Ben Foster now makes claim about Alisson after watching him play in Liverpool vs Man City

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Former goalkeeper Ben Foster has had his say on the controversy surrounding Liverpool’s Alisson Becker last weeked.

Alisson was at the centre of a big decision during Liverpool’s 1-1 draw with Manchester City on Saturday. City were incensed to see Ruben Dias’ goal chalked off for a foul on the ‘keeper from Manuel Akanji.

The incident has sparked debate ever since the weekend, and now speaking on his Cycling GK podcast on YouTube, Foster has weighed in. Given his experience as a top-level goalie, it’s nice to hear a voice of reason chime in here.

“What I have to say is it’s a foul [on Alisson], it’s as simple as that, it’s a foul, and I’ll explain why,” said the 40-year-old. “Until you’ve been a goalkeeper, until you’ve taken your feet off the ground and you have your eyes on that ball, and you’re putting your hands up there, the second somebody not even grabs your arm, and I mean this, if somebody gives you a little nudge in your waist, in your leg, anything, your body just moves.

“It completely moves. And when you’re trying to catch a ball that’s travelling at 40, 50, 60, 70 miles an hour, the margin for error is so tiny. It’s minuscule. To actually be able to catch the ball at that moment in time when somebody’s touched you is near on impossible. It’s hard enough at the best of times to catch the thing. But when somebody’s nudged you as well, all bets are off.

“It’s a foul, it’s as simple as that. I understand where people are coming from and saying it’s the tiniest of touches. He’s only just grabbed his arm. It’s enough. Honestly, it’s enough.”

Foster ends Alisson debate

Some – mainly City fans – still won’t be happy with Foster’s explanation here. They seem to be adamant that Akanji’s jump with Alisson was absolutely not enough to spill the ball from the Liverpool man’s hands.

But given that Foster must have experienced this exact situation plenty of times across his more than 300 Premier League appearances, we’ll take his word for it.

Anyone who’s been watching football over the past 20 years or so could tell you that what Akanji did is a foul.

Had Dias’ prod home been allowed to stand, it would have been an incredible move away from that precedent.

Nevertheless, we’re happy to concede that the ruling is a particularly soft one. Akanji did not leave a lot on Alisson at all. But as Foster points out, it doesn’t take much to send a goalkeeper completely off balance like that. The Swiss wasn’t even challenging or looking at the ball. It’s a foul.

There are plenty of legitimate ways to score from a corner without having to resort to sticking a man on the goalie, as City did on more than one occasion on Saturday.

If you do that, you shouldn’t be at all surprised to see fouls called against you more often than not.

No doubt this will be an incident that City supporters point to time and time again in the future. But for us, Foster has put it to bed completely. He’s a goalkeeper, you’re not. We’ll listen to the experts on this one.