Mac Allister praises Liverpool youngsters after Cup win
Liverpool/X.com
Mac Allister says he gets "angry" watching Liverpool's academy prospects in training, driven by a determination to see them succeed after the club's youngsters played a starring role in a 3-1 Carabao Cup win over Tottenham Hotspur.
Andoni Iraola made wholesale changes for the third-round tie at Anfield, handing starts to academy graduates Lewis Koumas, Trey Nyoni and James McConnell as Liverpool extended their unbeaten start under the new head coach.
Mac Allister opened the scoring himself before setting up Cody Gakpo for the second, with Dominik Szoboszlai completing the win from 30 yards in stoppage time after Conor Gallagher had pulled one back for Tottenham.
The World Cup winner said the club's next generation were making their presence felt well beyond matchday.
"It was really important for the young players," Mac Allister said. "They show every single day in training that they want to be here. They work really, really hard and they have quality. I'm really happy for them because they deserve this in training.
"I focus quite a lot on them and I get angry. I think it's part of me wanting them to succeed. As I said, they're really good. They have quality, they are intense and they know what the club means. It's important and they are going to be really important for us this season."
Mac Allister, who has made clear his desire to sign a new contract at Anfield despite not yet being offered one, said he was enjoying his own form after a difficult previous campaign.
"I'm feeling really good," he said. "I'm feeling the love from the fans, which is for me really important. As I said, I love being here and I will give my best."
On his own goal and Liverpool's finishing in general, the Argentinian pointed to work on the training pitch.
"We are practising a lot of shooting," he said. "Dom has it — it's natural for him. For me, I was a bit lucky. I like getting in the box and scoring so it's really important. It's really important to score for our confidence and important to win because that's what we wanted."
Mac Allister added that Tottenham's second-half response, which included Gallagher's goal, meant Liverpool had to see out a nervy finish.
"We need to understand that it's only one game and if you look back and you see the games against Ipswich and Atletico, they were really good. Then against Fulham we couldn't play the football we wanted. Now we need to make sure we are ready for the next game," he said, before telling ITV:
"I think we had 20 to 25 minutes at the end that were not good — but we played against a very good team that knows what to do on the ball. They are very intense and we tried to be aggressive. I think we defended quite well and then we scored the goals, which is really important."