There are few things surer in football right now than Alexis Mac Allister lighting up the heart of Liverpool’s midfield.
For a long time, Liverpool’s VIP group (very important players) was an exclusive collective made up of Alisson, Virgil van Dijk, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Mohamed Salah, but Mac Allister has now forced entry.
Due to last summer’s midfield overhaul, a key part of Jurgen Klopp’s new spine was unknown. Dominik Szoboszlai took the lead with his scintillating start to the season but, as the campaign progressed, Mac Allister passed him by.
Among the chaos, there is calm. The player who can add an extra touch and has one more second than anyone else. He dictates the pace of matches – and from various positions.
As a number 6 earlier in the season and now a number 8 – the role he was bought for this summer from Brighton & Hove Albion – Mac Allister not only deserves to be in the Liverpool player of the season conversation, but also in that of the Premier League.
“Alexis is exactly the player I hoped he would be: a super influential, super intelligent and great guy – he loves playing for Liverpool too, which is really important,” Jurgen Klopp said recently.
“He is a pace-setter, a difference-maker, he can control the moments of the game. Always there, always involved; nothing is too much for him. He is truly a very high level player. But we had that feeling when we signed him and he lived up to all our expectations…and more.
The 25-year-old’s quality was hardly unknown – he won the World Cup in 2022, after all – but how exactly did he become Klopp’s complete midfielder?
Assault
Mac Allister does not possess the characteristics usually associated with a defensive midfielder. If asked to label his best attributes, the focus would be on being in possession rather than out of it. You’d be forgiven for assuming he was a clever number 10.
What he lacks in size and physicality, he makes up for in anticipation and aggression. Using the True Tackles metric – a combination of tackles won, tackles lost and fouls committed while attempting a tackle – we can assess how often a player “puts his foot in”.
Per 1,000 opposition touches, only Fulham’s Joao Palhinha, a reported Liverpool target last summer, has attempted to recover the ball more often than Mac Allister this season.
This underlines his defensive intensity and desire to limit the opposition’s time on the ball – a key part of Klopp’s counter-pressing system.
He is also the midfielder with the highest true interception rate (with 5.9 interceptions and blocked passes per 1,000 opponent touches). So, again, he’s very forward and proactive on defense.
Only five players have made more than his 17 tackles and interceptions in the attacking third, showing his value in the forward press when pushing.
Filming
During pre-season, Mac Allister played a number 8 role on the right side, but the sales of Jordan Henderson and Fabinho, injuries to Thiago and Stefan Bajcetic and the late arrival of Wataru Endo meant that fall back to the number 6 position.
Endo’s surprising emergence as a valuable starter this season during Mac Allister’s injury absence in December ultimately allowed Klopp to return to his original vision with Mac Allister operating in a more advanced role.
Since the 3-1 victory against Burnley on February 10, eight of his 10 starts in all competitions have come in the No.8 role. During this period, his goal contributions exploded: he added five goals and five assists to a total of one goal and two assists in more than double the number of games.
In fact, his shots per game, touches in the box, touches in the attacking third, chances created and passes in the box have all increased significantly.
The impact of Mac Allister’s position change
Metric | Before February 10 | After February 10 |
---|---|---|
Shots per match |
1.1 |
2 |
Keys in the box |
0.3 |
2.3 |
Touches in the attacking third |
15.1 |
27.5 |
Opportunities created |
1 |
2.7 |
Goes into the box |
0.8 |
2.5 |
It’s not just the number of shots he takes, but their quality that is so impressive. Mac Allister’s sensational strike against Sheffield United has been compared to Steven Gerrard’s goal against Olympiacos – a crucial goal in Liverpool’s path to 2005 Champions League glory. The side-by-side image of the two striking the ball was almost identical (Gerrard is on the left at the bottom, Mac Allister on the right).
While Klopp joked that it was a missed shot, it was a reminder of how precisely Mac Allister struck the ball. His goal against Fulham in December is another great example. Whether it’s his shooting or his passing, he usually delivers a crisp connection that rarely misses his target.
The comparisons arguably end physically with powerful ball striking – Mac Allister is almost three inches shorter than Gerrard, standing at around 5ft 10in – but that’s what makes his genius all the more impressive.
Who passed
Conor Bradley had no doubts.
“I’ve never seen anyone hold the ball that well,” he said of Mac Allister earlier this month. “He’s so calm with the ball and he’s so composed.”
Few would disagree, although it is remarkable how much Mac Allister’s passing patterns have changed throughout his short Liverpool career. He plays fewer long balls in his new role (2.8 compared to 4.1), and his passes into the final third have decreased while those into the box have increased. He has become more of a receiver than a deep mover, instead looking to penetrate the box with his passing.
The most recent example was his assist for Salah’s winning goal against Brighton. His vision and quick thinking surprised the opposing team, but it wasn’t the only time Mac Allister attempted this style of passing. The connection between the two men grew.
The graphic below details how the position change has altered where he operates on the field. Few would consider him an energetic, box-to-box midfielder, but he consistently covers most of the pitch during matches in Liverpool’s fluid midfield structure.
He was clearly an increased presence in the opposition penalty area as well as outside it and in the dangerous half-spaces on either side.
The increased influence could have correlated with a decline in his defensive numbers but, as highlighted previously, they remained consistently strong. Charting his tackles and interceptions on the field illustrates that his defensive tenacity translates into his roles at No. 6 and No. 8; the center of the pitch is his most active area, but contributions are also plentiful on both flanks, in his own penalty area and further afield.
Off-field influence
Mac Allister may not be the most vocal presence in the Liverpool dressing room – that task tends to be left to Van Dijk – but he is well respected and will speak out when he sees fit. When nicknamed ‘Gary’ by Klopp in tribute to McAllister who played a vital role in Liverpool’s treble in 2000-01, Alexis made it clear he was not keen. He is now affectionately nicknamed “Macca”.
He is absorbed in football, a mindset that immediately impressed Klopp, and everything is done for the benefit of the team.
“How can you not love a player or a boy like him? He’s incredible,” Klopp said. “He’s educated in the best possible way: full of life, confident, funny, intelligent and an incredible footballer. You watch training and the coaches look at each other and say, ‘Wow, what was that?
He formed a close bond with Liverpool’s South American contingent, including Darwin Nunez, with both men celebrating their goals by pouring an imaginary companion – an infused South American herbal drink rich in caffeine. He offered cups of mate to Szoboszlai and Ibrahima Konate.
Watch him on the training pitch and his teammates are constantly impressed. Most recently, Liverpool’s social accounts uploaded a clip of Mac Allister performing a rabona pass during a rondo session.
Alexis 😮💨 pic.twitter.com/zGJ0Tbtq6P
–Liverpool FC (@LFC) April 9, 2024
“Mac Allister, I’ve never seen the way he protects the ball before,” Curtis Jones said earlier this season. “He does this thing where he gets the ball, sticks his butt out and you can’t take the ball from him. He knows when he’s going to be pressed and in which direction he’s moving.
All of this makes Mac Allister at least part of the discussion about who is the best midfielder in the Premier League, even if comparisons are difficult to make because midfielders operate under different conditions and instructions.
Manchester City’s Rodri – widely considered the gold standard of his position – is a very different player to Kevin De Bruyne, who is talked about in the same conversation as Premier League legends such as Gerrard, Frank Lampard and Paul Scholes.
GO FURTHER
Revealed: Alexis Mac Allister’s Celtic roots – and how they brought him back to Liverpool
Mac Allister’s position having changed throughout the campaign, it is even more difficult to draw comparisons. Rodri always leads the way with his relentless passage through these advanced areas. No central midfielder has completed more passes and more passes into the final third.
Arsenal’s Martin Odegaard completed more passes into the box. However, due to his team’s dominance of the ball, Rodri often receives it while the opposition is pinned down. Mac Allister is much more aggressive off the ball.
He has been Liverpool’s figurehead in recent months and if he continues to be that way, the chances of Liverpool finishing with more silverware before the end of the season increases significantly.
(Top photos: Getty Images)