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Alisson Becker's tentative update on his hamstring injury might have been delivered in Portuguese as he walked by the assembly of reporters at Selhurst Park on Saturday afternoon. But it didn't require a Masters in linguistics to at least get the gist.
The Brazil international limped past the gathered reporters at a snail's pace after his second-half withdrawal for Vitezslav Jaros and while he attempted to offer a thumbs up when asked about his latest setback, the difficulty at which he navigated the steps to the exit where the team coach was waiting revealed a lot more than he might have wanted following the 1-0 victory.
Only four goalkeepers have ever made their Liverpool debut as a substitute in the Premier League, which is a period that stretches across 32 years. Mike Hooper's August 1986 introduction bumps that number to five across the club's entire history and the fact that two of them have come as replacements for an injured Alisson speaks volumes about the fitness concerns that continue to plague the otherwise gifted Brazilian.
The look of concern on the face of goalkeeper coach Claudio Taffarel as the team were preparing to leave south London on Saturday also said a lot as the Brazilian fielded a call by the players' entrance. It led to some admittedly speculative suggestions that the 1994 World Cup winner was relaying the bad news directly back to the Selecao, who play World Cup qualifiers with Chile and Peru in the next couple of weeks.
The two-week break in play might be just what a hamstrung Alisson needs to nurse an issue that has been ongoing for at least a number of weeks now. He was already forced to miss last month's 3-0 win over Bournemouth and could now be absent for a critical period of the campaign that sees the Reds face two of the three other teams that compromise the current top four in Chelsea and Arsenal.
"Unfortunately, Alisson will not be with us in those matches, I assume, if I saw how he walked off the pitch,” Slot said after the game to TNT Sport. “It’s true that the fixtures are difficult, but I’ve also felt how difficult Wolves away and Crystal Palace away are. We will probably not be as dominant as we were today. We face Arsenal away, but both fixtures are really difficult and it’s good that we’ve won these games. Now it’s up to us to show ourselves in the big games."
In the press conference itself, Slot added: “We don’t know definitely what happened but we do if you walk off like he does that normally means he’s not in the Brazil squad and I don’t expect him to be in the team in the first game we play afterwards (at home to Chelsea on October 20). It’s going to take a few weeks, I assume. I think it is his hamstring.”
Given the player's importance to the cause at Anfield, one suspects the physios and masseurs will be working overtime to ensure Alisson's absence is as short as possible but the injury history of someone who is widely regarded at the AXA Training Centre as the world's best in his position is not something that is quietly overlooked due to his excellence when fit either.
The summer pursuit of Valencia's Giorgio Mamardashvili, which Alisson was consulted on prior to it being undertaken, looked a peculiar one at the time from the outside looking in, particularly as it came against the wider backdrop of what appeared to be inactivity for positions many felt Liverpool really needed to target. The wall of silence around the contract developments of three of their biggest stars in Virgil van Dijk, Mohamed Salah and Trent Alexander-Arnold also added to the idea that a new goalkeeper was being needlessly prioritised.
The number of games Alisson misses, however, meant that the long-term view was taken and with offers expected at the time for Caoimhin Kelleher - a player who might now be accurately referred to as 'wantaway' - sporting director Richard Hughes and the club's recruitment team felt an insurance policy was needed to safeguard the goalkeeping future at Anfield.
Liverpool's decision makers were perhaps hoping the wisdom of Mamardashvili's £29m arrival next summer would not be made clear quite so soon but the Georgia international will at least add further strength in depth when he joins from Valencia.
Alisson's admission earlier this season that he would like to even stay on beyond his current terms were music to the ears of supporters, who hold him in such high regard, but the litany of fitness problems have been coming more frequently in 2024. A muscle complaint in February caused the No.1 to miss nearly two and a half months in a campaign where he featured in just 32 games, the fewest number of any season to date at Anfield.
Alisson also played through the pain barrier after feeling the tweak before the Champions League victory over AC Milan last month and only he will know how much further damage was done by the decision to turn out in the San Siro for that 3-1 win on September 17.
The recently-turned 32-year-old has now missed 42 games through injury since he made his debut in 2018, which is comfortably the most of any Premier League goalkeeper during that time. That figure is now set to swell and the real concern is by how much.
The grimaces and the hobbling as he navigated the steps towards the exit said more than any on-the-record update could have from Alisson, whether it was delivered in Portuguese or English to those at Selhurst Park's media area. A nervous waiting game is now the order of the day at the AXA Training Centre.