Liverpool registered their 4th successive win of the Premier League by beating Leicester City 2-1. This was the first time the club won their first four league matches since the 1978-79 season. However, a mistake from Alisson nearly cost them the match. Goals from Roberto Firmino and Sadio Mane gave The Reds a 2-0 lead by half-time. Then, in the 63rd minute, Alisson tried to dribble past Kelechi Iheanacho in the penalty area. However, Iheanacho dispossessed him and passed the ball to Rachid Ghezzal who scored.
Nevertheless, the Reds managed to keep Leicester at bay and win the match. Following the match, Jurgen Klopp said that Alisson’s mistake was something he saw coming after his risky dribbling against Brighton last weekend. Klopp said, “We all have to learn from that, not only himself. It was clear last week that it would happen one day – I didn’t think it would happen the next week immediately. But we could have cleared the situation twice before, then they gave the ball back to him and yes, he could have shot it away as well.
It was a bit that mood in the whole team, play it back, play it back, play it back and in the end, it’s the goalie. He knows it was his mistake, of course, he’s man enough to get that. I told him that the best game to do it was this one because we won it, so it’s all fine now. We know that now we have ticked that box as well. Do not play all the balls to Alisson, but how cool was he after that when the crowd tried to make him a bit nervous, which is of course normal. It was his goal, that is how it is, but no problem with that.”
Klopp also said that he was expecting a tough match and was happy with his team’s performance. “I think it was a deserved win, we had a brilliant start to the game. We played really good football and attacked them in the right way – we were there in half-spaces and were flexible. We created chances, big chances. It got a bit more difficult as the pitch got drier – we should not be influenced by that, but we were today to be honest – and then we scored the second before the half-time whistle, which is of course good.
But it was clear this game was not decided and we had to do better in the second half, and we did not. We controlled the game a bit deeper, we had the counter-attacks and did not finish them off. We gave a goal away and that keeps the game exciting till the end. But I am completely happy – if winning away games in the Premier League would be easy, everybody would be doing it constantly.”
Despite a strong start to the season, Klopp believes there is still room for improvement. He said, “If somebody had told me four weeks ago that you will have 12 points from four games, then I would buy it. Having 12 points and knowing you can and must improve, is good.”
Liverpool will now have a daunting task as their next match is against Tottenham Hotspur on September 15.
