What are the characteristics that one wants in a goalkeeper??
Well, I can tell you one thing, exuberant is not at the top of the list. It's not even half way down the list, in fact I've just checked, and it's not even on the list! Other notable absentees from the list include show-boater, risk-taker, suffering from blindness. I think you get the idea. We want our team's goalkeeper to be associated with words like assured, confident, brave, authoritative.
So why did Jurgen Klopp sign Alison Becker?
Anyone who watches football, would have told you that Jurgen Klopp couldn't start this season with Loris Karius in goals. He simply wasn't good enough. Liverpool have and have often had great attacking flair over the years. The three-pronged frontline of Sadio Mané, Roberto Firmino and the footballing genius Mohamed Salah is as good as any in world football. The recent signing last January of Virgil van Dijk looks to have been a masterstroke by Klopp. He has always impressed me, but at £75 million a lot of eyebrows were raised, including my own. But, he has slotted in seamlessly and looks so assured, and has solidified the Liverpool rearguard. So, as you looked through the starting 11, it was Karius who stuck out like a sore thumb as the guy who could and would cost them in important games and at pivotal times in the season.
Right, let's ship Karius off on loan to Besiktas, and get someone solid, reliable, dependable. Ahem. Enter stage left Alison Becker.
This clip will give you an insight into how our Brazilian friend likes to play.
But, I'm sure when Jurgen sat down and had a chat with him after signing him, he explained that the showboating had to end, and he just wanted him to stick to being a reliable goalkeeper. Sure.
After the Brighton game, he was told enough of that now!
And of course he listened. Fast forward seven short days and he was at it again. This time against a decent Leicester team, who were 2-0 down and all but buried. Enter stage right Alison Becker (fast forward to 2:30 to see his absolute howler...)
I actually love to watch goalkeepers like Alison though!
I have to be honest, guys like this are so entertaining to watch, but I am not a Liverpool fan, I'm a gunner. If this guy was playing for us, my heart would be in my mouth every time he had the ball at his feet at the back! But, when they are playing for someone else's team it is highly entertaining to watch the showboating and even more entertaining when they make an unholy balls up of it!
One of my favorite keepers to watch over my lifetime of football watching was Columbia's René Higuita. Now he was entertaining, and I think that he must be who Alison bases himself on, but Higuita was on another level. Check some of these videos out.. Just Wow!!!
René Higuita
And Higuita got caught out himself on some occasions...
Amazingly he scored 48 goals in his career, and just to remind you he was a goalkeeper. That tally is higher than many want to be strikers who never made it, and some of them played with Arsenal!!
So there you have it, exuberant goalkeepers are great, except when they play for your team.
Well, there you have it, my first Scorum post - I was brought here by @deaconlee, a friend of mine on Steemit. Hopefully this will be my first post of many.
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