Alexis Mac Allister scored the 97th-minute winner to deliver Liverpool a 1-0 victory in the race for Champions League qualification.
World Cup winner Frank Leboeuf suggested that Alexis Mac Alister played the worst game of his Liverpool career - despite being the hero at Nottingham Forest.
Mac Allister bolstered the Reds’ hopes of securing a Premier League top-five finish when netting a 97th-minute winner to deliver a 1-0 smash-and-grab victory at the City Ground. The Argentina international had a goal disallowed eight minutes earlier for handball, having charged down a clearance in Forest’s box. But Mac Allister came up with the goods to move Liverpool level on points with Chelsea and Manchester United.
Arne Slot’s side’s performance against relegation-threatened Forest was lacklustre, especially in the first half. Plenty of players struggled to keep possession and win second balls. Leboeuf felt that Mac Allister was well below his best, although the former France international was impressed with the performances of centre-back duo Virgil van Dijk and Ibrahima Konate.
Speaking on ESPN, Leboeuf said on Liverpool’s performance: “Unbearable for me. They should be prepared for that when you play against a team fighting relegation and you're fighting for the Champions League.
“If you're not good, you should be dominating. One good thing; we have been so critical to Van Dijk and Konate but they were so good, especially in the first half. Sometimes life is not fair and when you see how horrendous some players have been. I highly rank the player I'm going to mention, Mac Allister.
“I think he is a world-class player and a World Cup champion. Since he has been at Liverpool, he has been a very influential player but [Sunday] was the worst game I’ve ever seen Mac Allister[play]. But he scored the goal and that, for me, is what football is not fair.
“Liverpool should never have got the three points. A draw, let's say it would have been fair but really, that was so poor. But Chelsea plays the same way. Except Manchester City and Arsenal.”
Mac Allister’s overall form has dropped this season, having been named in the PFA Team of the Year when Liverpool won the Premier League title last season.
Slot believes that the ex-Brighton man’s levels have been akin to Liverpool’s overall performances as they sit only sixth in the table. The Reds head coach said: “I think what he needed is what he showed in the last six, seven or eight games – a run of games where he's getting back to his usual level that he showed so many times last season. And he had that level also in the first half of the season but it went a bit with ups and downs, as the team went in terms of performances with ups and downs.
“But I see much more consistency recently – not only in Macca's performance but in the team performance and many individual performances. But I think it's always nice for a player to score, especially if it's in extra time of extra time. So, we needed this goal, we needed that win to be on the right side of things once in a while because we've been so, so unlucky this season. And today for the first time, at least it felt to me for the first time, we've been a bit lucky this season.”
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