It was Jarrod Bowen who ran through on goal. West Ham had beaten Liverpool’s offside trap. But not their goalkeeper. Alisson Becker saved. Bowen became his latest victim. Just another example of why the Brazilian is the best in those moments.
“He is onside,” said Jamie Carragher on co-commentary for Sky Sports. “But he is up against the best goalkeeper in the world in terms of one-on-one situations.” He is right. But what exactly is it about Alisson that makes him better at it than other goalkeepers?
Against Bowen, Alisson had a good starting position but what was striking was how swift he was to move off the line and smother the shot. The England forward did not exactly dally but by the time he had brought the ball under control, Alisson was upon him.
Alisson closed down Jarrod Bowen remarkably quickly in this situation
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However, that is surely a goalkeeping skill that is easily borrowed. If it were as straightforward as rushing from the goal whenever an opponent was racing through then Alisson would not be such an obvious outlier. Others would simply copy his approach.
The secret is that in a split-second Alisson made an assessment that Bowen was having to look down at the ball rather than the goalkeeper to ensure he controlled it. The calculation in his mind was immediate – that was the time to close the angle at speed.
Watch another recent example from Anfield from another 2-1 win – this time against Wolves – and consider how differently Alisson handled it when Marshall Munetsi was put through on goal. This time, he did not run out at first. Instead, he opted to wait.
Alisson is not even in the picture as Marshall Munetsi runs through for Wolves
The reason? Because Munetsi was staring straight at him. Alisson was stationary when the Wolves player glanced in his direction, almost taking a breath to compose himself. It was once Munetsi looked at the ball that Alisson sprang forward to shut him down.
It was an exceptional save because the shot was struck cleanly enough with some power. But we are at the stage now where it was hardly a surprise that Munetsi was denied. “Not because of his quality but because of the goalkeeper,” said Carragher.
Alisson opts to wait before making his decision to rush out of the goal
As Marshall Munetsi goes to look at the ball, that is when Alisson makes his move
As Marshall Munetsi prepares to shoot, Alisson is on him to smother the chance
FREE TO WATCH: Highlights from Liverpool’s match against Wolves in the Premier League
It takes not only extraordinary intelligence to make the right decisions in these moments but a rare calmness too. Speaking to Daniel Pavan, Alisson’s goalkeeper coach for eight years in his native Brazil from his first days at Internacional, it was always a special gift.
“He is a very cold goalkeeper,” Pavan explained. “I call him the ice man because of his coolness and his calm personality. It is very hard to point out a weak spot in Alisson. He is a complete goalkeeper with a mastery of all the fundamentals of his position.
“From the beginning, he had a strong personality, always a leader in the dressing room. At Inter, he was captain of the senior side when he was only 21. This personality, combined with his technique, has always been what separated him from the rest.”
A conversation with another of his former goalkeeping coaches highlighted much the same qualities. Rogerio Maia has worked at the highest level but picks out Alisson as “a goalkeeper with high levels of concentration and leadership skills” like so many greats.
But it is this coolness that is so unusual, even among the elite. Every human instinct when an object is hurtling towards you at close range tells you to flap or parry to push it away. Alisson is a picture of calm. It is almost counter-intuitive to remain so steady.
It is a quality that leaves even his peers in awe, as a chat with Max Crocombe, a fellow international goalkeeper himself, made clear. “It is that kind of focus when you are defending the goal because it is such a hectic moment, those bits of composure.”
The now 31-year-old New Zealander added: “You just think he is letting someone smack a ball at him from two yards and he does not even react with his hands, he just lets it hit his chest and things like that. His composure inside the box is unbelievable.”
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There are characteristics beyond his one-on-one ability, of course. Pavan talks of his “exceptional technique” and a “natural talent above the norm” while Crocombe notes that it is not just his speed moving forward and back but across the goal line as well.
“He is so quick around the goal. I do not know how many times you watch him and he makes it look so easy, it hardly even gets an applause off the commentators or anything.” His recent efforts in Paris were rightly lauded but were still a good example of that.
Away to Paris Saint-Germain in March, Alisson was the player of the match in Liverpool’s 1-0 win but it was telling that some of the saves did not look that spectacular. Then you remember that the shot had been cracked towards the corner of the net from 20 yards out.
This is where the expected-goals data can help us because it calculates the likelihood of a ball finding the net given the location of a strike on the pitch and on the goal. Unsurprisingly, those numbers tell us that Alisson prevents more goals than the rest.
Crocombe sums it up. “He just a complete goalkeeper. Just really good at everything.” But it is still those one-on-one situations that best illustrate his brilliance. When the smart betting is supposed to be against the goalkeeper, the ice man tilts the odds his way.
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