limits the aspirations of the club and the ambitions of the players.

However the sale of the Brazilian goalkeeper Alison Becker to Liverpool and midfield dynamo Radja Niangolan to Inter Milan suggest AS Roma are still in the business of wheeling out their most refined stars to the big sharks in Serie A and Europe for large sums to balance the books. It was so with Mo Salah last season. Perhaps Eusebio was looking at things from a realistic point of view. That they lack the financial muscle and confidence to leap over Napoli not alone topple Juventus at the top. That they’re not yet at the level of the some of the European heavyweights.

Despite losing the aforementioned, the Rome club look quite a different proposition this season. They’ve added to their creative options by signing Javier Pastora from PGS and Justin Kluivert from Ajax Amsterdam whiles the arrival of French World Cup winner Steven Nzonzi from Sevilla to fill the void left by the Nainggolan will win more admiration for transfer director Monchi as a great business. Nzonzi may not possess the warrior like character of the Belgian, but his calm imposing presence when in possession can ensure AS Roma do not easily concede play in midfield.

The Gialorossi should be confident in a midfield trio of Kevin Strootman, Steven Nzonzi and Javier Pastore to compete against any team in Serie A.

After losing out to Barcelona on the chase for Brazilian forward Malcom, Roma will once again rely heavily on their most dependable striker Edin Dzeko to provide goals this season. The Bosnian continued his knack for scoring spectacular goal over the weekend when he finished off a superb cross from Justin Kluivert with an exquisite left foot volley. Dzeko’s hold up play and the ability to strike with both feet is second to none in Serie A and it’s no surprise the club is offering him a raise to €5 million per season and an extra year of contract. The 32 year Old’s contract currently expires in June 2020.

Edin Dzeko celebrate one of his spectacular goals

Edin Dzeko celebrate one of his spectacular goals

Last year, we saw glimpses of what young Turkish right winger Cengiz Ünder could do in attack, but a lot is still expected from him if Roma will are going to be lethal up front. Stephan El Sharaawy

could be very important to what they do in attack as he can operate on both wings. There are many who still believe the young Pharaoh has only scratched a surface of his potential hence the need for more playing time to really bring out the best in him.

AS Roma’s Achilles heel could be in defense especially the man between the sticks. The fear is that, Robin Olsen, may not provide the reflexes that Allison provided last season. Coupled with that, the back four has a tendency to switch off so there must be evidence of improvement at the back. It is also a well-known fact that Federico Fazio and Juan Jesus are notoriously inconsistent.

There were times last season when AS Roma appeared too cagey, especially in games against the top teams. It was only when Eusebio men showed a sense of believing and took the game to their opponents that earned them victory. Their 4-2 win over Napoli at the San Paolo was testament of what this team is capable of.

Eusebio Di Francesco showed last season that he can map up a strategy to upstage some of Europe’s big guns at the Olympico, so a lot of Roma fans await what plan he has in his tactical tray this season.  Despite their fêted victory over Barcelona and securing Champions League qualification, few believe the former AS Roma midfielder is the right man to lead them.

For AS Roma to upset the current order in Serie A, it’s important for Eusebio to build a winning culture by instilling believe in his players to have confidence in themselves. The Gialorossi can use last season performances as a springboard to kick on this season.

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Beating Crystal Palace showed Liverpool’s title credentials

Van Dijk

It was almost fateful that Liverpool would show their title credentials in the place where their last run for the Premier League title came crashing down.

Selhurst Park holds bad memories for the Reds. It is the place where Brendan Rodgers’ team collapsed in such epic fashion to hand the title to Manchester City. Later dubbed Crystanbul it marked the beginning of the end for Rodgers and the need for drastic change at the club.

In giving up a three-goal lead, his side showed all the reasons why they were not worthy of being champions that season. They entertained but lacked the ability to control games or deal with pressure. Time and time again that year they had shown these failings, sometimes escaping but sometimes not. This was a painful example of the latter. Continue reading