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Liverpool’s Kloppolution is broadly defined by four distinct moves: hire Klopp; the summer transfers of 2017; signing of Virgil van Dijk; adding Alisson Becker.
Alisson and Van Dijk combined took Klopp’s playful style and turned Liverpool into a supernova. The crown of the European Cup and the Premier League would follow. When Klopp enters this fifth phase, trying to defend what he has built, he will have to do it without Van Dijk, relying more than ever in his goalkeeper.
There’s something about Alisson, right? He inspires so much confidence, operates with such mystique, that you know he can be trusted when things are really low.
“If I had known Alisson was so good, I would have paid double,” Klopp said just six months into his Liverpool career.
Alisson has taken his game to another level this season, even after wasting time. More has been demanded of the goalkeeper in the absence of Virgil van Dijk and Joe Gómez: More saves; more difficult stop; more set pieces; more in the construction phase; a bigger communication load without the one-man colossus of Liverpool in the back. And, as always, Alisson has delivered.
His expected post-kick goals minus goals allowed currently stands at +2.1. For the entirety of last season, that number only increased to +0.6. The previous year ended with +4.8. Alisson is already on his way to mimicking his 2017/18 season with Roma, where he finished with a +10.9 (honest, double take worthy!).
But what differentiates that freak year from Roma to this one from Liverpool is the quality of opportunities Alisson faces. In that Roma season, he faced a good number of quality occasions but also faced a higher volume. On average, he faced a 0.28 xG on shots that went on target. Meaning: When the ball hit the target, there was almost, based on historical precedent, one in three chance they would get in. And Alisson saved a cumulative save enough above average to account for 10.9 goals. Again, that’s wild.
This season, Alisson faces a smaller volume of opportunities at the target, but those have been replaced by a higher xG. This season the post-shot xG against Alisson was 0.32. It may not seem like a big difference, but it is.
In simple terms: Alisson is doing an absurd amount of very difficult saves. And those stops, in the era without Van Dijk, have been decisive. More than ever, Alisson is delivering more jump performance in my cape just when it’s needed most.
Its production has been needed now more than ever. Liverpool’s defensive woes and their inability to take a one-score lead to two, three and four goals have put further pressure on the goalkeeper.
In a year in which Liverpool’s form has been dubious, Alisson (when available) has held steady – he’s the best. ‘good team‘goalkeeper of the world.
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