Pablo Fornals has shed light on a conversation he had with Alisson Becker after missing a great chance during Liverpool’s game against West Ham United.
The Spaniard was giving his thoughts to whufc.com after the game. During the match, with Liverpool 1-0 up, Fornals had been given the chance to bring his team level in the first-half.
But his dink over Alisson wasn’t strong enough to beat Trent Alexander-Arnold who cleared off the line.
Now, Fornals says he and Alisson were waiting for each other to make the first move.
“Well, I was talking with him (Alisson) after the game and I was waiting for him to do something to let me decide what to do and he was waiting for me to decide what I wanted to do,” said the West Ham player.
“Finally I tried to chip the ball over and he got a touch in the last moment, and this made the ball go slower to the goal and Alexander-Arnold had time to save the ball.”
It was a big moment in the game and a huge relief to Liverpool fans as Trent hooked the ball away. It didn’t look as though Alisson got much on the chip. But if he did, it goes down as another great save from the Brazilian.
Liverpool get away with one
Jurgen Klopp wasn’t pleased with how easily his team gave the opportunity up to West Ham. The Liverpool boss called on Alexander-Arnold to improve his positioning in such situations.
“The chance they had in the first half, that was bad defending from us, because (there was) no pressure on the ball,” Klopp told BBC Sport after the game.
“You cannot have a high line if the last line is then not closed, Trent was too wide still.”
With the high-line Klopp likes his defence to play, this is something of an occupational hazard.
It was alarming to see Fornals running through with no-one between him and Alisson for 30 yards or so.
But the flip-side was that the 26-year-old potentially had too much time to decide what to do with his shot. When facing a goalkeeper of Alisson’s ability, the chance isn’t as clear as it might at first seem.
Liverpool also got away with Manuel Lanzini missing a guilt-edged chance in the second-half.
With The Reds failing to create much in the way of clear openings themselves, they were a little lucky to come away with the win on Saturday evening.
But Klopp won’t be too worried. Liverpool have largely been excellent recently and West Ham are a good side who had already beaten them this season.
Three points was the main objective of the day and three points were duly collected. On to a big European night at Anfield on Tuesday and hopefully a place in the last eight of the Champions League.
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