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If you're not sure what to do with the ball, just put it in the net, and we'll talk about the other options later... Bob Paisley.
The thing is Alisson is comfortable playing sweeper behind a high line, Adrian isn't. That is the long and short of it and why the back four looked especially vulnerable yesterday.
A little bit of perspective is necessary here.
You just knew as soon as that first goal went in and how bad it looked and in the aftermath, the overall result, that a lot of fans would place an inordinate amount of blame on Adrian for the result irrespective of how disproportionate that blame is.
But if we take a hard and more discrete look at the goals and how we conceded them, and if we're being honest, Adrian was completely and (almost*) wholly responsible for a grand total of one goal in that game.
We lost the game by conceding 7 goals and practically all of them were bad goals to concede and in addition bad TEAM goals to concede.
Three of those goals were bad deflections that not a single goalie in the world could have done anything about - not even Allisson.
two were practically worldies and the type of shots that a player pulls out of the top locker maybe once or twice a season (Again, arguable that Allisson would have been able to do much in those circumstance) and then you had Adrian's "brainfart" moment (Assisted by the awful decision by Robbo to pass back to him from so far with far too many Villa players in the area), and the Freekick wherein the entire team fell asleep (and not assisted by our highline and expectation of the linesman and offside flag to save us). Again, Adrian couldn't possibly have done much in that situation short of coming out far too early than is advisable for a goalie in a freekick situation like that.
But fans remember the blunder because it's not the first time he's done that (with his previous two being pivotal in us getting tossed out of the Champion's League) - while conveineintly forgetting that before these series of blunders and in between them he's deputized reliably and fantastically for Allisson when he's been out injured.
IF we all take a hard look at the game.
We all know that Adrian is not a ball-playing goalkeeper. Should he be, in the current climate and way in which the game is played (and particularly how WE play it). Probably.
You could argue he SHOULD improve his passing, distribution and ball-playing skills in light of this, but until then I personally feel its incumbent upon his teammates to remember that he's not good at that and NOT look to pass back to him as a first option.
IN the case of the first goal, all it took was Robbo remembering this and perhaps kicking the ball out of the play and conceding the throw-in which would have been far easier to defend after we had a chance to reset.
But that's not our DNA or how Klopp wants us to play, so maybe that's another thing to look at.
The bigger culprits in our defeat were our system (our high line combined with Villa's high press and our lack of answers did us no favours), our overall team and outfield players all collectively having a mare and bad day at the office, and Klopp's bad selection in certain areas of the field and slowness to adapt or make changes - either in the setup, our system or the players involved. (we're all used to this by now).
Keita should have been pulled much earlier and arguably Bobby and Gomez too, but as a manager you never want to do that considering what it might do to a player's confidence.
Put aside the brainfart moments during backpasses, and Adrian actually is a very good goalie particularly in one-on-one situations (where he saved our bacon at least 3 times) and when he doesn't have the time to think very much about what to do and just has to go by reflex. It's those moments when he has time to think and try to "create" something that it all goes to pot.
I'm taken back to the game last season when Allisson got a red card and he came in and then the team let in a bad freekick goal before we were ready to defend and it looked really bad at the moment (and the Referee was a twat who should have called it back), but in the aftermath of it, he did a fantastic job helping us maintain a 2-1 lead and ultimately win the game in less than desirable circumstances.
Ball-playing goalies don't grow on trees and most in the Premier League aren't. There's a reason Allisson cost us so much (and is the second most expensive goalie in the league. Look what's happened to the most expensive one) so the comparisons to him in this department are a bit harsh and hard on Adrian IMO.
'I got told there's an English phrase, 'You don't win trophies with kids'. I didn't know that' ... - Jurgen Klopp
Stone-Cold Savage!
Good post CD.
If what Klopp said is true, then we're going to be without Allisson for quite a while.
So for all those laying the whips and sticking the boot in on Adrian, they might want to remember that, and the fact that he's going to be our number one between the posts for that duration.
And also that the last time he had to deputize for Allisson for an extended period of time, we carried on a run to went up to a 15 point lead ahead of the then defending champions before Christmas with the best defensive record in the league (yes, thanks to the defenders, but he also played his part).
I'm just saying.
It was a bad result but we need to pull together as a club now and help the team go on a run the likes of which will make this nothing more than a bad memory.
'I got told there's an English phrase, 'You don't win trophies with kids'. I didn't know that' ... - Jurgen Klopp
Stone-Cold Savage!
Adrian wasn't responsible for 6 of the 7, but his mistake kick starts everything. 0-0 and 1-0 is a different picture and confidence booster for a smaller team. When you have a keeper that is shaky you shoot more, cross more etc. Also that 1 incident where Watkins hit the post where Adrian went AWOL that is so disconcerting.
We went on a run with Adrian but let us not make it as if it was because of him. Adrian knocked us out of 2 cups last season, made other mistakes that not all were punished in the games that he played. He is shite no one will convince me otherwise. Karius and Mignolet might have been better.
Absolutely. The only real issue with his game is distribution. Either that gets worked on massively or we phase it out as much as is practically possible until the main man is back.
If the defence can get back to somewhere close to how good they can be his job will be easy.
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