Klopp Talk: Decent Start for Alisson

No matter what number he wears on the back of his shirt, Alisson is Liverpool’s number one.

It remains to be seen whether he will prove to be a success, but in terms of raw talent, the Brazilian is clearly the most talented goalkeeper the club have had since at least Pepe Reina. This is someone widely seen as among the best in the world in his position, someone who can make goalkeeper a position of strength at Liverpool, finally.

Alisson’s new manager Jürgen Klopp didn’t go quite that far, but he was still “really pleased” with what he saw from the keeper in his first game against Napoli.

“He’s quite a good footballer -- probably as good as the goalie he is!”, ESPN reports Klopp as saying. ““An all-round good performance for the first game, especially because I think everyone can imagine what happens inside a human being in a situation like that, playing the first game after all the things that were written about it and all that stuff.”

“Playing against Napoli, it was the strongest side we played so far, 100 percent”, Klopp added in a move that definitely wasn’t to irritate Jose Mourinho, “they had nearly a full squad here and it can look completely different”.

Going back to our new goalkeeper, Klopp added that he “was very, very aware of all situations when he was needed behind a high last line. We involved him a lot in our build up, but we need to get used to that a little bit more still -- that’s clear [and] he needs to get used to it a little bit more, but there were a lot of good build-up situations, so that helps.

“But at the end he’s there to catch balls and he did that in all the decisive moments today, so I’m really pleased.”

Liverpool wanted a top quality goalkeeper, so they went out and spent a lot of money to get one. Time will tell if this was a good move, but all the signs so far are that we have someone of real quality here.