Liverpool journalist James Pearce has been sharing his praise for Reds goalkeeper Adrian and his performance during the Merseyside club’s recent 2-0 win over Sheffield United in the Premier League.
This comes after Pearce recently made an appearance on the latest episode of The Athletic’s Liverpool-themed podcast The Red Agenda where he spoke about a number of topics concerning Jurgen Klopp’s side, including their win over the Blades.
On the subject of Adrian, who played the entire game at Bramall Lane, Pearce had this to say about the Spaniard and his performance in the match.
He said: “I was really pleased for him, aside from the grand scheme of things how important a solid performance from him was to get Liverpool’s season back on track, I think, just for him on like a human level, when you see someone take the amount of stick and criticism that he’s had
“He hadn’t played a minute of Premier League football since October, and I’m pretty sure having lost his status as number two to Caoimhin Kelleher, that he probably didn’t think he’d ever play in the Premier League for Liverpool again so I thought he looked assured, he made some decent saves.
“I think that’ll do him the world of good, the fact that he was able to say that he made a big contribution to an important win.”
Liverpool signed Adrian, who is currently earning £55k per week, back in the 2019 summer window from fellow Premier League side West Ham United on a free transfer.
Since then, the 34-year-old, who is currently valued at £1.8 million has gone on to make 24 appearances for the Reds across all competitions in which he has managed to concede 35 goals and keep just six clean sheets (per Transfermarkt).
Back in March last year, Adrian was the victim of online abuse from numerous social media users after his error led to Liverpool crashing out of the Champions League after their home defeat against Atletico Madrid.
TIF Thoughts on James Pearce’s comments on Adrian and his performance against Sheffield United…
Given how Adrian managed to concede nine goals in the two Premier League games he played in back in October, to then keep a clean sheet against Chris Wilder’s side and earn himself a strong match rating of 7.68/10 (as per WhoScored), making him Liverpool’s second-highest-rated player on the day, this proves just why Pearce was so happy to see the shot-stopper do well for the club again.
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In our view, if Adrian can keep putting in strong performances for Liverpool when he’s called into action, he could have a big helping hand in guiding Liverpool into the top four by the end of the season.