London (AFP) – Jurgen Klopp has praised the impact of new Liverpool goalkeeper Alisson Becker as the Reds boss prepares to send error-prone Loris Karius on loan to Besiktas.
Just months after his blunders ruined Liverpool’s bid to win the Champions League final, Karius is set to join Turkish club Besiktas on a two-year loan with a view to a permanent transfer in 2020.
Karius wept on the pitch after making two costly errors in Liverpool’s 3-1 defeat against Real Madrid in May and the German still looked traumatised as he struggled again during pre-season.
Klopp moved quickly to replace Karius with Brazilian keeper Alisson from Roma in a £65-million ($82 million) deal.
The 25-year-old has already impressed with clean sheets in his first two matches, leaving Karius on the verge of an unwanted Anfield exit.
“It’s a normal thing in football. It happens to managers: as a manager you usually don’t need that much time between one game and another to get the sack!” Klopp told reporters when asked about Karius’s impending move.
“It is not the sack, it is only change. That’s football, no problem with that.”
If he doesn’t concede against Brighton on Saturday, Alisson could become only the fourth Liverpool goalkeeper in the last 51 seasons, after Bruce Grobbelaar, Pepe Reina and Simon Mignolet, to keep clean sheets in the first three matches of a league campaign.
He has brought a new dimension to Liverpool’s game with his distribution, as well as his shot-stopping skills.
“Good player, very good player and not only a goalkeeper but a player as well so that’s quite cool,” Klopp said.
“He gives us a few more (offensive) opportunities so that’s cool as well, I like that.”
Not all the improvement can be laid as Alisson’s feet, however, as since their 4-1 October defeat by Tottenham last season Liverpool have the Premier League’s best defensive record.
Klopp was keen to stress that was due to the way the team is now operating.
“You (the media) tell me when we concede goals it is our defence and you talk a lot about the centre-halves or the goalkeeper being responsible — defending is always a team thing,” he said.
“We did well not only this season, since a longer period already we defended well.
“We are an offensive-orientated team based on the best possible organisation and that means organisation is important in offensive and defensive things. It is something we are constantly working on.
“We improved in that step-by-step but it needs to stay like this. This season twice (we have had) a clean sheet but at the end of the season if we only have two clean sheets no one is happy about that.”
