Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp is often good for a fantastic sound bite and Saturday, following his side’s 2-1 win at Southampton, was certainly an example. Adrian, filling as the starting goalkeeper while Alisson recovers from a calf injury, made an enormous blunder today at the St. Mary’s that gifted a goal to the opposition.
With just seven minutes remaining, the Spaniard flubbed a clearance off a back-pass and kicked the ball at pressuring Saints striker Danny Ings, and the former Reds forward knocked the ball into the net. Luckily, Liverpool was up 2-0 and the goal didn’t impact the overall result of the match.
Klopp was asked what he told Adrian after the game and his response was:
“Yes: ‘You finally arrived, welcome!’ (Alisson) did the same. Obviously it’s a goalie thing at Liverpool, no problem with that as long as we win the games. All good.”
It’s a funny “rite of passage” only because they still won. It’s doubtful Klopp would be joking about it if the result was a draw or a loss.
The German is spot on with his joke about Reds shot-stoppers. Alisson has made a big error or two during his time at Liverpool while his predecessor, Loris Karius, is now (perhaps unfairly) notorious for his two major blunders in the 2018 Champions League final loss to Real Madrid.
And before Karius you had Simon Mignolet, who was also known to make a big mistake here and there. For Adrian though, just being fit enough to play at Liverpool’s farm club was sort of a victory in itself.
Adrian suffered an ankle knock in the UEFA Super Cup on Wednesday when a pitch invading fan collided with him. In fact, he faced a last minute fitness test for this match and only barely passed.
“He had a clearing session this morning at 10 o’clock and then the message flew to my iPhone and said he is fine,” added Klopp.
“If the message would have been he is not then I would have had to make a decision [not to play him], but until then it was all good. We were waiting for that. He said at breakfast he would be fine, but we had to test it and that’s what we did.”
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, the author of “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry,” regularly appears on WGN CLTV and co-hosts the “Let’s Get Weird, Sports” podcast on SB Nation.
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