InterviewAlisson Becker Q&A: Sunderland preview, building blocks and why fans' support means everything
Alisson Becker considers Wednesday’s meeting with Sunderland to be Liverpool’s most important game of the season so far.
The Reds go into the match at Anfield on the back of a morale-boosting 2-0 win at West Ham United last weekend – a result that ended a run of three consecutive defeats.
The clash with the Black Cats is the first of five Premier League fixtures for the reigning champions in December and Alisson knows how significant this month could be for the season as a whole.
The No.1 told Liverpoolfc.com: “It is a huge opportunity. Every game is a new opportunity for us and we expect to leave this bad period behind us. It’s what we expect and what we are going to fight for.
“But our focus is on Sunderland now, for the rest of the month we think later. The most important game for us of the season so far is Sunderland and that’s where our focus is going to be.”
Read the rest of our interview with Alisson below.
It was much improved in terms of both performance and result at West Ham. How important is it to build on that against Sunderland?
Yeah, really important. I think it’s always difficult to play away in the Premier League. Winning, getting the clean sheet as well, was important for us, for the goals we have now [and] having the focus on the next challenge we have in front of us in the next opponent. West Ham was a really good result, a good performance as well. We want to bring consistency in performances, now it’s important for us.
We are going to play a really tough opponent that is getting really good results in the Premier League this season, we know that their team are strong physically, technically they are really good as well, tactically they work together [and] work hard. So we are focused on the things that we can do to try to get the three points: focusing on the clean sheet again, defending together as one on the pitch and working really hard.
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Watch on YouTubeThere seemed to be a real determination in the team to make sure you got that clean sheet on Sunday. Is that something that is even more important in moments like this, to make sure you are solid first and foremost and then hopefully go and win the game from there?
Yeah. When you struggle during a period of time you need to go back to the basic stuff in football and defending, it was the main thing for us. So obviously celebrating the small things like winning challenges and winning duels, blocking shots, stopping crosses, was really important for us in that game against West Ham. It’s going to be massive again against Sunderland and not only ourselves but we really want and need the supporters to be on our side, celebrating those moments as well. [With] that we are going to make the team stronger for the game, not only for this game but for the rest of the games that we have.
The support from the away end was fantastic on Sunday. How important is it for Anfield to be really with you again on Wednesday and how much can the supporters help the team?
Well, I think in these times it’s difficult to be relaxed, to be calm and to bring energy from the supporters and even sometimes we don’t react in the best way from negative moments in the game – maybe conceding, maybe struggling with the performance. But they are massive for us. The supporters here, they are the reason why Liverpool is so successful in its history, so we need them, we need them for sure, and we want to show them that we really have the desire to change things.
Against West Ham was proof of that from the team and from the supporters, they showed again that they believe in us and that’s the feeling we want to feel: that they are with us, that they believe in us, they trust us and they can bring a lot of energy, as they always do. And at this time, it’s the time we need them most.
Sunderland have done so well in their first season back in the Premier League. What kind of challenge are you expecting on Wednesday night?
Really, the Premier League became more physical this season [and] they are a physical team, in a good way. They are aggressive in a good way, like they go for challenges, they show desire. They are really excited about playing in the Premier League again after such a long time and we have to wait for a team that are going to fight a lot. We cannot be surprised and thinking that things are going to be easy – it is not, it never is in the Premier League. So you have to fight, you have to make sure you are on your toes to make a really good performance, a really solid performance and to not give the opponents the chance that they want.