With Liverpool taking six points from six from their 12.30pm kickoffs so far this season, Alisson has given an insight into how the squad feel about scheduling.
It has become a running joke that, after every international break, Liverpool will be kicking off at 12.30pm on a Saturday.
Thankfully, after a major issue with early starts last season, the Reds have improved things so far this time out, with two wins from two.
Saturday saw a 2-0 victory in the Merseyside derby come after the club’s South Americans returned from long-haul trips to Uruguay, Ecuador and Peru just days before.
During his post-match interview with LFCTV, Alisson was asked by presenter Peter McDowall about the difficulty of the derby being a 12.30pm kickoff after travelling.
“Again, eh?” the goalkeeper smiled.
It is a feeling shared by supporters, with Liverpool playing the early kickoff after internationals both times already this season and at least eight more than any other club since Jurgen Klopp took charge.
There is another to come next month, too, with the clash at Man City moved to a lunchtime kickoff.
Clearly, that has been spoken about within the dressing room, though the club took extra measures to ensure Alisson, Alexis Mac Allister, Luis Diaz and Darwin Nunez returned with enough time to prepare for Saturday.
In the buildup, Klopp revealed that Liverpool essentially “booked better flights” and arranged their own connections to avoid any unnecessary delays.
Alisson started against Everton as expected, along with Mac Allister and Diaz, while Nunez came off the bench to set up Mo Salah‘s second.
“[It is] always tough to come back from the national team and play 12.30pm,” the goalkeeper reflected.
“We are travelling a lot with going to South America, playing hard games, but I’m glad that today we could make the three points, that was massive today.”
The challenge Klopp’s squad faced in such a tight turnaround was magnified by the opposition, who made things difficult at Anfield even after Ashley Young’s red card.
It took 75 minutes for the deadlock to be broken, that coming as Salah converted the penalty kick following Michael Keane’s handball.
“During the matches, sometimes we have to deal with that feeling of frustration,” Alisson continued.
“I think that we did really well today. We were patient enough and worked well the ball enough to create the chances.
“Lucho one-on-one as well was amazing at creating chances for us, and suddenly the game opened up for us, scoring two goals and it’s a massive one for us today in the derby.”
