Saturday 10 August 2019 23:39, UK
Virgil van Dijk has backed Adrian to step up and perform for Liverpool in the absence of injured first-choice goalkeeper Alisson.
The Brazilian suffered a calf injury in the Reds' 4-1 opening-day win over Norwich on Friday, meaning Adrian was required to come off the bench and make his debut just four days after signing on a free transfer.
The 32-year-old made just five appearances for West Ham last season - none of which came in the Premier League - but Van Dijk believes his new team-mate has what it takes.
The defender said: "I think he's at that kind of age, that stage of his life and career that he can come in and slot in to the team pretty easy.
"He's been through so many things in the Premier League he can just slot in pretty easy."
Alisson will miss Wednesday's Super Cup match against Chelsea, which is Liverpool's second opportunity of the season to win silverware following the Community Shield last week.
The 26-year-old recorded an impressive 27 clean sheets in 51 games for the club last season, but Van Dijk says they will cope in his absence.
"He's very important for us, but I've no idea what the actual damage is," the Netherlands international said. "We'll see over the next days what the outcome is going to be.
"We have to deal with it and we're going to deal with it."
Van Dijk was partnered in defence by Joe Gomez on Friday, who missed over four months of the 2018/19 season with a broken leg.
While Liverpool recorded a 4-1 win, they did concede 12 shots on goal as Norwich created several scoring opportunities.
Van Dijk was impressed with Gomez's performance, though, saying: "I think he did well. He's a fantastic player.
"We have a lot of centre-backs working at the moment, everyone is fit so the manager has to make decisions.
"I'm just happy for him that he's fit, he's playing again, he's playing at a high level and we just keep improving."
