Michael Owen labelled Alisson Becker a ‘world-class’ goalkeeper as Liverpool secured a narrow 1-0 win over West Ham United in the Premier League on Wednesday night.
The former striker praised Alisson for the two big roles he played in Jurgen Klopp’s side making it back-to-back wins and clean sheets, as he told Premier League Productions (19/10/22 at 10:55 pm).
On Sunday, the Reds, inspired by a brilliant Mo Salah goal, inflicted the first defeat of the season on Manchester City to bring their own campaign back to life.
And whilst David Moyes’ side aren’t at the level of the Premier League champions, they will still be wondering how they didn’t manage to get anything from yesterday’s game.
Two crucial moments of the match ensured the points remained on Merseyside when Jarrod Bowen saw his penalty saved by Alisson, and then towards the end, the 30-year-old did well to just get something on Tomas Soucek’s shot from a few yards out.
That was touched upon by Owen, but he wasn’t too impressed by Bowen’s penalty because he thinks the England international made it easy for the Reds keeper.
“It wasn’t that close to the goalkeeper, was it?” said Owen. “And it was a lovely height for Alisson.
“He is a world-class goalkeeper. After that, you were thinking ‘we will go and cement that deal and score that second goal’. As much as they huffed and puffed, they didn’t really look like scoring in that second half.
“But they hung on, in the end. West Ham did try in the last five minutes. It was a really decent chance (Soucek). Liverpool did really well to defend it. I think James Milner got back. That could have been a vital chance. I know Alisson gets a touch as well, I don’t know if it was going in, but to keep hold of the points.”
TIDE STARTING TO TURN
Many were ruling out this Liverpool team for the title race, even Klopp himself, but that was probably more to ease the pressure away from his struggling team.
But it just goes to show what a few wins can do and how the team can go from sitting in the bottom half to now breathing down the necks of those currently in the Champions League places.
Now that Liverpool are starting to find their feet, it should be a walk in the park for them ahead of their clash against Nottingham Forest at the weekend, before they welcome Leeds to Anfield.
Add those wins to your belt, and then those that are enjoying themselves at the top will start to worry about what Klopp’s men can do behind them.
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