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Liverpool’s 1-0 Champions League win over Ajax on Tuesday night was the perfect remedy for the frustration of conceding a late draw to Brighton on Saturday.
Thanks to that victory, the Reds, of course, clinched top spot in Group D with a game to spare. However, it seemed like a far from simple task before the start.
The demands of a congested schedule continued to take their toll on injury-ridden Liverpool. The last notable omission for that game was Alisson, who suffered a minor hamstring injury against the Seagulls a few days earlier.
The Brazilian has suffered a few injury setbacks in the last 12 months, and we’ve gotten used to seeing Adrian come into the squad in his place when he has. However, we were all surprised to see Caoimhin Kelleher’s name on the sheet.
There have been a lot of good things that have come out of the academy about Kelleher in recent seasons, and he did appear on more than one occasion for the Reds last season, having had four starts in three League Cup games and a match in the FA Cup.
However, it was difficult to gauge from those appearances how good his shooting skills were. He secured two clean sheets but also conceded five goals in two of the games. He didn’t make any real mistakes in those games, but he didn’t make any notable performances either.
Clearly, by working with him on a daily basis, Klopp will have a better indication of his abilities, but even he is probably not entirely sure how good the 22-year-old is at this stage in his career. So throwing him into such a high-profile Champions League match seemed like something of a gamble. However, as the game progressed, Klopp’s decision made sense.
The Irishman only faced four shots on goal in the match, but three of them did force him to make good saves. Perhaps it was the selection of those saves that saw him hand away Klaas-Jan Huntelaar’s header from close range in the closing moments of the match to seal the three points.
However, the 22-year-old’s influence on the game went beyond just making saves, and was instead heavily relied on to contribute to the game of possession as well.
We know Liverpool is a team looking to play short from goal kicks and use the goalkeeper as an extra man in possession when inside their own half, and when he replaces Alisson, this is where Adrian has fallen short.
Now 33 and late in his career, the role of a goalkeeper has evolved dramatically during the Spaniard’s career and most No. 1s are now expected to be good players rather than good blockers.
In Liverpool, Adrian He has had to try to develop this aspect of his game, however, having played for teams of the caliber of West Ham and Real Betis for most of his career, this has at times seemed like a troublesome task for him.
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That comment is not meant to discredit the aforementioned teams, however, it is not unfair to point out that they neither really fight for top honors every season or implement dominant philosophies.
Kelleher, on the other hand, has benefited greatly from going through an academy that is fully aligned with the first team in terms of formations and tactical complexities deployed. It’s one of the reasons he illustrated such composure in possession against Ajax on Tuesday night, and it’s perhaps the key reason he got the nod in this game over Adrian.
The 22-year-old made 35 passes Tuesday night, a number much higher than From Adrian average this season of 22. Despite the increase in number, Kelleher also boasted a slightly better success rate on those passes.
In his press conference on Friday afternoon before this weekend’s game against the Wolves, Klopp indicated that Kelleher was scheduled to start over on Sunday, and based on all of the above, it’s easy to see why.
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