The countdown is on until the vote for the Fans' Footballer of the Year closes next week and three of the Liverpool ECHO's journalists have debated who should win the award.
Mohamed Salah, Luis Diaz, Thiago Alcantara and Alisson Becker are the four contenders and the claims of each player to win the award for their performances over the past 12 months are discussed in depth by Liverpool writers Paul Gorst and Ian Doyle with Joe Rimmer asking the important questions.
VOTE: Make your decision on Liverpool's Fans' Footballer of the Year
Joe Rimmer: Who are you voting for as your Fans' Footballer of the Year, for 2022 then? Who is your MVP?
Ian Doyle: Never say MVP again! Certainly not in the context of football. It's been a bit of a struggle for Liverpool this season and without Alisson it would have been worst situation, certainly in the Premier League so that's why he is my choice. I know we don't like talk too much about stats, such as XG, but there is a certain value in them. In terms of shots faced, I think Alisson has save more expected goals than any other goalkeeper but by a long way. By about five goals, or almost double the next person in line. That underlines what he has done. But you don't need the stats to see that. The end of last season he was integral to Liverpool. His overall performances have been top class.
JR: There's some good goalkeepers around - Ederson, Courtois - but he stands out for you?
ID: If you look at Brazil there was possibly a time when Ederson was their first-choice goalkeeper, or the pair were competing, but now Alisson is the number one. He's the number one in the Premier League and I'd say the number one goalkeeper in the world. Liverpool were unlucky in Paris coming up against Thibaut Courtois, who is also a very good keeper, but made some mistakes at this World Cup. Just unlucky for Liverpool fans he picked that game at the Stade De France. All the way through the year is a whole there is nobody close to Alisson, even though Courtois has nabbed some of the main honours.
JR: He's not the only top player at Liverpool fighting to earn the votes in the Fans' Footballer of the Year, though...
ID: That's true. And the other contenders - Luis Diaz, Mohamed Salah and Thiago - have their own claims on the award. It's very rare Liverpool have had the best player in the world in one position but under Jurgen Klopp they've had the best defender in Van Dijk, the best attacking right-back in Trent Alexander-Arnold and the best player for a while in Mohamed Salah. Alission is now the best goalkeeper in the world, and probably has been for three or four years. He's been a cut above this past year.
JR: Goalkeepers have a career path for me. They break on the scene, we get excited, then get taken for granted before getting praise again in their mid-30s. Then they leave and you think 'oh my word, they were very good'. Has Alission reached stage where, perhaps not Liverpool fans, but the wider football world would take him for granted a little bit?
Paul Gorst: I think Alisson might be underrated by fans from outside of the Liverpool bubble, because you don't see him making too many wonder saves. If you put together a highlights reel of Alission making saves they would all be kind of smoothering the angle one-on-one, staying big, staying on his feet. He doesn't really make a save by tipping a 25-yarder round the post, or anything like that. He tends to do everything to a really high standard so he doesn't have to.
JR: In what way?
PG: Like shuffling to his left earlier than other goalkeepers to make the save look more comfortable. He's been outstanding and just so difficult to get past and face once you've got past Van Dijk, Konate, Matip or whoever. Alisson is one of the reasons why Liverpool had one of the best defensive records in Europe's top-five leagues last season. Obviously Liverpool have gone from absolutely flying last season to a bit of a sticky patch in the new season, so it's tricky to pick an outstanding candidate for Fans' Footballer of the Year.
ID: I'd agree Alisson's not really appreciated as much outside of Anfield as he is inside. Although that has started to change a little bit. And if Brazil win the World Cup with him at the heart of it people will probably start to say 'oh look, he's not bad!'. I think he fits into Liverpool's style of play really well, too, as a sweeper keeper.
JR: You rarely see Alisson make jaw-dropping spectacular saves, why is that?
ID: Some goalkeepers look good because they play for teams who give lots of chances, so they make a lot of saves. Man-of-the-match in a 4-0 defeat type of thing. Which is great for your reputation but not so good if you are playing for a leading club, where you might only give away a couple of chances. If you go back to that crucial Champions League group game versus Napoli when Liverpool were 1-0 up and he had next to nothing to do, but at the end made a world-class save. That's the concentration levels and doing the basics right so when he is called upon he's at the right level. He's one of the few goalkeepers who can do that.
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JR: When he does make a mistake you don't really see his performance levels drop either...
ID: Not really. One of the highlights of the World Cup was the lovely moustache he had as well!
JR: Who do you think should win the Fans' Footballer of the Year then, Paul?
PG: I did weigh up going for Luis Diaz, because he's been here since near the start of the year so it's easier to look at his Liverpool career in that time period. Alisson is a big contender. Thiago has probably had too many injuries to be a real challenge. But I've eventually gone with Mohamed Salah. He maybe wasn't at his best when he came back from the AFCON with Egypt, he was drained but desperate to show he wasn't. I think this season he has picked up quite a bit and has 14 for the season already. Obviously he finished as the Premier League's joint top scorer last season, alongside Son Heung-Min, with 23 goals.
JR: Speaks volumes whenever we talk about Salah, he's going to end up with 25 goals in the calendar year so has incredible levels.
ID: Salah always posts the numbers. He's been like that since day one and hasn't really stopped. We thought for a while he was slowing down, but he keeps delivering and especially in the big games. He got the winner at Manchester City and scored two at Tottenham. He is still Liverpool's go-to man for goals, even though he is playing in a slightly different positions with Darwin Nunez and Luis Diaz near him, rather than Sadio Mane. Just before the World Cup it looked like Jurgen Klopp had found the right formula to get the best out of Salah. He was instrumental in helping Liverpool compete on four fronts last season. It's not just the goals but the assists as well. But Alisson still gets in front of him, for me.
JR: This break during the World Cup will do Salah the world of good?
PG: You would think so given how many games he's played in this calendar year. He's played 21 games for Liverpool this season already. Hopefully after a few games off he'll have had time to recharge. He will be raring to go in Dubai. We could be talking about Salah flying out the traps again during Christmas and into 2023. But as we look back he'd still be a deserved winner of the 2022 Fans' Footballer of the Year award.
Which Liverpool player gets your vote for the Fans' Footballer of the Year award? You can make your choice by clicking here.
