Liverpool goalkeeping coach John Achterberg has lauded and backed Alisson Becker’s form this season, after the Brazilian made a costly mistake against Real Madrid.
Speaking with the Liverpool Echo, the 51-year-old hailed praise on the Reds no.1, claiming these sorts of mistakes happen as a shot-stopper.
“As a goalkeeper, it can always happen,” Achterberg said.
“It was a high-intensity game with high-quality players, who were closing the keepers down quickly. You must make split-second decisions in such situations. You don’t want mistakes to happen, but unfortunately that’s part of the game.”
“He is one of the best, if not the best, goalkeepers around. Even they have a mistake in them sometimes. That’s part of football; there is no goalie who makes no mistakes.
“Ali is pretty good, consistent and one of the standout players in the team at present. It’s a shame it happened in this game, but we must focus on the next game.”
Achterberg full of praise for Alisson
Whilst it was a poor mistake from the 30-year-old, he has undoubtedly been one of Liverpool’s best players this season – if not the best.
Thus far this season, the Reds have, on the whole, been extremely poor. Across all areas of the pitch, Jurgen Klopp’s side have been picked apart.
However, the one player who can keep their head held high is Alisson, as without him, the Merseyside outfit would be in the bottom half of the table.
As it stands, Liverpool are seventh in the Premier League. They have lost just seven games all season and have only conceded 28 goals.
This makes the team seem like they’ve performed far better than they actually have, as third-place Manchester United have conceded the same number of times.
Instead, this is due to Alisson’s brilliance, rather than the Reds’ defensive abilities.
He bails the side out on numerous occasions each week, so it’s more than fair to allow the odd mistake every so often.
There’s a reason he’s been labelled as one of the best keepers in the world, and ‘outstanding’ by various pundits, including Gary Neville.