On Tuesday afternoon, Alisson Becker was presented with an award on Merseyside. The Brazilian goalkeeper has experienced a dismal collective campaign with the Reds, but as an individual, he’s shone as one of the few players who has met the required standard at Anfield over the past 12 months.
The 30-year-old was voted Liverpool’s Standard Chartered Men’s Player of the Season, finishing ahead of Mohamed Salah in second place and Trent Alexander-Arnold in third. A fan poll on Liverpool’s official website decided the winner, and based on the numbers beneath the surface, it is reasonable to suggest that supporters have got it right.
Alisson picked up 14 clean sheets which was bettered by only one goalkeeper: David de Gea. But more elaborate numbers can be applied to his case to truly capture his level of performance in the Premier League. He was labelled as a ‘transformational’ signing when he first arrived on English shores for a club-record transfer fee back in 2018, and he’s more than lived up to that description.
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Alisson faced 147 shots on target in the Premier League this season, and those shots were worth around 51.1 expected goals, yet he conceded just 41 times — excluding own goals — with those figures effectively suggesting that he overperformed the average by about 10.1 goals.
In simple terms, if an ordinary goalkeeper had faced the same shots that Alisson faced, the Reds would have likely conceded around 10 goals more than its actual total, which captures his isolated impact on Jürgen Klopp’s outfit this term.
His overperformance of around 10.1 goals ranked him as the best-performing goalkeeper in the division in terms of shot-stopping this season. Fulham’s Bernd Leno placed in second on +9.0, followed by Chelsea’s Kepa Arrizabalaga and Brentford’s David Raya on +5.0, and Manchester City’s Stefan Ortega on +3.1.
At the opposite end of the scale, the likes of Gavin Bazunu of Southampton, Illan Meslier of Leeds United and Mark Travers of Bournemouth showed up as the worst shot-stoppers in England’s top flight, having conceded far more goals than expected based on the numbers.
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Indeed, Alisson even managed to place at the top of the continent by the same numbers. Fulham’s Leno ranked in second across Europe’s top five leagues, followed by Marc-André ter Stegen of Barcelona on +8.7, Elche’s Édgar Badía on +8.5 and Clermont Foot’s Mory Diaw on +8.4.
Liverpool has generally struggled on the pitch this season with Klopp’s men conceding a total of 47 goals in the Premier League, which was more than Aston Villa and Brentford. That’s in stark contrast to Ter Stegen, whose brilliance was combined with a solid Barcelona defense, culminating in just 20 goals conceded all season for Xavi’s side. Nevertheless, Alisson has continued to deliver by effectively accumulating points on his own.
“His performances speak for themselves. If you know him, he is a better person than a goalie and that is already difficult. Ali should be really proud of that,” said Klopp earlier this year. “He is for sure the most consistent player we have this season. That’s actually not bad news, it’s good news, because if we are not in a great shape and the level of the goalie drops as well then we would have been completely lost.”
Liverpool will hope to come again next term after investing heavily in the transfer market this summer. Alexis Mac Allister has already moved to Merseyside to strengthen the team’s weakest area, but more reinforcements will have to arrive in the coming months. If there’s one thing that is for sure, though, it is that Klopp’s goalkeeping department is just fine.