Steve McManaman has slammed Alisson for his "amateurish" display against Manchester City, insisting the Liverpool goalkeeper "had the worst game that anyone has seen in the Premier League", but Georginio Wijnaldum has spoken out in defence of the Brazilian custodian.
Alisson had a day to forget as Liverpool suffered a third successive defeat at Anfield, this time at the hands of Pep Guardiola's City.
The South American gifted the Blues two of their goals in a 4-1 victory which saw them move 10 points clear of the defending champions at the top of the Premier League.
What was said?
Former Liverpool midfielder McManaman told Premier League Productions post-match: "The goalkeeper has possibly had the worst game that anyone has seen in the Premier League and for Liverpool.
"They get back into the game at 1-1 and then inexplicably because he just throws the game away – not throws the game away they’re the wrong words – but he puts the game out of Liverpool’s reach with really amateurish mistakes.
"It’s very unlike him. We know he missed the last game through illness but he was back in today. Even for the fourth goal which you don’t want to take away from a lovely strike from Phil Foden but you’re almost thinking that’s a mistake by the goalkeeper too. It was really uncharacteristic play."
Reds star Wijnaldum has sought to defend his club colleague by telling Liverpool's official website: “When you play football, you always know everyone can make a mistake. If you look at the whole season, I don’t know how many players made a mistake.
“And if you look at the other side, he [Alisson] saved us so much. It will always happen that a goalkeeper makes a mistake. You just try to fix it in the game.
“We were more disappointed that we couldn’t change it around for him because if you look at since he was here how many times he saved us – he won trophies for us – it’s difficult that we couldn’t change it around for him.”
What were Alisson's mistakes?
Liverpool had not long got themselves back into the game at Anfield before Alisson's first error, with a Mohamed Salah penalty having cancelled out Ilkay Gundogan's opener.
The Brazil international tried to get the ball upfield quickly after receiving a back pass from Fabinho, but fluffed his lines, with the ball ending up straight at Phil Foden's feet.
Foden then danced his way into the box before teeing up Gundogan for his second of the game, leaving Alisson with his head in his hands.
That moment clearly affected the Reds' keeper, as he repeated the same mistake moments later, this time passing the ball straight to Bernardo Silva to set up Raheem Sterling for the simplest of close-range headers.
What's next for Liverpool?
Liverpool will now benefit from a week off to dust themselves down before a must-win trip to Leicester City on February 13.
Klopp's men are now only one point ahead of Chelsea and West Ham in fourth, and will be in real danger of missing out on Champions League qualification if they fail to rediscover a consistent streak.
Further reading
- 'A big part of the game was brilliant' - Klopp bemoans individual mistakes that undid Liverpool efforts (Feb 7)
- 'Hit the stands' - Klopp reveals what he told Alisson after Liverpool goalkeeper's Manchester City nightmare (Feb 7)
- Unstoppable? Gundogan and Foden end Anfield curse as surging Man City finish off Liverpool's title defence (Feb 7)
.jpg?auto=webp&format=pjpg&width=640&quality=60)
