Former Liverpool goalkeeper Brad Friedel has offered his thoughts on Giorgi Mamardashvili’s underwhelming debut season at Anfield, as Arne Slot continues to start the Georgian, with Alisson Becker out injured.
Liverpool have had frankly awful luck with injuries as of late, with the 2-0 second leg defeat at the hands of Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League quarter final no exception.
Hugo Ekitike now faces an extensive period out of the first-team picture, having ruptured his Achilles tendon against the visitors from Paris, with the Frenchman also ruled out of the upcoming World Cup for Les Bleus heartbreakingly.
Alisson, being regularly out of Arne Slot‘s starting XI at the moment, is only adding to the head coach’s anguish in this department, with the Brazilian completely out of action since the disappointing 1-1 draw with Tottenham Hotspur in mid-March.
Slot has had to trust his back-up option in Giorgi Mamardashvili to deliver the goods, consequently, and the ex-Valencia stopper did impress in parts across the two legs versus the intimidating firepower of PSG, having accumulated a standout seven saves.
But, in the eyes of former Reds keeper Brad Friedel, Liverpool should be looking at other options in between the sticks if Alisson’s injury issues continue to persist, as Mamardashvili continues to look weak on the big stage.
Alisson Becker Injury Record: 2025/26 Season:
| Period | Injury type | Games missed (approx) |
| October-November 2025 | Hamstring/illness | 9 |
| March 2026 | Unknown injury | 1 |
| March-April 2026 | Hamstring injury | 5 |
Friedel’s comments about the Liverpool keeper situation
Alisson’s injury-disrupted season, which has seen him miss 15 games across the 2025/26 campaign to date, has been far from ideal for Slot.
Indeed, when he’s fit, it’s almost set in stone that the reliable 33-year-old will be selected as the Reds’ number one keeper, with Alisson now up to a mighty 140 clean sheets from 330 games on Merseyside.
Winning two Premier League titles and a Champions League for good measure, too, it’s clear that the injury-prone stopper is a modern great in the goalkeeping department, when fit.
But the powers that be at Anfield cannot just disregard these recurring problems, and Friedel – who was once called Liverpool home for 31 games as a goalkeeper – believes the time is right for the reigning Premier League champions to be looking for a new number one when they inevitably move on from the 76-time Brazil international.
Friedel, speaking exclusively with ReadLiverpoolfc via Gambling.com, where users discover top online casinos, stated: “Yes, we have seen Alisson pick up injuries which have meant he has been out for a period, and this is a concern for Liverpool longer term.
“I do think Liverpool scouts will be out looking at a long-term number 1 for Liverpool, as Alisson has been an incredible goalkeeper for the club, but if he can’t sustain a good number of games, then you will have to look at an alternative.
So, yes with Alisson’s recent record, I would be looking at new options for Liverpool number one.”
The alternative at the moment is Mamardashvili, but with performances continuing to look shaky, Liverpool could have to dive back into the transfer market to land another fresh talent in between the sticks.
Is this harsh on Mamardashvili?
The Reds would have been hopeful that they’d found their long-term successor for their much-celebrated South American when securing the services of Mamardashvili in the summer of 2024.
Purchased for a deal around the £25m mark, the expectation would have been that the Tbilisi-born keeper would slowly but surely become used to his Anfield surroundings, after starring at the 2024 edition of the Euros, alongside keeping a promising 36 clean sheets across four seasons in La Liga.
Instead, he has been forcibly chucked into the deep end, owing to Alisson’s sketchy track record with injuries, and he has notably struggled.
Indeed, Mamardashvili has only kept four clean sheets from 17 first-team appearances this season, with only two of those falling in the bread and butter of Premier League action.
This context adds a layer of harsh irony to an already difficult night at Anfield. Before the devastating news of the injury surfaced, Giorgi Mamardashvili had been on the receiving end of significant backlash for what many deemed a “wobbly” performance between the sticks.
Despite a season where he has fought to prove he is the heir apparent to Alisson Becker, his display in the 2-0 defeat to Paris Saint-Germain became a lightning rod for criticism.
The Athletic’s Liverpool correspondent, James Pearce, noted that the Georgian looked “nervy” throughout the high-stakes encounter, particularly as he was forced to fish a clinical Ousmane Dembélé brace out of the back of his net.
While supporters were initially frustrated by his positioning and distribution on the night, the subsequent confirmation of a serious injury has largely shifted the narrative from tactical scrutiny to genuine sympathy.
Ultimately, those difficult moments against the French champions will now serve as a bitter final memory of a season that, until that Tuesday night, had been defined by Mamardashvili’s emergence as a key figure in Liverpool’s defensive future.
Liverpool will have to make do with the shaky number 25 for the upcoming Merseyside Derby, though, as Alisson is set to still be sidelined.
Matches such as the hotly contested one to come against arch-rivals Everton could allow for Mamardashvili to respond to his nay-sayers, as he will be put under serious pressure from minute one, due to the hostile Toffees home atmosphere, and an impassioned Everton frontline.
He needs to start putting in some confident displays to show he can be a competent replacement for Alisson down the line, or, as Friedel suggests, some significant summer spending could be in order for the Merseyside giants to land a brand-new stopper.
