Why Peter Schmeichel is wrong about Liverpool goalkeeper Alisson Becker in Ederson comparison
Alisson will go down as one of the greatest ever Premier League goalkeepers but Peter Schmeichel has indicated he might not feature ion the current top two.
Isaac is the Leeds United reporter for LeedsLive. An NCTJ-qualified journalist, Isaac has interviewed many football icons during his career, including World Cup winners and Premier League champions. He has also sat down with a number of Olympic greats, such as Adam Peaty MBE and Dame Laura Kenny.
“Ederson, for sure. David Raya is coming close now too. He has really impressed me.” That was Peter Schmeichel’s answer when asked which goalkeeper is currently the best in the Premier League.
The suggestion that Liverpool custodian Alisson is not in the top two as things stand would be quite the claim. Of course, Arsenal ‘keeper Raya has had a remarkable start to the season, but it was only a year ago that he usurped Aaron Ramsdale before making a number of mistakes that led to goals.
And this campaign, he has the same number of Premier League clean sheets as Alisson - three - while Ederson only has one. “Alisson is fantastic in terms of making big saves and one-v-one situations,” Schmeichel went on to admit while appearing on The Overlap. “[But] Alisson struggles a bit with his feet. There are a few mistakes that he would make that you don’t see from Ederson. That’s the only thing.”
The statistics over the past five seasons paint a slightly different picture to the one framed by Schmeichel in branding Ederson as the best 'keeper. Many will argue that Ederson has been the better pick going from the collection of titles he has won.
But when the numbers in the seasons after Liverpool’s 2020 Premier League triumph are compared, most of the metrics used by Schmeichel are a lot closer than made out or simply falsifiable. Indeed, Alisson has made more errors leading to goals - but only at 10-8 versus Ederson.
And the suggestion that the Liverpool No.1 struggles with his feet is inaccurate. Alisson has completed 86.3% of his passes, which is only 0.3% worse than Ederson. Furthermore, he has attempted at least 500 more Premier League passes than Ederson and, number-count-wise, has completed more.
When it comes to take-ons - admittedly not a goalkeeper’s forte but something we have seen multiple times from both players - Alisson has successfully completed all eight of his efforts. Ederson only has a ratio of two out of three.
And when it comes to goal-saving actions, Alisson trumps his Brazilian countryman. Both have made exactly 205 league starts in the past five years, yet Alisson has a higher save percentage of 73.3 to 71.8. And he has made nearly 140 more saves than Ederson in that time.
And as a consequence, data collection analysts fb.ref say that Alisson has a plus-20 xG - or, in other words, that he should have let in 20 more goals than he has. Ederson’s rating is dead on naught, meaning he has conceded the amount of goals he was expected to and thus has not overperformed.
Perhaps the most obvious comparison is to look at their selection usage for the national team. Alisson, 32, made his senior debut two years earlier than Ederson, 31, hence the Liverpool star’s appearance total of 71.
But when analysing the Brazil games since Ederson made his debut in October 2017, it's clear who is the more favoured choice. In that time, Alisson has made more than double the number of outings, his 51 caps shadowing Ederson’s 25.
In that period, Brazil have had four different head coaches, nearly all of whom have come to the same conclusion. The theory that Alisson is not in the top two Premier League goalkeepers is hard to defend.
Even this season alone, Alisson has a save percentage of 84.6 against Ederson’s 72.2. He also has a higher pass completion rate and attains a better xG rating (+1.5 vs +0.9).
Alisson also beats Raya in all three metrics too. The Reds hero might not only be in the top two Premier League goalkeepers, he could well be the best.