Liverpool recorded a valuable win at Fulham in the Premier League on Sunday.
Tim Cahill has been left unimpressed with Alisson’s decision not to collect the ball during Liverpool’s 2-1 win over Fulham on Sunday afternoon.
The Reds were leading the encounter 1-0 when James Milner’s sliced clearance forced Virgil van Dijk to head the ball back to his goalkeeper, with the on-rushing Ryan Babel on his tail.
Alisson was too late to react with his attempted slide not enough to prevent the Fulham man from knocking the ball past him and equalising with 15 minutes left on the clock.
Speaking to Sky Sports Premier League (17/03/2019 at 4:10 pm), Cahill believes it was ‘blatant’ that Alisson should have been taking that ball with his hands even if it meant copping one in the face.
“It’s blatant,” Cahill told Sky Sports Premier League. “I think the keeper has got to deal with it. He has got to pick the ball up. He [Van Dijk] has headed it back. He could’ve headed it harder or headed it right.
“But it’s clear that Allison has got to grab that with both hands and look Babel in the face and say ‘that’s my ball’. Maybe take one in the face and maybe he didn’t want to take that hit and it led to that [the goal].”
At the time, the Reds would have felt that they had blown two points in the Premier League title race, but Milner stepped up minutes later to convert a penalty.
There would have been nothing but relief across the red half of Merseyside as Jurgen Klopp’s side leapfrog rivals Manchester City in the table.
Pep Guardiola and his team are two points behind their title rivals, but they do have a game in hand because they were in FA Cup quarter-final action this weekend.
Nonetheless, after the international break, Liverpool’s first three Premier League matches will be against Tottenham, Southampton and Chelsea.
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