Alisson Becker

[vlahka]

Wouldnt be much of a competition. Kelleher is the better keeper.

[danperkins]

Was such a pity we had to let Kelleher go, he was just too good to be a back up. I still think he was underated by many of our own fans. Not a huge fan of Mama, decent shot stopper but hasn't shown much else imo. Kelleher is fantastic with the ball at his feet, great shot stopper and so calm. Had a great season for Brentford too which is no surprise. With Alisson being a bit of a crock, I'm not sure Mama is the one to replace him. Early days but so far he's good enough with the ball at his feet to be top level.

[Doc_Piptorious]

Was such a pity we had to let Kelleher go, he was just too good to be a back up. I still think he was underated by many of our own fans. Not a huge fan of Mama, decent shot stopper but hasn't shown much else imo. Kelleher is fantastic with the ball at his feet, great shot stopper and so calm. Had a great season for Brentford too which is no surprise. With Alisson being a bit of a crock, I'm not sure Mama is the one to replace him. Early days but so far he's good enough with the ball at his feet to be top level.

Think it is the opposite tbh. He is a good keeper and one that learned a hell of a lot training day in and day out with the best keeper in the world, but if Kellher had not played for us and been from Cork, and all we knew of him was this season at Brentford, would be be clamouring for him to replace the guy that has been the best of the best for years?

That is not to say Mamar is a nailed in certainty to be the next bext in the world, but he is younger than Kelleher by a couple years I think and far more experienced in terms of firth team football.

Mamar is exactly what we bought and that is one of the most highly rated young keepers. Now he may be closer in style to Oblak than an Alisson or a Neuer, but he is already damn good at the two most important things, imo of course, for a keeper and that is making good saves and the sort of positioning so that every save does not need to be a hail mary hollywood save.

His ability on the ball, which is average rather than poor (we have just become too used to the levels Alisson brought) can be worked on and also can be negated with how the back line and him learn to work together. Would be negated further imo were we to bring in more mobility in midfield in the form of a mobile player that is also defensively good. Think our flaws this season have made for some turgid playing out from the back and too many stupid pressure inviting balls being played to our keepers by our own players.

Would also argue that Mamar has shown in a number of games this season that he is the difference between going in a goal down and going in three goals down. Again do that improving of the backline and midfield thing and we go back to needing a keeper that needs to be a great shot stopper and great at making chances against us less good through positioning.

Another thing to look at is the current gap between the crop of up and coming keepers and the truly world class ones.

I think we are in a bit of a weird limbo at present as pretty much all of the world class guys are in the twilight of their careers and then there is a big empty space where the world class prime age keeper or keepers would be.

Mamar for me sits with the likes of Diogo Costa, Kelleher, Kobel, Agirrezabala and a couple others that sit in that 24 to 28 age bracket and could be argued that a few of them are already at an age where they might have already become as good as they are going to get. Possibly Kelleher and Kobel fall under that.

If you want to try and get a young (ish) keeper that has great reflexes, is good with the ball at his feet and appears to have most of the other qualities (physical and mental) needed to be a close to perfect all rounder, then the best bet might be Costa though the one knock I would have against him is he is "short" at 6'1 (short as in the really great modern keeprs tended to have everything plus size in their locker).

[5europeancups]

I think Mama is showing all the signs of being a great goalie. Especially in the air.

He is young and some of his decision making will need ot improve but he is brave, a great shot stopper and great in the air.

His footwork is not catastrophic either. I like this guy.

[Doc_Piptorious]

I think Mama is showing all the signs of being a great goalie. Especially in the air.

He is young and some of his decision making will need ot improve but he is brave, a great shot stopper and great in the air.

His footwork is not catastrophic either. I like this guy.

Not in the slightest. It is average for a keeper but not poor.

If we can get our heads around the fact he is very much in the mould of Oblak and build around him as such rather than trying to make him the new Alisson then come this time next season and for the seasons that follow we may well be crowing about how we got such a good keeper for the price we paid for him.

Think the time to compare him to Kelleher is when he hits the age when keepers tend to hit their peak. Kelleher is at that age given he turns 28 later this year (Mamrar turns 26 later this year) but Marar at 25 is currently far more experienced at club and international level than Kelleher is at 27 and has gotten in the minutes early in his career that Kelleher is only starting to get in now.

Think if Kelleher had the minutes at 25 that Mamar has now, then we might be looking at a very different Kelleher but as things stand Kelleher maybe not have the same amount of game experience under his belt until he is closer to 30. Makes a big difference for keepers to have that experience under their belts long before their peak years as it means a lot of their learning and mistake making is done by the time they hit 27 or 28 and the experience they have gained early on allows them to fully hit their stride when they should.

Of course there are exceptions and there are keepers that become top tier when younger (and I have a feeling Diogo Costa will be one of those that become amazing by 26) but generally it is the ones that have the right talent coupled with the right amount of game time in their early to mid 20s that become top tier rather than "only" being very good.

[Norbs]

Wouldn't be surprised but at the same time I think I'll be a bit sad to see him go. Also, wish kelleher was sold with a buyback because he'd have fancied his chances in a fair competition against Mamardash i reckon

Yeah, lunacy not to have had a conversation with him and Becker if Becker was considering trying his luck elsewhere

[Doc_Piptorious]

Yeah, lunacy not to have had a conversation with him and Becker if Becker was considering trying his luck elsewhere

But as Kelleher has said in interviews, he did have conversations with the club well before his final season with us. He wanted to become a first team regular and the club said that Alisson was going to be the regular last season and again this season so Kelleher looked for his move away.

No guarantee that even had Kelleher stayed that he would be the starter next season either as Alisson may well see out the final year of his contract.

[danperkins]

Not in the slightest. It is average for a keeper but not poor.

If we can get our heads around the fact he is very much in the mould of Oblak and build around him as such rather than trying to make him the new Alisson then come this time next season and for the seasons that follow we may well be crowing about how we got such a good keeper for the price we paid for him.

Think the time to compare him to Kelleher is when he hits the age when keepers tend to hit their peak. Kelleher is at that age given he turns 28 later this year (Mamrar turns 26 later this year) but Marar at 25 is currently far more experienced at club and international level than Kelleher is at 27 and has gotten in the minutes early in his career that Kelleher is only starting to get in now.

Think if Kelleher had the minutes at 25 that Mamar has now, then we might be looking at a very different Kelleher but as things stand Kelleher maybe not have the same amount of game experience under his belt until he is closer to 30. Makes a big difference for keepers to have that experience under their belts long before their peak years as it means a lot of their learning and mistake making is done by the time they hit 27 or 28 and the experience they have gained early on allows them to fully hit their stride when they should.

Of course there are exceptions and there are keepers that become top tier when younger (and I have a feeling Diogo Costa will be one of those that become amazing by 26) but generally it is the ones that have the right talent coupled with the right amount of game time in their early to mid 20s that become top tier rather than "only" being very good.

Sure but he has looked a better keeper than Mama imo. Experience is great, so is talent. Kelleher is only 27 and has at least another 10 years left. Kelleher has less games because he has been at a top club behind the best in the world, also he had the experience of being at a top level, championship winning club and has been learning from Alisson. His mistake was staying so long. He was great most times he deputised for Alisson, so much so that we didn't notice a drop off, he has been great for Ireland who are horrendous and has had a brilliant season for Brentford too. He's underrated imo and is clearly more rounded keeper than Mama. Whether that will change in time remains to be seen but the footwork and calmness is something you can't develop this late. I'd also argue that Alisson has been dodgy on the deck for the last few years.

[Doc_Piptorious]

Sure but he has looked a much better keeper than Mama imo. Experience is great, so is talent. Kelleher is only 27 and has at least another 10 years left. Kelleher has less games because he has been at a top club behind5th4 best in the world, also he had the experience of being at a top level, championship winning club and has been learning from Alisson. He was great most times he deputised for Alisson, has been good for Ireland and has had a great season for Brentford too. He's underrated imo and is clearly more rounded keeper than Mama. Whether that will change in time remains to be seen.

Don't disagree with most of your post, but again I think the point stands that if Kelleher had a similar career but at Man City and then went to Brentford and had the exact same season that he just had, would we be calling for him to be the Alisson replacement?

I have my doubts. Maybe he would be in the conversation but I do not think he would be as clear cut a favourite in the eyes of many.

That is in no way to take away from his level at present. He is a good keeper, he is very rounded, however for his age, 27 going on 28, he is far less experienced in terms of competitive games than most very good to top level keepers in his age bracket.

Yes he has had the advantage of training with the very best, but he still lacks the experience that he should have and more at his age. The experience that would make a lot of keeper's his gae closer to being the finished article.

Kelleher might well go up a few more levels or he may take another few years as a starter to get to that level and then be close to the stage where his body starts going the other way.

Have a feeling he is going to be a what if? kind of player as in What if he had moved from us earlier in his career and gotten experience/game time under his belt a few years sooner

And some of the same arguements can be made against Mamar, however he is further along in terms of competitive games experience and still has another two years to go in his career before he reaches the age Kelleher is now so potentially Mamar at 27 may well have 300+ games under his belt at 27 whereas Kelleher at 27 currently has less than half of that at 27 turning 28.

Just feel like goalkeepers because of the fact they tend to start peaking from 27 or 28 onwards do need to have plenty of experience under their belt by their mid 20s.

Think a goalkeeper at 27 or 28 with only 100 clubs games to his name is like getting a 24 or 25 yo midfielder or attacker with 50 games to his name. You start to question why so few games if they are meant to be so good (and I know the Alisson factor comes into play there) and if the player has enough game experience at that point to fully realise their potential.

For my money, I think Kelleher should have left us even sooner than he did and should be coming off the back of the second or third season of his career as a starter. Think he would be even better had he done that and would have experience in the bank to be an established senior player at his age rather than being of senior player age but with the game experience of a younger player.

At the end of the day it makes no difference whatsoever though. Kelleher wanted to leave and he left. He's gone so all I care about if if our current number two can show in the coming 12 months if he has the ability to start step up to be our next established starter. Maybe he will, maybe he will not, but he is the our guy and the only one right now that matters in terms of next LFC keeper.

Kelleher can always come back home here to Cork and play at Turners Cross with his brother

[danperkins]

Imo it's more that alot of fans aren't really sold on Mama, so naturally the Kelleher name drop will be made, previously with the club and having a great season. It's very hard to judge Mama in fairness, bizarre season and I'm sure he ll get his chance to lay a marker down if Alisson leaves which imo he will. One of many changes happening this summer, gonna be interesting.

[Exiled_red]

Backup GK is always a difficult position, he hasn't really had much of an extended run of games (which is a good thing for a back up GK) When he has played he has looked decent enough, problems are 2 fold for me: 1) we are comparing him to peak Alisson and with all due respect Alisson isn't peak Alisson any more, 2) he doesn't seem to be the same type of keeper as Alisson in that from what I have seen so far he seems to prefer to stay on his line, whereas Alisson and Kelleher tended to come out and deny forwards space which was what made Alisson so good at one-on-ones. For me the change of style is more of a puzzling one, I think Kelleher is mentioned because he is a similar style of GK to Alisson, and that makes him in the minds of fans at least more suitable than Mamardashvili

[baitman]

I think once mama has more time and has a more settled and on form set of defenders in front of him then he can grow into the role and understand better what his team mates are likely to do.
When a goalie is the supreme number one they have a confidence and assurance about them. It must be hard to take the Jersey and have to suddenly step up as the senior glovesmith.

[labourRed]

This debate is an odd one, Kelleher at 27 wanted to be a #1 and frankly he should have been a long time ago. That was never happening at LFC for him at least for another year or two.

For his age, Mamardashvili is easily among the top 10 keepers in the world. That's excellent succession planning.

I'll be sad when Alisson goes and it was mooted this would be his last season before it started, so i reckon he is gone as his stats have fallen off a cliff anyway. He's been one of the coolest ****ers we've had in years since the moment he walked into the club looking like a rock superstar.

[Charly]

Last game?

A sad day.

An end of an era.

[peterbread]

The last I heard is he’s staying now. Or at least that’s the rumours swirling around which would be good.