'Slot improved the way we play' - Alisson speaks exclusively to OneFootball | OneFootball

It hasn’t exactly been the ideal start to the season for Liverpool goalkeeper Alisson Becker.

The 32-year-old has been a stalwart for the Reds since his arrival in 2018, but this term, injuries have cut short the Brazilian shot-stopper’s playing time.

A hamstring injury in October has restricted Alisson to just eight appearances in all competitions, but despite losing one of their most important players, the Anfield outfit have kept winning and winning.

It has, however, allowed Alisson a different perspective on the early days of the Arne Slot era, with the Liverpool number one watching on from the stands instead of the pitch.

We spoke exclusively to the former Roma man and he was incredibly articulate when we asked about Liverpool’s new Dutch coach and his methods.

“I like the way [Slot] deals with players,” Alisson said.

“He's a direct guy, he's convinced of his ideas, very clear in his communication.

“He is able to convey his ideas and importantly, tell them in a way that every player will understand.”

Alisson was keen to try and not make too many comparisons between Slot and former boss Jürgen Klopp, however.

“They have common ideas and are both quality coaches," he said.

“Although Klopp has more time in football as a coach, Slot has already demonstrated his intrinsic ability to read our opponents and to get the best out of our own team.

“I think that, more than making comparisons, I think it's important to praise what Slot has done from my point of view: he's improved the way we play as a team.

“As you said, he took a model already established by Klopp, kept the things he thought were good, but brought up his personality in some other ways.”

With Slot in charge, the Merseyside giants have lost just once so far this term and are now galloping clear at the top of the Premier League, sitting eight points ahead of second-placed Manchester City heading into Sunday's meeting between the two sides.

📸 PAUL ELLIS - AFP or licensors

But for a player as experienced as Alisson, he knows that things can change very quickly in the English top flight.

“This is what we have to deal with as leaders, mainly because we have experienced similar situations here," he said.

“We have had big leads in the past and ended up losing at the end of the season.

“But we have also been in tougher positions and we ended up with a chance of a title.

“There was [the 2021/22] season that, if I'm not mistaken, close to December we were far behind but we ended the league losing by just one point difference.

“So here in the Premier League everything changes very quickly. We are at the beginning and heading into the middle of the competition and it's too early to talk about advantages.

“My role as a leader is to make sure everyone's grounded. At the same time believe that it is possible to complete our ambition of  winning the Premier League and every title we compete for.

“We have the quality to do that, we have it. Now we need consistency. We have to be consistent both in results and in performances, and yet we recognize that there are many things that we can still change.”

In Alisson’s absence, it’s been left to Irishman Caoimhín Kelleher to try and keep opponents at bay, something that he has done with aplomb.

The 26-year-old has kept four clean sheets in nine appearances and was instrumental in wins against Brighton and Chelsea.

When asked about his understudy, Alisson couldn’t have been more effusive in his praise of Kelleher’s mentality at having to step up to the plate at this crucial juncture.

“He’s been very good. Kelleher is a goalkeeper that I have known for a long time,” the Brazilian said.

“He trained with us soon after I arrived to be a part of Liverpool's main group and was already promising.

📸 JUSTIN TALLIS - AFP or licensors

“He was always a very dedicated kid, he always worked hard and is now reaping the rewards, for sure.

“The position he has here on our team is not an easy position to have. There is this policy of one goalkeeper playing in the league, another playing the League Cup, another playing the FA Cup, another playing the Champions League.

“This is important for the team, for everyone to have the maximum number of minutes, but every player wants to play as much as they can, right? So it's not easy to be in his position, especially him knowing the quality he has, everyone knowing the quality he has.

“It's no surprise to me the level he's playing at, it doesn't surprise me, because I follow him on a daily basis, I know what he's capable of, but he's shown a lot of maturity.

"Not only is he putting in good performances, but he is a goalkeeper who gives you confidence, he is a goalkeeper who gives confidence to the team and who also knows the way everyone likes the Liverpool goalkeeper to play.”

Kelleher is just one of a number of players who have starred this season under Slot, taking their chance to impress at one of the biggest clubs in world football.

The likes of Curtis Jones and Ryan Gravenberch have ascended to first XI status under the Dutch tactician, and Alisson was quick to praise Liverpool’s new young guns.

“I think Curtis [Jones] isn't even considered a new player, because he's been here for four, five seasons," he said.

“Maybe he wasn't an absolute starter before, and I don't know if he still is today, but he's one of the starters because the midfield ends up changing more because of the demand and intensity of the games.

“He’s certainly a guy who is an excellent player and has always demonstrated incredible potential that he would be a top player in the Premier League and be able to reach the national team. He’s showing all that now with incredible consistency.

“He has matured a lot during those years and is managing to put out all that he has of potential.

“Gravenberch is a guy who arrived last year and was slow to pick up the pace of both the Premier League and our team, and this year he took off, he really is one of our main players.”

If things have been going perfectly on the domestic front, back home in Brazil, the situation has been less satisfactory.

Brazil are currently fifth in qualifying for the World Cup, having just drawn with Uruguay and Venezuela in November.

The ex-Internacional goalkeeper however, believes that the Seleçao are just some "consistency" away from impressing.

“Look, I believe that the team needs to create consistency. Not only do we need individual strength - the quality of our players is very great, the quality is there, the potential is there - but we have to create consistency as a team," he said.

“We have to create unity, create strength from the collective. [In the last matches we] had a very good first half and the second half not so good, then in the second game, maybe the first half didn't go very well, in the second half we played very well.

“This fluctuation, we must, as a team, improve, be able to play a consistent game, to play 90 minutes at a high level, both individually, technically and collectively as well.

“It's not easy for [coach] Dorival to bring that consistency to the team. This is something that is always talked about a lot, but you don't really have much time to work on.

“I see growth in relation to performance, in relation to already demonstrating the potential that this team can achieve, but I recognise that the results have not showed this and that is another point that we need: to get results.”

📸 Kevork Djansezian - 2024 Getty Images

With Alisson unable to affect things from the sidelines, the shot-stopper is counting down the days until he can get back on to the pitch and help both Liverpool and Brazil.

“My recovery is going very well,” he insisted.

“It's been seven weeks since the day of the injury. It was a tendon injury in the hamstring, so whenever it involves a tendon it is something more delicate and, since I had an injury a few days before, a couple of weeks before, it requires even greater care and longer recovery time.

“So everything is going very well, as planned.”

With a return from injury coinciding with what is always the most important part of any Premier League campaign, Alisson and Liverpool could be course for one of the greatest seasons in the club’s modern history.

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