Red alert: Alisson’s ankle injury provides Liverpool with unwanted early-season test
There’s an old American Football adage that says “offense wins games, defense wins championships,” and that phrase may also prove to be equally relevant in this season’s Premier League title race.
Once again, Manchester City and Liverpool are expected to dominate, and the two pre-season title favorites showed exactly why as they registered resounding victories in their opening games of the new season.
Liverpool kicked off with a 4-1 home win over Norwich City and, if Roberto Firmino hadn’t left his shooting boots in the Anfield dressing room, the margin of their victory probably would have been even wider. That win was followed by City’s 5-0 rout of West Ham United in London the following afternoon as the reigning champions sent the message to Mersey side that “anything you can do, we can do better.”
Seeing City win so decisively would have come as no shock to Liverpool fans, but the news of their goalkeeper’s injury certainly was.
Alisson Becker was one of Liverpool’s outstanding performers last season and is expected to play a similar role this time around. But a calf strain could see him miss the next four to six weeks. It puts enormous pressure on new signing Adrian to step in and establish himself immediately.
It also puts an added burden on their talismanic defensive leader, Virgil van Dijk. The towering Dutchman had a stellar year at the heart of the Reds’ defense last season, and his leadership at the back will be even more crucial with an Anfield newbie between the sticks.
It’s all additional pressure that Klopp and Liverpool could have done without so early in the season. But, buoyed by a brilliant season last year that saw them run City right to the wire, then win their sixth European Cup with victory in the UEFA Champions League final, they will be confident that they can get through a tricky early spell and mount another strong title challenge once again.
But Klopp will know that nothing less than a lightning-fast start will give them a chance of beating City to the finishing line this time around. They started fast last season, but faltered late on as City eventually overhauled the Reds to retain their title. This time they’ll need to repeat their start, but maintain their form down the stretch in order to surpass the Sky Blues and capture their first-ever Premier League crown.
But if Liverpool can keep things tight at the back during the tricky first two months without their first-choice keeper, the Brazilian's return later this autumn could help galvanize the Merseyside club. And if they can continue to put opposition defenses to the sword at the other end of the pitch, we could be in for a thrilling title race once again.
By Simon Head
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