Liverpool’s record with and without Alisson

For the first time since arriving as the most expensive goalkeeper in football history in 2018, Alisson’s status as Liverpool’s number one was briefly questioned this summer. “Briefly” being the operative word.

Liverpool completed the signing of Euro 2024 star Giorgi Mamardashvili at the end of August before quickly sending him back on loan to current club Valencia for the rest of the season. The Georgian goalscorer may be Liverpool’s goalkeeper of the future, though AlissonThe status of the leading man of the moment was established during his first conversation with Arne Slot.

The fickle fortunes of football ignore the best laid plans of any club. On the eve of the October international break, Alisson collapsed to the turf clutching his hamstrings as he pounded the grass in frustration with yet another muscle injury. This is not the first forced sacking of the trophy-laden goalkeeper’s tenure at Anfield, but it has come at an inopportune time as the Reds prepare for games against Chelsea and Arsenal. Here’s how Liverpool have fared without their first choice in years past.

Alisson didn’t miss a minute of the first Premier League campaign, keeping 21 clean sheets and conceding just 22 goals as he won the Golden Glove. The member of a family of goalkeepers – including his brother, mother, father and even great-grandfather – came within a point of winning a top-flight title. This great honor would come the following season.

It wasn’t until a trip to Watford on the eve of the COVID-19 lockdown that Alisson lost his first Premier League game against a club not called Manchester City. The bitter taste of defeat became all the more familiar as Liverpool stumbled into a prolonged slump in front of an empty Anfield during the ghostly setting of the 2020/21 campaign.

Although the Reds failed to defend their first league title in 30 years, they managed to salvage Champions League qualification thanks largely to Alisson’s memorable winner against West Bromwich Albion in May 2021. “I’ve never seen anything like that, good technique,” said Klopp after watching the gloved figure flick a perfect header past his opposite number. “I wasn’t sure what I was seeing.”

Alisson’s best work has come from his own penalty area. The Brazilian won his second Golden Glove in 2021/22, but enjoyed arguably his best campaign the following year. Despite slipping to fifth in the league while conceding more than a goal per game for the first time in his Premier League career, Alisson’s underlying numbers exploded.

The former Roma keeper shipped 41 goals (not including own goals) but faced chances that would have resulted in 51 goals against an average marksman, for FBRef. This was the best record of any goalkeeper in Europe’s top five leagues.

Klopp was not alone in hailing Alisson as “the best goalkeeper in the world“Last term and Slot has had little reason to lose faith in his number one this season.

Five minutes before half-time in the first game of his second season, Alisson made a stop against Norwich City in August 2019. Liverpool were forced to turn to Adrian, who had only joined the club four days before Not only did the Merseyside giants avoid defeat during Alisson’s nine-game absence that season, they didn’t even drop a point.

In fact, the Reds have lost just two of the 28 top-flight games without their first-choice goalkeeper since his arrival in 2018. The first of those few changes was the infamous and insane 7-2 at Aston Villa in October 2020.

Adrian set the chaos in motion with a misplaced pass inside the first four minutes that Jack Grealish headed over. “We played into their hands,” said a smoking Klopp after the game. The former West Ham keeper was not at his best, but the whole team pitched in on that unforgettable afternoon. As Klopp bluntly put it: “We’ve lost the plot a bit.”

There was no collective defeat of either in Liverpool’s 1-0 Brighton in February 2021, the only other Alisson-less league game the Reds have lost, but it did represent the Seagulls’ first win at Anfield since 1982.

On the face of it, Liverpool have performed better without their undisputed first-choice goalkeeper. The Reds have a superior win percentage and an improved points per game ratio during Alisson’s sporadic absences.

However, these victories have been much more porous. Liverpool have kept just eight top-flight sheets without Alisson while posting a considerably higher goal average. In addition, the Reds have also been fortunate to face teams inside the relegation zone in more than a third of the games Alisson has missed (double that when the Brazilian is in the team) .

Slot’s side have had no such luck during the number one’s impending absence, with back-to-back league games against Chelsea and Arsenal either side of a Champions League tied with unbeaten Bundesliga outfit RB Leipzig.

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