Manager rues “mistakes” as Liverpool goalkeeper suffers nightmare defeat

It has been a rough start to Marcelo Pitaluga‘s loan spell at St Patrick’s Athletic, which continued for the Liverpool goalkeeper in a 3-1 loss to Waterford.

Pitaluga is currently on his second loan away from Liverpool, having joined St Pat’s in January after a previous stint with non-league Macclesfield.

But while the Brazilian is preparing to spend the majority of the year in Ireland, his start to the season has been tougher than hoped.

He was culpable for at least one goal in the 3-1 loss to Shamrock Rovers in the final of the President’s Cup, before giving away and conceding a penalty in a 1-0 loss to Bohemians in the league.

Monday night brought the 21-year-old’s sixth start for the club, and he was at fault for at least one goal as St Pat’s lost 3-1 to Waterford.

The first came with a looping header from Padraig Amond which saw Pitaluga flat-footed and unable to dive far enough to keep it out.

Then came a big warning sign as the youngster was charged down by Amond after a loose touch with no one around him, with his clearance bouncing off the striker before going just wide.

Just before half-time, an attempted cross from Ryan Burke appeared to get caught in the wind and, despite attempting a simple catch, the ball slipped through Pitaluga’s gloves for Amond to make it 2-1.

And midway through the second half, he was then beaten at his near post by a powerful strike from Maleace Asamoah, sealing the win for Waterford.

Per FotMob, Pitaluga completed just eight of his 26 attempted passes, or 31 percent, with manager Jon Daly left ruing his side’s mistakes in a post-match interview with LOITV.

“We seem to be getting punished for every mistake we make at the moment. That obviously then impacts the confidence levels,” he said.

“I thought the play was poor at times, when we got to 1-1 we looked like we were in the ascendency, then we obviously make a mistake and it kind of knocks us back a little bit.

“We didn’t respond in the right manner today.”

Daly added: “We’ve made a mistake, it got punished, then another mistake in the second half that got punished as well. We need to eliminate that and we need to be better going forwards.”

It has clearly been a tricky adaptation for Pitaluga, but those at Liverpool could see this as a formative experience for a player who, at 21, is the second-youngest No. 1 in the league.

Either way, the goalkeeper, his parent club and his loan club will all be hoping his fortunes improve in the weeks and months to come.