Jurgen Klopp was quite pleased to have one question in particular put to him following Liverpool’s 4-0 win at Bournemouth on Sunday.
Darwin Nunez and Diogo Jota divided the goals equally between them, although the performance of Alexis Mac Allister also plenty of praise from teammates and pundits.
In the post-match press conference, the Reds manager was asked for his verdict on the Argentine’s display, and he was appreciative of the reporter for highlighting the 25-year-old.
Klopp replied (via liverpoolfc.com): “Thank you for mentioning that. Sometimes people forget that because in the second half we scored the goals. Absolutely exceptional performance, I have to say.
“I’m so happy for us, obviously, but for him as well. He’s a really good footballer, let me say it like that. Defensively did a good job and offensively he is anyway a super-important player for us. He was calm on the ball, all the good things in the first half already happened with him. Yeah, really happy.”
Operating at the base of midfield, Mac Allister put in a monumental shift for Liverpool at the Vitality Stadium, winning nine tackles and an extraordinary 14 duels. He was superb in possession too, posting an 88% pass success rate, delivering four key passes and finding a teammate with five long balls (Sofascore).
There has been plenty of discourse throughout the season on the wisdom of Klopp playing the World Cup winner as a defensive midfielder, but the 25-year-old showed yesterday that he can excel in that role.
Even with Nunez and Jota ultimately grabbing the headlines for their goalscoring exploits, any Reds fan watching on Sunday would surely have had the Argentine as a contender for man of the match, and possibly even the pick of a very impressive LFC bunch against Bournemouth.
It’s become clear that Mac Allister can be trusted in any role within Liverpool’s midfield, and he’s set to be a crucial player for his team throughout the second half of the season.
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