Alisson has had another solid season between the sticks for Liverpool.
Having joined from Roma in 2018, it appeared Liverpool had acquired their best goalkeeper in the modern era. Two years on, and it has come to fruition.
Although not as profoundly solid and ever-present as last season, Alisson has made strides to create the most solid backline in the Premier League in 2019/20.
Why we gave a seven:
The start of the season saw optimism and hope, with European champions Liverpool leading 4-0 against Norwich before Alisson suffered a calf strain. This saw the Super Cup and the foreseeable future placed in the hands of ex-West Ham ‘keeper Adrian, who had signed on a free just a week previously.
He returned as Liverpool travelled to Old Trafford, and played impeccably despite the 1-1 draw. The Brazilian’s return coincided with the end of Liverpool’s 17 match winning run, but to no fault of the number one.
He failed to keep a clean sheet until the visit of Brighton – but he was sent off after handling outside the area after 79 minutes. Lewis Dunk scored from the resulting free-kick, but Liverpool held off to win 2-1.
He would then have seven consecutive shutouts in the Premier League, including wins against Leicester and Tottenham.
This period also saw Liverpool travel to Qatar for the Club World Cup.
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Alisson was a key part of the side which edged past Monterrey 2-1, then made several wonderful saves as Liverpool needed extra-time to eek out Flamengo by a goal to nil, thanks to Roberto Firmino’s finish.
The seventh of the aforementioned clean sheets came at home to Manchester United, where Alisson had his most memorable moment of the season.
He claimed the ball from a United corner, and saw Mo Salah dashing through on the halfway line.
A magnificent arcing kick saw Salah through, shrugging off Daniel James, and Liverpool had won the game. In Pepe Reina style, he charged up the Anfield pitch to greet a topless Mo Salah in ecstasy.
His last game of the regular season was the abhorrent 3-0 defeat to Watford, but he wasn’t really to blame for any of the goals, before suffering a hip injury before the Bournemouth and Atletico Madrid matches.
He would’ve missed the Everton match, but, due to the entry of a global pandemic, Alisson was duly fit for June 21st, keeping a clean sheet in a 0-0 draw at Goodison Park.
He played excellently in the majority of the post-lockdown restart, with perhaps the exception of the Manchester City game, but even then, he couldn’t do anything about it.
He kept three clean sheets in nine, with the losses against City and Arsenal the biggest blemishes on his record.
One low point following the restart was the blunder Alisson made at The Emirates, passing the ball straight to an Arsenal player after their throw-in leading to Reiss Nelson’s goal.
Overall, what you’d expect from a world-class goalkeeper, and he is totally incomparable to what we had before in Simon Mignolet and Loris Karius.
Next Season?
We expect yet another season of promise in the Liverpool net for Alisson – preferably an ever-present one as Adrian, although he did well, is not fit to lace his boots.
He has nigh-on a decade if he continues this solidarity in goal for Liverpool, which is what made his £65 million recruitment so very worth it.