Jamie Carragher's comments about Liverpool goalkeeper Alisson were vindicated once more on Saturday as the Reds lost more ground in the Premier League title race.
Jurgen Klopp's side had a frustrating afternoon, falling 2-0 behind at home to Brighton & Hove Albion inside 20 minutes with Leandro Trossard scoring both. The Reds turned things around to lead 3-2 going into the final 10 minutes, only for Trossard to complete his hat-trick to level things up.
Brighton had other chances to score in their first game under new manager Roberto de Zerbi, with Alisson getting the hosts out of trouble. And Matip's comments after the game vindicate Carragher's worrying observation about his former club.
" Liverpool and Alisson should've conceded eight more goals than what they have done from one v one situations," Carragher said on Sky Sports' Monday Night Football in April, using figures from data scientist John Harrison. The former Liverpool defender was speaking shortly before Liverpool went on a run of conceding first in seven successive games, only ending the streak in their 9-0 victory over Bournemouth in August.
"When you go back to the expected goal numbers defensively compared to Manchester City and Liverpool, where Man City were a lot better than Liverpool, that is why, that is the difference," he continued. "So they back their goalkeeper that he's going to have to deal with one of these every single game, but we've got the best at dealing with it. The actual high-line is helping them in terms of going forward and actually scoring goals themselves."
After seven games of the new season, Liverpool have conceded nine times. It took them 11 games to concede as many last season, and Matip clearly wasn't happy after the final whistle.
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"Absolutely not happy," Matip said after the game, admitting it was "not a good performance" from the Reds. "Brighton played really well and made our life quite hard," the Cameroon international added.
‘It wasn’t our game and it started from the beginning," he continued. "We have to improve.
"He [Alisson] was there to save our backs again and hopefully he does not have as many saves to make in the future. I don’t care who is coming, we just have to step up and do better."
The result at Anfield saw Liverpool end the day in ninth place in the Premier League table, having won just two of their seven league matches, though they have a game in hand on the two teams directly above them. Next up for the Merseyside club is a Champions League meeting with Rangers, followed by a trip to league leaders Arsenal on October 9.
