Alisson Becker interview | 'We go with our best against Chelsea'
‘So far, so good’ is how Alisson Becker sums up the season to date, with Liverpool’s No.1 determined to extend that feeling of positivity this weekend.
The Reds’ third Premier League game of the campaign sees them host Chelsea at Anfield on Saturday in a contest involving two teams with identical records in 2021-22.
Both sides have collected six points from their opening two matches, while scoring five goals and conceding zero.
Alisson told Liverpoolfc.com: “It’s an unpredictable game but we have to fight, we have to give everything, 100 per cent, on the pitch to make sure we get our goal: that is having the three points.
“This is the way we will respect their team because they have a lot of quality, some new players and they won the Champions League last season. They did a good Premier League [season] as well, so we go with our best for this match.”
Read on for the rest of our pre-match interview with the Brazilian goalkeeper…
How would you assess the two performances so far this season?
So far, so good. We have a long journey through this season and I hope [for] the best for us. I can see our team with a nice mindset, the right mindset, the way we are approaching the games with good preparation. Obviously in the beginning of the season you can’t wait, the best performance of the team is something you have to improve through the season step by step. We have a lot of things to improve and this is what we will do in the next games.
Tell us what it was like to have the backing of a full Anfield again…
It’s fantastic. Football without fans is not football. Football belongs to the fans, what we do on the pitch makes no sense if they are not there, so having them again at my back, on my side and in front of me is amazing. It’s a really good feeling and they really, really push us forward to help us improve. This energy that comes from outside of the pitch is something that can move the team on and set the level as high as possible.
And what’s it like to have Joel Matip and Virgil van Dijk back in front of you?
It was a hard job for the other players to try to do their best in place of Virgil and Joe and Joel [last season]. Losing them was a big knock on our team; not only them but many players got injured last season. But having them back again, I’m really happy about this. Having all three back fit… again, [there are] a lot of things that we still have to improve but I think so far, so good. The last two games we played, you can feel already that we didn’t lose too much together.
Players such as Kostas Tsimikas and Harvey Elliott have started the season strongly, too…
It’s not a surprise because I can see what they are doing in training. Kostas and Harvey, they are two fighters with top quality. Top-quality players with good skills, good technique and with a proper mentality, a Liverpool mentality, fighting to the end. The last two matches were really strong challenges for them and I believe they did really well on the pitch. Kostas in the last match was Man of the Match, so this is really important for him. Not only for him and for Harvey, but for the team, for everybody. These kind of things give us confidence to keep improving.
You are one of five senior players to sign a new long-term contract with the club in recent weeks. How much excitement is there in the squad about what you can achieve this season?
It’s fantastic because we believe in ourselves, we believe in each other and as long as we can count on each one, it’s really, really good. It’s really nice to know that you will be with these teammates for a long time.
Finally, how big a statement would it be to beat Chelsea?
I think for what we believe and for what we want to achieve, it’s a good sign because you are playing one of the favourite sides in the title race and if you can beat one of these sides it’s always good for you to give confidence. It’s a good sign for everybody, not only for us, for the others. We won the Premier League before and we know that we need to think always about the next challenge that we have in front of us, so this game is important. Of course it’s big, but we don’t want to make this bigger than it is. It’s the same three points as playing against other teams, so we have to give 100 per cent to achieve this goal.