Garth Crooks has praised the safe hands of Alisson Becker after naming two Liverpool players in his Match of the Day Team of the Week.
The Reds ended their away day hoodoo by holding on to beat Tottenham Hotspur 2-1 on Sunda, thanks to a sublime first-half brace from Mohamed Salah. But his Brazilian team-mate at the other end of the pitch had to be red alert to keeping out a 20-minute onslaught from Spurs to see out the match.
The North London hosts hit the woodwork twice, as the Reds' goal appeared to live a charmed life, but it was the ball handling skills of Alisson that impressed Crooks.
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Writing in his regular Team of the Week column for BBC Sport, Crooks said: "How refreshing it is to see a goalkeeper catch a ball in mid-air for a change. Most of them parry or punch but it was imperative on two occasions in the win at Tottenham that Alisson did neither but instead caught the ball with both hands as he descended to the ground.
"Anything less could have cost Liverpool the match. I rank the Brazilian among my top three keepers in the country and my top five in the world. Playing Spurs away was a tricky game for Liverpool but when you've got a keeper like Alisson between the sticks it makes life much easier. A top-class keeper if ever there was one."
While Alisson did his upmost to keep a lid on things in goal, it was star forward Salah who ultimately won Liverpool the points, twice finding the net in the first half with typical predatory instincts.
Crooks wrote: "If you are going to head the ball surely you do it away from your own goal and not behind you, especially when you haven't a clue what position your goalkeeper has taken. Eric Dier, for some inexplicable reason, decided to do just that and Spurs never recovered.
"Tottenham took far too long to get going in this match and looked a shadow of the team that beat Marseille in the Champions League a few days ago. Liverpool have been widely inconsistent this season but fortunately for them they have Salah bang in form."
The Egyptian has now scored nine goals in his last eight matches and encouragingly for Reds supporters, now appears to be forging a decent partnership with summer signing Darwin Nunez, who enjoyed one of his best performances for the Reds to date.
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