After acknowledging there are no justifications for Liverpool’s terrible performance against Leicester City on Friday, Alisson Becker believes they must alter their mentality.
Wout Faes scored two own goals for the Reds as they overcame the Foxes 2-1 at Anfield to increase their chances of qualifying for the Champions League.
The following day, Manchester City and Newcastle United were both held to draws, putting Jurgen Klopp’s team eight points behind City in second place and only six behind Newcastle in third place with a game remaining.
Jurgen Klopp’s side, though, were alarmingly under-par for spells against Leicester with the Reds boss later admitting too many of his players failed to reach their usual level.
Alisson also said that the team’s mentality needs to change, rejecting claims that the recent World Cup break had a negative impact.
We cannot rely on justifications, the goalie added. We had just played our second Premier League game following the World Cup.
The players that had time off prepared themselves throughout that period. Those that traveled to the World Cup might train and then relax in order to get ready for this situation.
Speaking for myself and the other players who traveled to the World Cup, I can say that we concentrated on the games there, but once the tournament was over, I was focused on the tasks at hand.
“It’s going to be a really important moment of the season now and we have to focus. We have to do better. Sometimes it’s just a matter of mentality. It’s not that easy to change it but we can do that for sure.”
The victory and our on-field performance were the only things we could take away from Friday, according to Alisson. However, there is still much room for improvement given our current performance. If our ambition is to continue achieving the objectives set before us, we must perform much better.
“Both we and our supporters have great expectations of one another. We are a sizable club, and Liverpool is a sizable club that constantly strives to compete for championships and to be at the top. More action is required. However, we are aware of that.
The time between now and Liverpool’s next Premier League match, in which they can once more temporarily cut the deficit to
Liverpool have a quick turnaround to their next Premier League game, when they can again temporarily close the gap to the top four with victory at Brentford on Monday.
Alisson acknowledges that the Reds can’t afford to dwell on their performance against Leicester as they want to win their fifth straight league game for the first time since April of last year, according to LFC TV.
“Winning a game that isn’t fair sometimes feels fantastic,” he remarked. We must concentrate on the victory and the three points, and we must also see the bright side.
“There isn’t much time left for us to complain about the performance. We simply need to keep moving forward, improve our game-day preparation, and perform better.