#3 Loris Karius
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Karius moved to Liverpool from Mainz for £4.7 million with huge expectations. Simon Mignolet’s uncertainty between the sticks meant that Klopp had decided on naming the German keeper as his first-choice.
But it is fair to say that the young German has not repaid his manager’s faith in him. He has struggled to adapt to the Premier League, and his decision-making, at times, has been questionable. His lack of conviction was surprising given that he was voted by fans as the 2nd best goalkeeper in the Bundesliga last season, only behind the great Manuel Neuer.
Karius made his Premier League debut against Hull City at Anfield – a game that the Reds won 5-1. He had a run of 10 straight league games in the side after that, but he could not make the goalkeeper’s spot his own.
He made mistakes – a few decisive ones and that cost Liverpool points. He made a couple of them against Manchester United but those went unpunished, and also made mistakes against West Ham and Bournemouth that cost Liverpool goals and ultimately, points.
The problems for Karius stemmed from the fact that he did not display any conviction whatsoever. He came out to deal with crosses, but didn’t get a convincing touch on a lot of them. That was exemplified in the game against West Ham. A long ball found its way to Michail Antonio and the Liverpool keeper started to rush off his line, before stopping halfway, giving the Englishman an easy finish.
At that point, it would have definitely served Karius better if he had either stayed on his line, or charged straight at Antonio and tried to get to the ball before him. That, in a nutshell, has been Karius’s season so far. There have been moments of promise, but some high-profile errors have overshadowed them
Grade – 4/10 – He has made some fabulous saves and his kicking is good compared to Mignolet, but his decision-making has got to improve.
