Alexis Mac Allister, a recent Reds acquisition, has already matched Fabinho’s whole 2022–2023 season, proving that “Liverpool 2.0” has a completely new dimension.
Liverpool believed it had regained the lead in Sunday’s Premier League match at Anfield just after West Ham had drawn even.
To meet Curtis Jones’ run on the right corner of the six-yard box, Dominik Szoboszlai received the ball just left of center, around 25 yards from goal, stepped inside onto his right foot, and then stroked the ball over the top of the West Ham defense. On the volley, Jones sidefooted the ball into the goal, but the linesman raised his flag, and replays revealed that he had in fact gone too early.
However, Liverpool was able to make it 2-1 for real just after the hour mark thanks to Alexis Mac Allister, who was afforded too much room and, like Szoboszlai, showed exceptional vision to detect the runs in front of him. Darwin Nez was the recipient of the dinked pass this time, assisting the ball past Alphonse Areola and into the goal before it had even touched the ground.
Darwin Nez is already demonstrating my correctness, but I still want one more alteration made to the $106 million Liverpool weapon.
Before Liverpool, James Maddison’s injury was updated, and Erik ten Hag was criticized for calling for Cristiano Ronaldo to go.
Although only one of them resulted in an actual goal, these two instances proved that “Liverpool 2.0,” as manager Jürgen Klopp has dubbed the team, has midfielders capable of arbitrarily breaching defenses. Over the summer, there was a substantial amount of turnover and investment in that area, and the outcome is an interesting evolution.
Mac Allister is currently tied for third in the Premier League with six through balls, which are passes that are put between defenders into wide space. Only Lucas Paquetá of West Ham, who shone for the losing team on Sunday, and Enzo Fernández of Chelsea, who also performed admirably against the Reds, have been selected more times, with nine and eight, respectively.
Mac Allister, who finished in the top 10 of the Premier League for this measure last year with 15, is now outperforming Manchester City’s famed pass maestro Rodri (five) and Manchester United’s number 10 Bruno Fernandes (four). Therefore, it is not shocking to see him up there, but Liverpool is still benefiting greatly from it.
