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Liverpool FC via Getty Images
Alexis Mac Allister has looked like a player who wanted to be anywhere else but Liverpool for most of this season.
One of the best things about football is that everyone has an opinion. As a writer, it is there in black and white; when you are right, and when you are wrong.
Alexis Mac Allister, I was wrong. The 27-year old, amid speculation linking him with a move to Man United, should be offered the new contract that his dad has spoken about and Liverpool should ensure that his peak years are spent at Anfield.
Alexis Mac Allister the hero for Liverpool
It is easy to get lost in the emotion and here and now of football and forget the human side of the game. Mac Allister had a turbulent summer both on and off the field as well as seeing Florian Wirtz arrive which affected his game time too. In recent weeks, he has looked much more like his old self, more energetic, dynamic, and drove his teammates on from the brink of dropping points against Nottingham Forest to secure the winner.
Former Liverpool academy coach Michael Beale once wrote about the different midfield roles and that a balanced engine room should have a mixture of; a destroyer, an energiser, a spider, a passer and a magician. Already you are thinking who is what in Liverpool’s midfield. Players can be more than one with Mac Allister both an energiser and a spider. He links play with his movement and enthusiasm and lifts those around him, always available for a pass and just as willing to make blocks in his own box as he is get on the end of chances at the other end of the park.
What Arne Slot has said about Mac Allister
Arne Slot has always been a fan of the “special” Mac Allister and is delighted to see the Argentina international back to his best, via the Liverpool website: “Is it his first goal? Oh, I wasn't aware of that. But 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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