Carragher aimed jibe at ex-player when criticising Liverpool ace before yesterday’s win

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Jamie Carragher expressed his ‘worry’ at Alisson Becker’s save percentage record before Liverpool’s 2-0 win over Chelsea yesterday.

The former Reds defender seemingly aimed a jibe at Simon Mignolet on Sky Sports Premier League (20/09/20 at 1:35 pm) because he stated that Alisson’s recent performances were like having the Belgian back in goal.

Before Liverpool’s win and clean sheet at Stamford Bridge, Jurgen Klopp’s men had conceded 19 goals from their last 12 league matches, and their man between the sticks, had worst save percentage in the league.

Whilst Alisson, 27, didn’t have much goalmouth action to deal with on Sunday, he did save a penalty in the second half, which would have seemingly put Carragher’s previous ‘big concern’ to an end.

“A big concern [on Liverpool’s defensive record since their defeat to Watford],” Carragher told Sky Sports. “None of those [defensive] stats [since their defeat to Watford and up until yesterday’s game] look great. But the worst one is the save percentage [50% before the Chelsea win].

“It just shows you how important a goalkeeper is. We talk about the Chelsea goalkeeper, and that’s why I don’t think Chelsea can win the league. But basically Liverpool for the last 12 games have had Mignolet back in goal.

“That’s what it is. That’s what it has gone back to. When Liverpool had problems beforehand, Klopp rectified that by bringing Alisson in. But Alisson, towards the end of last season, is not making the saves he should be making. Whether that’s a blip and he’ll get back to normal. It’s not something you want to get too carried away with, but it’s certainly a slight worry.”

It has to be remembered that Chelsea were down to 10 men for the second half, so Frank Lampard’s men weren’t exactly going to pepper the champions with shots.

But the sign of a great goalkeeper is how they react in crucial situations. Alisson didn’t have much action to deal with until the penalty was awarded, and at 2-0, he stepped up and saved the spot-kick.

If Liverpool had conceded at that moment then the whole momentum of the game would have changed and anything could have happened, but Alisson literally stopped from such a situation occurring.