Christian Eriksen may have been offside when he rifled a shot in the direction of the Anfield Road end, but Loris Karius wasn’t to know and made an impressive save regardless. It was one of many encouraging moments during the 24-year-old’s display against Tottenham Hotspur, after which he has been praised and criticised in equal measure.
As part of Liverpool’s much maligned goalkeeping unit, headed up by oft-criticised coach John Achterberg and his three musketeers who take to the pitch, or not, each weekend, Karius’s adaptation to the Premier League hasn’t been the easiest.
First there was a positive. The German was handed the No 1 shirt previously worn by Brad Jones and Diego Cavalieri, and at a time when Liverpool needed to join the modern age of goalkeeping where outfield skills and game intelligence are often valued above stay-on-your-line shot-stopping, their new man appeared to fit the bill.
He was named the second best goalkeeper in the Bundesliga during his final season at Mainz 05, behind Manuel Neuer of course, and arrived on British shores with the confidence and Instagram account of fashion icon, and a physique which was more David de Gea than Simon Mignolet.
Those recent holders of Liverpool’s No 1 shirt suggest that it doesn’t really mean much, but to be fair to Jones and Cavalieri they have gone on to perform admirably in the Netherlands and Brazil respectively, having never really been given runs in the side at Anfield.
After his performance against Tottenham, Karius showed that he might be the player most deserving of the shirt in the club’s recent history, or at least deserving of a run in the side.
He has been regularly criticised since arriving on Merseyside, and has been blamed for a number of goals or incidents during his sporadic appearances to date. Even though many of these have been due problems which are still ingrained in the defensive unit as a whole, he was removed from the firing line by Jurgen Klopp back in December 2016, and hasn’t appeared regularly since.
He became the club’s cup goalkeeper but inconsistency from Mignolet, plus the fact that the Belgian struggles with the footballing side of the game, means that Karius has eventually forced his way back into the team.
Klopp stated before the recent triumph at home to Manchester City, that his compatriot is his new main man.
"Yes, he is the new number one," he told German outlet DAZN, going back on his previous policy of rotation.
"With goalkeepers you have to commit yourself. In other positions you can change, as you want, and we do now. Loris is now in it.”
The Spurs game proved that Klopp should now stick to his word and not even opt for a cup-keeper policy by using Mignolet in the Champions League. He tried that in the FA Cup and Liverpool limped out at the hands of West Bromwich Albion with the Belgian putting in a wholly indecisive display.
As well as the aforementioned save from Eriksen, Karius made a routine stop from Harry Kane thanks to good positioning, and comfortable collection from Mousa Dembele’s attempt from distance. More impressive were his close range save from Son Heung-min for which he made himself big and narrowed the angle, and a save from Kane’s first penalty which showed good positioning and good research on Kane’s previous penalties.
Karius may have conceded the spot-kick himself, but it was a soft decision as Kane collapsed to the ground following minimal to no contact, but he more than made up for it with the stop.
He has been criticised for punching the ball clear in the build-up to Victor Wanyama’s equaliser, but it was the right decision in the circumstances, and again he wasn’t helped out by a defence for whom he’s unfairly already shouldered enough of the blame for during his time at Liverpool.
The punch was strong, cleared the area, and gave other players ample time to close down Wanyama, but the defensive midfielder produced a stunning one-off strike which found the top corner.
The expected goal value of 0.02 assigned to this shot shows how unlikely it was that Wanyama would find the net from there, and placed in the same situation again Karius should repeat the action; it is those around him in defence and midfield who would need to up their game and make different, better decisions.
Despite Spurs dominating possession, they had to rely on a wonder-strike and a penalty to eventually get their goals, so aside from a couple of errors late in the game after Klopp had unwisely switched to a back three, it was an encouraging defensive display from the Reds.
Karius was a big part of this. He looked dominant once he realised Virgil van Dijk prefers him to be proactive and sweep up behind the defensive line, and he made some one-on-one stops which contributed to one of his best performances since joining the club.
Now his manager needs to build on the confidence gained from this match, and stick with him for the rest of the season. Whether the games come in the Premier League or Champions League, Karius should be Liverpool’s No 1.
