Is Giorgi Mamardashvili ready to replace Alisson Becker? Big Liverpool decision examined

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As Alisson Becker is heavily linked to a Juventus move, we take a deeper look at how Liverpool's goalkeepers compareIn a season that has not been at standard required for Liverpool, reports of Juventus' interest in Alisson Becker have added insult to injury for many supporters.For some, the idea of letting the club's greatest goalkeeper of the Premier League era leave during a period of such uncertainty is anathema to the ambition Liverpool must show in challenging for trophies again next season - especially when his understudy, the Georgian shot-stopper Giorgi Mamardashvili, has yet to fully convince fans of his readiness to take over the No. The Reds have conceded some really poor chances this season and, with the midfield doing little to protect the defence and the team struggling from set pieces, the finger of blame cannot be pointed solely at the goalkeeper for failing to save as many chances.Indeed, in the Champions League, the competition in which Liverpool were (for the most part) more solid this season, Alisson's save percentage over six games was 81.2%.In the interest of fairness, he was injured for both legs of the tie with Paris Saint-Germain, and despite a strong performance against Inter in which Fotmob rated him the Reds best player, he only faced two shots on target in that game.Other games in Alisson's Champions League campaign included thrashings of Marseille, Qarabag and Galatasaray, in which Liverpool's opponents had little more than half-chances and pot-shots.Still, when totting up his save percentage across all competitions this season, Alisson emerges with a respectable 70.4%.More meaningful conclusions can perhaps be drawn from his 'goals prevented' statistics, which are calculated by subtracting actual goals conceded from the expected goals on target a keeper faces .The last time Liverpool missed out on Champions League qualification in 2022-23, Alisson was named their player of the season, preventing 8.32 goals across all competitions.Over the course of this season in all competitions, however, the former Roma keeper has prevented -1.5 goals - meaning he has let in slightly more than would normally be expected.While this might not appear that dramatic, what is concerning is that Alisson has posted negative numbers in this regard twice in the last three seasons, starting with the 2023-24 season - the season in which he first picked up a hamstring injury - which could suggest that he perhaps no longer trusts his body to make as many explosive, diving saves, and is relying more than ever on his peerless positioning and awareness.Also starting with the 2023-24 season, Alisson's passing took a noticeable downward turn.

This is not to suggest that he alone is responsible for these runs - more to give an impression of the challenging nature of his first season at the club.For starters, Alisson's first injury of the campaign coincided with the Reds' initial collapse immediately following seven wins from seven at the start of the season.Again, correlation is not the same as causation, but after Alisson played in the 2-1 defeat at Crystal Palace and the first 56 minutes of the 1-0 defeat to Galatasaray in the Champions League league phase, Mamardashvili then had the less-than enviable position of being in goal for defeats against Chelsea, Manchester United and Brentford, followed by an awful run that saw Liverpool ship three or more goals in three successive games against City, Nottingham Forest and PSV Eindhoven.While no one would hold Mamardashvili responsible for any of those defeats, it does perhaps speak to the value of confidence in a goalkeeper that the Reds looked steadier when following up the PSV humiliation with a 13-game unbeaten streak, in which Alisson played every game apart from the win in the FA Cup against Barnsley.Since then, Liverpool have lost three with Alisson in goal and five with Mamardashvili - although this includes both legs as Arne Slot's were outclassed by PSG in the Champions League quarter-final.With the difficulty of the fixtures he has played in and the form of his team-mates, it would instead serve better to look at more individual metrics.The No.25, however, has still performed a grade below Alisson this season. His save percentage of 65.3% is actually better than Alisson's based on league performances alone but, as shown before, the Brazilian has his number across all competitions.Likewise, Mamardashvili has prevented -4.04 goals in all competitions and managed just three clean sheets from 19 appearances.Again, he has probably had an even worse rub of the green than Alisson in terms of the team performances in which he has racked up these numbers, but great keepers - like Alisson himself in 2022-23 - should be able to more reliably rescue their team-mates when the going gets tough.When it comes to ability on the ball, the numbers back up the eye test in showing that Mamardashvili is an unreliable option for a team that tries to play out from the back, completing just 32.8% of his long passes and 68.4% overall.He is still only 25 years old, though, and this side of his game is more easily mitigated by training as well as coaching decisions that adapt build-up to suit him better.The more concerning problem is his general level of goalkeeping, which has dropped off significantly since Liverpool secured the deal for his services in 2024, a year in advance of his arrival.The keeper Liverpool signed was one who had a save percentage of 72.5% in the 2023-24 LaLiga season, and had prevented a whopping 9.26 goals as well as saving three of the six penalties he faced.Mamardashvili kept 13 league clean sheets that season in a Valencia team that conceded 45 goals over 38 games, finishing ninth with fewer goals scored than relegated Almeria.Put simply, Mamardashvili was Valencia's standout player, and had been more than reliable for some time.

His save percentage was above 70% in both of the two previous seasons, 2021-22 and 2022-23.After signing for Liverpool, though, that percentage dipped to 66% in his final season at Valencia while his goals prevented nosedived to -1.48, and there have been little to no signs of improvement statistically in his first year at his new club.In other words, Liverpool's heir to Alisson has been unable to recover his form for nearly two years at this point.While Mamardashvili is not yet at what would normally be considered a goalkeeper's peak, none of this points toward him being ready to take on the responsibility of being Liverpool's No. Much-maligned has been Liverpool's defenders' tendency to pass the ball onto Mamardashvili's weaker right foot, which is indicative of an overall unfamiliarity between him and his team-mates.This is perfectly understandable, given the Reds' rearguard has undergone its biggest overhaul in the last eight years this season, and neither Alisson nor former No.2 Caoimhin Kelleher are left-footed.To boot, Liverpool's defence also has to improve from a tactical and individual standpoint next season if the Reds are to come anything close to challenging for silverware again - hopefully reducing the pressure on whoever is between the sticks.Nevertheless, it would appear risky to go into the new campaign with an unchallenged Mamardashvili as the No.