After starting his Liverpool career as a makeshift holding midfielder, it appeared a matter of time before Alexis Mac Allister would be shifted forward into a more attacking role. The Argentine had become one of the Premier League’s most effective playmakers at Brighton and played a similar role as his country won the World Cup in Qatar.
With Fabinho and Jordan Henderson leaving — and Liverpool failing in its pursuits of Roméo Lavia and Moisés Caicedo — the need for a holding midfielder appeared evident. Yet Mac Allister, signed for a fee of $44m (£35m/€41m) during the summer, was often tasked with playing from the base of midfield at the start of his Liverpool career and amid some mixed results, it was suggested by many that he was not able to offer the necessary protection to the Reds’ back four.
Klopp wasn’t having it though. While he accepted the 25-year-old wasn’t a ‘natural-born six’, the Liverpool boss insisted the displays of his whole team would impact Mac Allister’s suitability for the role.
“It depends on how the whole team defends,” Klopp said back in November. “Easy as that. If we do that properly then we have an incredible player in a central position who can find passes, a forward-thinking player.”
It is safe to say Klopp has got his wish. Liverpool now has the best defense in the Premier League and has conceded just 18 times this season. The Reds picked up another clean sheet at Bournemouth on Sunday and with Virgil van Dijk and Ibrahima Konaté delivering commanding displays, Mac Allister was able to show just why his manager trusts him.
Despite the unfavorable conditions, Mac Allister dictated much of the play and his first-half performance was arguably his best 45 minutes in a red shirt. The ex-Brighton man completed 86 per cent of his passes including one stand-out first-time ball out to Darwin Núñez on the left flank, to put his side on the attack.
While his distribution has never truly been in doubt, those questions continue to be asked of Mac Allister’s suitability from a defensive perspective. But against Bournemouth, he answered those in style. He made more tackles than anyone else on the pitch, and recovered the ball more times than any Liverpool player has in a single match this season.
Mac Allister nearly created an opening after robbing Justin Kluivert of the ball deep in the Bournemouth half. His work did not go unnoticed, with Jamie Carragher lauding him as Liverpool’s “best player on the pitch” in his half-time analysis. Liverpool ran riot after the break with Núñez and Jota lethal in front of goal but it was Mac Allister who conducted the display, creating more chances than any player on either side.
A trip to Bournemouth has proved difficult in the past and it is unclear how Klopp would have set up his midfield if he had Dominik Szoboszlai and Wataru Endō available. Endō’s emergence towards the end of the year coincided with an injury to Mac Allister but it looked as though Klopp would soon be able to deploy his first-choice midfield trio, completed by Dominik Szoboszlai.
Yet with Endō away on international duty and injuries robbing Klopp of alternatives, he had little choice but to go with Mac Allister, alongside Curtis Jones and Harvey Elliott in advanced roles ahead of him from the start.
Those options in deeper roles will soon be available though, potentially alongside a couple of long-term injury absentees. Stefan Bajčetić had cemented his place as a first-team regular before he was sidelined, while few can argue with Thiago Alcântara’s attributes in the deep-lying playmaker role.
Both would provide alternatives to Endō at the base of the Liverpool midfield and it appeared Liverpool fans would soon get to see Mac Allister in his ‘favored’ position. After this showing though, the Reds may be best served to keep him where he is, just like Klopp has maintained all along.
Like it so often does, Liverpool dominated possession in the 4-0 rout, and Mac Allister remains one of the best passers in the Premier League. There will of course be matches where more protection is needed, likely in the upcoming trip to Arsenal, but Klopp’s ‘questionable’ early season decision has now been justified.
