Alisson announced: Has Liverpool’s latest recruit been handed mission impossible?

Much like Pep Guardiola addressed Manchester City’s faults in the 2017 summer transfer window, Klopp has not wasted any time in 2018.

The German answered calls on their need to shore up defensively when, eventually, signing Virgil van Dijk in January, and now he has done likewise with their issue between the sticks.

It has certainly been a long time coming. Pepe Reina effectively left the club five years ago, and while faith was initially installed in Simon Mignolet, that confidence was never truly replicated by those in the Kop.

Mignolet’s stock fell, and in came Loris Karius – for half a season at least – with the seemingly final straw a catalogue of errors in May’s Champions League final against Real Madrid. Concussion may have been blamed, and Klopp may have defended the goalkeeper, but that has not stopped Liverpool from going all out for a replacement.

Klopp will have his critics after a public show of faith in Karius, but no one can really condemn the Liverpool boss, or call him hypocritical, for patching up what was undeniably their biggest blemish.

The arrival of Alisson ultimately makes for one less excuse, and could well lay bare John Terry’s 12-to-15 points notion, a total the former Chelsea captain claimed Petr Cech would save Arsenal after the goalkeeper’s switch in 2015. It didn’t come to fruition for the Gunners, but what if it did for Liverpool?

The Reds finished the 2017-18 season in fourth, 25 points behind champions Manchester City, who reached new levels when reaching the 100-mark on the final Sunday.

City will have to go some way to better that benchmark, and while they remain overwhelming favourites to become the first club to secure back-to-back titles since Man United won three in a row between 2007 and 2009, Liverpool will hope Guardiola’s side fall way short of their unprecedented tally.

Adding 12 to 15 points to the equation puts Liverpool around the 87-90 mark, with 87 points enough to win you the league five times in the last decade, while a look at their total goals conceded against the champions of each season also highlights the necessity to shut up shop.

Perhaps the most telling from all the above is Liverpool’s ‘nearliest’ of all Premier League seasons in 2013-14, when they agonisingly lost out to City by two points. Having conceded 13 more goals, even ill-timed slips could have been forgiven if they were less porous over the whole campaign.

However, recent history and its numbers matters little when you have this City side in the equation, while they will surely further strengthen their hand after already (and finally) bringing in Riyad Mahrez from Leicester.

There is also the small matter of how this Liverpool squad responds to the new-found pressure of being deemed City’s nearest challengers. It’s simple to suggest that reaching 90 points will put you in title contention come May, but actually reaching that target requires 38 games of relentless devotion.

As the world’s most expensive goalkeeper, the onus and expectation will lie heavily in Alisson’s hands. Liverpool need to convert their 3-3s with Arsenal, the 2-2s with West Brom and the 1-1s with Burnley into three points if they want to stand a chance of pipping City to the title, and it will be the Brazilian’s task to eradicate those ‘if only’ thoughts that have bogged the club down for 28 years.

It’s a big ask, and he’ll have to get by with a little help from his defensive friends, but it’s a move which signals another positive step forward from Liverpool

It remains advantage City, but Liverpool are in prime position to pounce.