Alisson Becker has claimed Liverpool ‘cannot rely on excuses’ after they put in a lacklustre performance against Leicester on Friday despite earning all three points.
The Reds had Foxes defender Wout Faes to thank after he netted two first half own goals to put Jurgen Klopp’s side ahead after they initially fell behind to a Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall strike.
The Brazilian shot stopper has insisted he and his teammates must ‘do better’ when they face Brentford in west London tomorrow.
“We cannot rely on excuses,” our No. 1 told LFCTV (via Liverpool Echo). “It was only the second (Premier League) game we have played after the World Cup.
“The players who had time (off), used that to prepare themselves. The ones who went to the World Cup, they could train and then rest to prepare for this moment.
“Speaking about myself and the players who went to the World Cup, we focused there on the games, but after we finished I was straight with my mind here focused on the next things that we have in front of us.
“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.”
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Despite the performance being far from ideal, Alisson knows that the three points were the main thing.
We’re currently sixth in the table and four points behind Manchester United who are occupying the final Champions League spot.
The former Roma man added: “The only thing we could take from Friday was the win and the effort we put on the pitch. But there’s a lot of space to improve, looking at the performance we have to do a lot better if the ambition is to keep achieving the goals that we have in front of us.
“We have high expectations and the supporters have high expectations about us. We are a big club, Liverpool is a huge club who always will try to fight for titles and to be there at the top all the time. We have to do more. But we know that.”
Winning games when not at your best is the sign of a good team but we won’t always be as fortunate and have own goals to thank for gifting us the victory.
Thomas Frank’s Brentford are unbeaten since the return of Premier League football after the World Cup and have received a huge injury boost with Ivan Toney potentially available for tomorrow’s game.
Alisson is eager to take the positives from our clash with Leicester, however, and wants us to pick up our fifth successive league victory in the capital tomorrow.
“Sometimes it’s a good feeling to win a game that is not clean,” he said. “We have to look at the positive side as well. We have to focus on the win and the three points.
“We don’t have too much time to be moaning about the performance. We just have to keep on going and prepare ourselves better for the next game and do better.”
New Liverpool signing Cody Gakpo could be available to make his debut tomorrow but Jurgen Klopp has hinted that our FA Cup clash with Wolves on January 7 is when the Dutchman is more likely to make his first Reds appearance.