This season, Alexis Mac Allister has grown accustomed to playing in a deeper-lying midfield position for Liverpool.
Mac Allister is being used in front of the defence by Jurgen Klopp since Wataru Endo is the only natural holding midfielder at the team. This has earned the Argentine, who isn’t a natural defensive midfielder, considerable criticism.
Mac Allister frequently plays a little bit higher up the pitch for his national squad. The 24-year-old received rave praises after playing the full 90 minutes in Wednesday night’s 1-0 victory over Paraguay.
Fans may have thought Mac Allister had performed well in a more aggressive position after seeing one clip of him dancing around the edge of the Paraguayan box. However, the Reds No. 10 acknowledged that this wasn’t the case in quotes from the Liverpool ECHO.
Mac Allister asserted, “I played more or less like I do at the club.
“Even though it’s a new position, I feel right at home. When I go, (Lionel) Scaloni wants me to maintain the team’s balance, take care of the relays, and look after myself.”
Mac Allister shines in more complex roles.
According to the stats, Mac Allister should be a fantastic holding midfielder for Liverpool. He generally keeps the ball effectively, makes powerful tackles, and has excellent game reading skills.
That’s all wonderful, and if the World Cup champion had been hired for the position, then supporters could support the ongoing project.
But it’s quite evident that the initial idea with Mac Allister was not to do this.
During preseason, Klopp originally didn’t play him as a deep-lying midfielder. This undoubtedly would have occurred if he had designated the former Brighton player as his Fabinho replacement. Macca has instead been thrown into the position as a sort of stop-gap.
The fact that Liverpool hasn’t seen Mac Allister at his finest yet is another aspect of this.
There is a strong impression that he would be able to demonstrate the creative abilities for which the Reds signed him if a natural holder were seated behind him.
Despite all of that, there does seem to now have been a shift from both club and country to get Mac Allister playing deeper. There is clearly something there to work with, but we need to see some progression for it to continue.