Liverpool

Liverpool: Chris McLoughlin claims Alisson has ‘vulnerability’ from set pieces

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Image for Liverpool: Chris McLoughlin claims Alisson has ‘vulnerability’ from set pieces

Liverpool matchday programme writer Chris McLoughlin has claimed that West Ham United exposed the ‘vulnerability’ of goalkeeper Alisson Becker in the recent match between the sides.

In the last round of Premier League fixtures before the current international break, Liverpool failed to win away against the Hammers.

An own goal from the Reds’ Brazilian keeper and further strikes from Pablo Fornals and Kurt Zouma were enough to seal an impressive 3-2 win for the home team.

Is Alisson vulnerable from corners?

Yes

Yes

No

No

Two of those goals came directly from West Ham set pieces, and while discussing the game on The Red Agenda podcast, McLoughlin stated that David Moyes’ men ‘took advantage’ of a Liverpool ‘weakness’.

He explained: “Set pieces, they maybe found a little weakness. If you crowd him and you put the ball right on top of him, can you get a goal against him? Can you bully him? They certainly did for the first goal.

“I don’t think there’s generally a problem overall with defending set pieces, but there’s maybe just a problem with defending a certain type of set-piece when Alisson is crowded, because clearly, West Ham found a vulnerability there and they took advantage.”

TIF Thoughts on Alisson and Liverpool…

It wasn’t a great game for Alisson between the sticks, who was arguably at fault for all three goals. After scoring the own goal, he probably could have done a little better with Fornals’ strike, while for Zouma’s winner, he also failed to deal with a corner – though this was perhaps more due to a lapse from his defenders.

To be fair to the Reds, they were coming up against a team who are very effective from set-pieces. Indeed, as reported in The Athletic,  the Hammers are joint-top when it comes to goals scored from such situations.

Interestingly enough, however, Liverpool also join West Ham at the top of the list (along with Arsenal) on six goals from 11 games this season.

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Perhaps Alisson does have a weakness, as McLoughlin suggests, but it should not be forgotten that set pieces are simply an area where the Hammers excel. 

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