Topic: Álisson Ramsés Becker

[Dim Glas]

How could anyone miss out on Van Dijk train?  Utterly bonkers.

He was a colossus at Southampton, we were held 0-0 at St. Mary's once & it was completely down to him. A few games & videos would've had you sold.

As for DM, Klopp liked one at Dortmund (while the other midfielder in the double pivot was more of a distributor), so it always looked like he didn't have the money here to immediately look at this position especially when other positions were in dire straits. So, he did with a makeshift DM until he got one. It was always going to happen, I don't see the surprise/argument there.

It was more the fee than the player    I now almost feel a bit bad for Southampton, cos it ended up being daylight robbery.   But at the time it seemed nuts to me.

There was some argument against DM's here! Like you, I didn't see the surprise, being as he'd always had one.

Alisson thread been a bit hijacked here! So here is a photo of our great giant of a goalie:





 

[The G in Gerrard]

Love this picture. Also if it continued Virgil falls to floor in celebration which was good

[BobPaisley3]

Don’t know where I heard this but apparently we have Christian Doni to thank for making people at the club aware of AB. Obviously he had some good seasons in Italy but we’d been watching for a while.

[Crosby Nick]

??

Ask Seedorf if you really don’t know.

[Sangria]

Three words:

Positioning, positioning, and footwork.

I have a question on positioning. Is it better to position yourself roughly in the centre of the angle? Or is it justifiable to leave one side more exposed and prompt the attacker to put it there?

[Sangria]

His handling is fantastic too. He holds on to shots at him consistently & puts enough punch in his clearances.

And so far, we've not even mentioned his passing.

Alisson and Reina at their peak. One plays in goal, the other plays in midfield. Who plays where?

[stockdam]

I have a question on positioning. Is it better to position yourself roughly in the centre of the angle? Or is it justifiable to leave one side more exposed and prompt the attacker to put it there?

I’m no goalkeeper but as a striker I’d rather that the keeper gave me more to aim at as I’d be confident that I would score. Therefore in my opinion a good keeper would be covering both sides equally.

However when I did play keeper (not often), I would always feign to dive one way for a penalty and then dive the other way. That’s a tactic that would be easy to spot and so would be counterproductive. I therefore would say that a good keeper would cover both sides equally.

[oxenstierna]

I have a question on positioning. Is it better to position yourself roughly in the centre of the angle? Or is it justifiable to leave one side more exposed and prompt the attacker to put it there?

Was a GK at a decent level back in my day. Positioning is all relative to the striker/ball, but generally as central as possible, though individuals might fool the striker to put it at one side

[Sangria]

Was a GK at a decent level back in my day. Positioning is all relative to the striker/ball, but generally as central as possible, though individuals might fool the striker to put it at one side

I went through periods of conventional positioning in the centre of the angle, and leaving one side more open to tempt the attacker into going for that side. Playing at the low level I did, the latter was more effective, especially as you didn't have nousy forwards following up the predictable shot across goal. Leaving the near side more open is, of course, suicidal (as you have less reaction time).

[oxenstierna]

I went through periods of conventional positioning in the centre of the angle, and leaving one side more open to tempt the attacker into going for that side. Playing at the low level I did, the latter was more effective, especially as you didn't have nousy forwards following up the predictable shot across goal. Leaving the near side more open is, of course, suicidal (as you have less reaction time).

[/b]

It might be effective in the sunday league, but not in professional football against clinical strikers with an eye for small openings. Tho I could see some crazy South American keepers in the 80s doing small ploys like these, especially at penalties etc 

[rafathegaffa83]

Alisson and Reina at their peak. One plays in goal, the other plays in midfield. Who plays where?

Reina played in midfield in a preseason game for us once

[PhaseOfPlay]

I have a question on positioning. Is it better to position yourself roughly in the centre of the angle? Or is it justifiable to leave one side more exposed and prompt the attacker to put it there?

Here's a handy diagram, but your mileage, as the Yanks say, may vary.



As you can see, you want to slightly cheat to your near post when the ball is off centre, but not by too much. "Centre of the angle and one step out" is how I used to coach it, but then again, I coached keepers in reference to outfield players rather than as a natural keeper coach (which I'm not - I was an attacker so I coached keepers to do things attackers hate, rather than what might be "technically correct")

[harleydanger]

As a keeper the thing that dictated positioning the most was the body shape and direction of the attacker. For example, someone cutting in is generally going far post, someone heading to touch is going near post. But more important than horizontal positioning is vertical positioning imo. If the attacker is on the 18yard line, being on the 6 yard line instead of the goal line reduces the size of the available goal by something like 30%. Good keepers balance vertical positioning much better than average keepers.

[Sangria]

What about the near post/far post debate? Commentators often blame goalkeepers for letting in goals at the near post, but surely a near post shot means less reaction time than a far post one. But attackers are taught to go for the far post, presumably to allow ricochets into a danger area where other attackers may be incoming, whereas a near post shot that's saved will be going out.

[Jack The Lad]

Nah wouldn’t want Pepe back, not after what Achterberg did to him

Well it’s all gone quiet on the Achterberg front this season hasn’t it?  Maybe the previous keepers after Reina were just shite, and like the old saying goes, you can’t polish a turd.

And what did Achteberg do to him? 

[Jack The Lad]

Ask Seedorf if you really don’t know.

I don’t think Seedorf is a member on here, so what did he say?

[oojason]

[Dim Glas]

Ali seemed to aquire more and more accessories as the parade went on. I think he was giving Kloppo a run for his money with the beers too!

He's a nutter, as all great goalies should be.

[CraigDS]

He was the highlight of the bus parade for me. Just stood towards the front, flag wrapped around his head, one leg up on a chair, beer in one hand and fist pumping with his other 

Good keepers always seem like good drummers - the slightly mad ones of the group!

[clinical]

Considering his first choice was probably Real Madrid at the start of last summer I bet he's so happy they decided not to pay the money now.

[Grand Chilli]

Forget the skills in keeping the ball out of the net, he was worth the transfer fee for that infectious giggle/laugh I've heard in a few videos over the weekend!

[Raaphael]

He`s cool as fuck.

[duvva 💅]

I think there’s a good chance he’s going to be even better next season. Just felt in the last month or two of the season he seemed to become more assured, confident and commanding. Not that he hadn’t made big saves before then but he made some important ones down the stretch.

Think he’ll always take risks the mad bastard but he’ll get away with most. We really are sorted for the best part of the next 10 years which is a great platform for our teams over that period to hopefully become dominant and win many more trophy’s.

[Zoomers]

World class, played a tremendous part in our strong season.

[jooneyisdagod]

He's tremendous. He and VVD are my two favourite players in the team now and that's a shock even to me because until these guys came into the squad, I don't think I ever had a defender in my list of favourite players. I've always, religiously favoured attacking players. He's a proper world class keeper and he seems to be such a brilliant character around the dressing room as well.

[redgriffin73]

[PoetryInMotion]

Don’t know where I heard this but apparently we have Christian Doni to thank for making people at the club aware of AB. Obviously he had some good seasons in Italy but we’d been watching for a while.

Wow, Doni has done his share then 

[PoetryInMotion]

Alisson and Reina at their peak. One plays in goal, the other plays in midfield. Who plays where?

 

Tricky one, I'd take both of them in goal if that's possible. We aren't conceding a goal again 

If we have to put one of the two in midfield, I'd take Reina in midfield and keep Alisson in goal. Even though their sweeping skills are roughly around the same and both are incredible passers, I think Alisson's handling is a bit better, so I'd let Reina dictate the middle 

[PoetryInMotion]

He's tremendous. He and VVD are my two favourite players in the team now and that's a shock even to me because until these guys came into the squad, I don't think I ever had a defender in my list of favourite players. I've always, religiously favoured attacking players. He's a proper world class keeper and he seems to be such a brilliant character around the dressing room as well.

If there's any time that's hard for Liverpool fans to have favourites, it's now, and I don't mean it in a negative sense. Around 9 years ago, under Hodgson, it was kind of true in a negative way, but even then we had Gerrard and Torres. Carra as well.

But right now, Klopp and Edwards have built a team.

Apart from Alisson and Van Dijk (who could outright be our best players), we have Robertson who is the best Left Back now and is probably the most 'complete' full-back we've had in decades and decades. And then we have a 20 year old superstar in Trent and Matip is increasingly becoming a great CB partner for Van Dijk. Not to mention we have Gomez (if he shrugs his injury problems, he could become the Trent version at CB) and Lovren (World Cup finalist, probably the best 3rd/4th choice CB ever in the PL).

Going to midfield, we have Fabinho, who has quickly become one of the fan favourites in his first season with exceptional tackling ability & range of passing. Hendo and Wijnaldum are finally getting the credits they've always deserved, they've been fantastic and under-appreciated for a long long time now. Then, we have Milner, the ever-reliable dura-cell bunny, the senior-most player in the squad and his ribena. And, not to forget Keita, who has plenty to offer in the next few years.

Nothing more needs to be said about our front-three, while Shaqiri and Origi have contributed in crucial moments this season.

This is a great core and squad that we have, we just need 2/3 additions (LB, F and maybe a creative midfielder?) and having favourite players in this squad is really hard.

Full credits to FSG, Klopp and Edwards for the transfer side of it, while credits to Pep, Krawietz and the entire staff for the training side of it. And to the players, of course.

[PoetryInMotion]

I’m no goalkeeper but as a striker I’d rather that the keeper gave me more to aim at as I’d be confident that I would score. Therefore in my opinion a good keeper would be covering both sides equally.

However when I did play keeper (not often), I would always feign to dive one way for a penalty and then dive the other way. That’s a tactic that would be easy to spot and so would be counterproductive. I therefore would say that a good keeper would cover both sides equally.

If we're talking specifically about penalties, in terms of striking, I think those who really succeed consistently are the ones who are extremely consistent in hitting the correct areas with the correct power (Gerrard/Milner), or those who're extremely unpredictable and out-think the Goalkeeper (Balotelli - he had a fantastic penalty record and his run-up confused GKs). The ones who are vulnerable are those who have a pattern in their penalty taking - plenty of ordinary takers have patterns. Salah is going through a phase where he is hitting quite a few of his penalties down the middle, but he will be found out in a while if he continues that, he needs to change it a bit and mix it up.

The same applies to Goalkeepers. The really good ones cannot have a pattern in their diving for penalties. They should randomize their diving as much as possible, unless their research team says something specific about the striker who is up against the GK. There are some teams who don't quite research as much as they need to in all departments, so players with penalty patterns may get away with that, but there are sides who give importance to little details like this player shoots 80% to the left or this GK saves more with his legs, & so on and those players get into trouble when found out. Some GKs try to play percentages and plan to dive the same side, but if it's a common behavior for a GK, then he's a goner.

[Sangria]

If we're talking specifically about penalties, in terms of striking, I think those who really succeed consistently are the ones who are extremely consistent in hitting the correct areas with the correct power (Gerrard/Milner), or those who're extremely unpredictable and out-think the Goalkeeper (Balotelli - he had a fantastic penalty record and his run-up confused GKs). The ones who are vulnerable are those who have a pattern in their penalty taking - plenty of ordinary takers have patterns. Salah is going through a phase where he is hitting quite a few of his penalties down the middle, but he will be found out in a while if he continues that, he needs to change it a bit and mix it up.

The same applies to Goalkeepers. The really good ones cannot have a pattern in their diving for penalties. They should randomize their diving as much as possible, unless their research team says something specific about the striker who is up against the GK. There are some teams who don't quite research as much as they need to in all departments, so players with penalty patterns may get away with that, but there are sides who give importance to little details like this player shoots 80% to the left or this GK saves more with his legs, & so on and those players get into trouble when found out. Some GKs try to play percentages and plan to dive the same side, but if it's a common behavior for a GK, then he's a goner.

I think a stint in goal helps the penalty taker. Without the distractions of moving markers and runners, it's purely a case of striking the ball. When you've had some experience keeping goal, you get a good sense of where the sticks are. You can set your body to hit the ball in one direction, slightly inflect your foot on contact to hit the ball in the other direction, and yet be confident of hitting the target. You don't even need to look at where you're aiming.

[Xanderzone]

Mad that he played in a Roma team that conceded 5 against us (7 in 2 legs), Van Dijk played in a Southampton team that conceded 6 against us and Robertson played in a Hull team that conceded 5 against us.

And yet those 3 men were signed by Klopp and they've transformed Liverpool from a side that conceded at will to probably the most robust in Europe.

[Paul_h]

Love this photo
Like a farther hugging his baby 🤗
He was outstanding in the final and semi-final at Anfield ...
Let’s win it again next year..

[rafathegaffa83]

He was the highlight of the bus parade for me. Just stood towards the front, flag wrapped around his head, one leg up on a chair, beer in one hand and fist pumping with his other 

Good keepers always seem like good drummers - the slightly mad ones of the group!

And with that said

https://twitter.com/SamueILFC/status/1136638194777251841

[Ravishing Rick Dude]

Love this photo
Like a farther hugging his baby 🤗
He was outstanding in the final and semi-final at Anfield ...
Let’s win it again next year..

I don't see any reason why we shouldn't win it again next year. This team exists for great achievements.

[carven]

Tricky one, I'd take both of them in goal if that's possible. We aren't conceding a goal again 

If we have to put one of the two in midfield, I'd take Reina in midfield and keep Alisson in goal. Even though their sweeping skills are roughly around the same and both are incredible passers, I think Alisson's handling is a bit better, so I'd let Reina dictate the middle 

Maybe not! Have you forgotten's his brief cameo in a friendly during the Rafa days? 

[harleydanger]

Alison is more of a 10 i think, Pepe more of a 6

[Red Beret]

Tricky one, I'd take both of them in goal if that's possible. We aren't conceding a goal again 

If we have to put one of the two in midfield, I'd take Reina in midfield and keep Alisson in goal. Even though their sweeping skills are roughly around the same and both are incredible passers, I think Alisson's handling is a bit better, so I'd let Reina dictate the middle 

Nah. I've seen Reina play in midfield. He's shit.

Not sure I'd put Alisson in midfield. Better as Virgil's CB partner? He's got some proper skills on him though.

[the_red_pill]

Well it’s all gone quiet on the Achterberg front this season hasn’t it?  Maybe the previous keepers after Reina were just shite, and like the old saying goes, you can’t polish a turd.

And what did Achterberg do to him? 

Didn't Klopp mention that it was Achterberg who just would not stop hounding the club to just sign Allison? (even though he prolly already was the favorite)
I think I read that early in the season.

[Dim Glas]

And with that said

https://twitter.com/SamueILFC/status/1136638194777251841

that picture below the original tweet, him with the case of beer, explains a lot about that day    I just loved how he was adding more and more accessories as the parade went on. Started out like everyone else, ended up with a flag tied around his head, and about 10 scarves draped over his shoulders.

Mad as a box of frogs.