On top form last night, had 5 shots to save and didn’t disappoint.
Everything alright apart from those shoes or whatever that is.
Flat cap? Alright?
Nah.
Small sample size with his injuries but his save % in the league is only at 63.6% (albeit with a relatively high xG per shot on target, meaning he is facing high quality chances). He is still saving more than the average GK facing these chances, barely, but it would be nice if he could make a few big saves again.
We need to cut down on the high quality chances he is facing, it’s not all on him.
EDIT: Nevermind, I think something it wrong with fbref at the moment. Depending on which page you look on there are completely different stats for Alisson’s performance this season. One has him in the low 60s and the other has him right on 70% which is pretty much in line with his career. I’ll have to see if that data settles in the next day or so.
Are you ok Sweets? You seem in need of a holiday.
Have a week in Cabo
I’m not one to look a gifthorse in the mouth.
OK so I gave Alisson the benefit of the doubt on the stats last time out but does anyone else just feel like he is kind of existing in our goal rather than actively being the great goalkeeper we know he is?
Apart from the save in the first half from Hojlund he hasn’t really been getting close to anything - and not that the goals were particularly his fault but he’s the world’s best GK… can he try and save something every now and again?
His save percentage for the season has dropped to 61.5% and he’s underperforming xG now by 5.32 goals per 38 games.
I do wonder if there is a bit of a physical dropoff after all his injuries that our data team noticed and made the signing of Mamardashvili a priority last summer.
Not sure if I’d call signing Mamardashvili (something I support, by the way) a priority, because if it was a priority, he’d be already at the club. It was both a good opportunity to catch competition for his signature off guard and good planning for the near future. Increase the chances of a successful goalkeeper transition in the next couple of years. I’m still fine with Ali though, we’ll see what happens going forward. Deal until 2026, with an option until 2027.
I thought he could have done better with Martinez’s goal. It was a nice hit, but it wasn’t unstoppable. The same could be said about Maddison’s goal too, he didn’t even dive for that one.
It does feel like he is letting in too many shots. Part of the problem is that we’re giving up high quality chances, but at the same time you’d expect him to save at least some of them.
Martinez’s was hit too hard and hit the underside of the bar, so no issues with that one, I do agree with the Maddison one though and same with Kelleher against Isak, though both our keepers should have got closer to saving them
Anyone else get the sense there’s a more than likely chance there’s already an agreement for him to go in the summer?
Replacement already lined up, last chance to get a reasonable bit of money for him, another injury hit season.
Don’t know what it is, just get the sense he’s not quite as big a part of things as he once was and he perhaps isn’t fully here in his head.
Might be the right time for all involved for a bit of a refresh across the back line.
I read somewhere since Becker returned he has faced 14 shots and conceded 9 goals , that was before our last game I think
I think cause and effects is probably backwards here
I think Lots of people have drastically over projected the period of his peak performance, and we saw a lot of that in the reactions to signing mama this summer. Assuming others are seeing the same thing I am with him this year, I think the most likely explanation is this is a level of performance the team knew was right around the corner, or maybe even already present, which is what encouraged them to be more proactive about getting a replacement than most fans thought was needed
I did read this stat somewhere also, that also mentioned the XG of those chances, which was high. We’ve come into some issues of late with our defence.
Suspect Ali got the league cup tie to help him gain the fitness levels.
Would love to see him stay… because i geel hes got loads to give and seeing him move to another big club and carry on at a high level for a few years would suck.
His contract is up in summer 2026, so hope he signs a 2-3 yr deal, Mamardashvili comes in next season to compete, and Kelleher goes?
2026 is right, but we have a +1 option as well.
Ali has been the best keeper I have seen for us in all aspects of the game.
But his performances in what he does has been below par since his injury.
What I mean is that, one of his best attributes was catching crosses and shots, he now seems to punch ones that in the past he would catch easily.
Villa’s 1st goal today he should have shouted to Szob and commanded the situation as it would have been an easy catch, just not at his imperious best atm.
Still better than most.
Virgil told him to catch those crosses during the city game. Which was needed because they were too many city players in our box.
Hope he does that more.
One of my pet peeves with modern goalkeepers (including Alisson) is that they tend to punch the ball away rather than catch it and hold on to it. No doubt it has its advantages.
Actually, that is one element of Kelleher’s game that I do like. Given the option, he will catch the ball.
I do think it’s the fear of clattering into someone which happens when the goalkeeper tries to catch the ball.
Also with cunts like arsenal who increasingly look to push the keeper away from the ball , more keepers are getting out of position to grab the ball and hence resort to punching more.
This can be sorted if the existing rule of giving goalkeepers more protection is enforced. The Arsenal cunts for all their crowding the keeper etc are ready to fall down at the slightest touch and claim penalties by the keeper when he attempts to hold his ground.