Liverpool maintained their 100% start to the Premier League season when they beat Arsenal on Saturday evening.
Sam Allardyce has defended Adrian after he came in for criticism for his performance during Liverpool’s 3-1 win against Arsenal on Saturday.
The former Premier League manager also claimed that midfielder Jordan Henderson was more ‘reliable’ than Virgil van Dijk during the clash against Unai Emery’s men.
Adrian, who joined the Reds on a free transfer in the summer, has had to fill in for the injured Alisson Becker during these past few weeks, with his distribution coming into question.
Speaking to Game Day Verdict on TalkSport (24/08/2019 at 7:45 pm), Allardyce shared his thoughts on Adrian, but before that, he praised the ‘outstanding’ Henderson.
“Jordan Henderson as the most reliable performance from start to finish,” Allardyce told TalkSport. “That was very close with Virgil van Dijk. But obviously, Van Dijk didn’t have an awful lot to do.
“But Jordan Henderson consistently breaking up Arsenal’s possession and his passes forward which kept Liverpool’s attacking flowing. I thought he was outstanding and very consistent performance throughout the 90 minutes at Anfield.
“If you have bought a player to the football club for nothing then you can’t expect him to be as good as your number one. And I think that the only reason he’s not as good as Adrian is his distribution. I think his overall keeping is just as good – he has done a fantastic job stepping in.”
It was a typical Liverpool performance as they suffocated Arsenal into their own half and Mo Salah, like he has been doing for a number of seasons, produced his magic.
One worry for Jurgen Klopp will perhaps be their lack of clean sheets, at this moment in time, but their 100% start to the season will no doubt paper of that.
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