New Reds signing Alexis Mac Allister has already matched Fabinho’s entire 2022/23 season, demonstrating that ‘Liverpool 2.0’ boasts a whole new dimension.
Shortly after West Ham equalized in Sunday’s Premier League clash at Anfield, Liverpool thought it was back in front.
Dominik Szoboszlai received the ball just left of center, about 25 yards from goal, stepped inside onto his right foot, and then stroked the ball over the top of the West Ham defense to meet the run of Curtis Jones on the right corner of the six-yard box. Jones sidefooted it into the net on the volley, but the linesman raised his flag, and replays showed that he had indeed gone too early.
But on the hour mark, Liverpool managed to make it 2-1 for real as Alexis Mac Allister was given far too much space and, like Szoboszlai, displayed excellent vision to spot the runs ahead of him. This time Darwin Núñez was the beneficiary of the dinked pass, helping the ball beyond Alphonse Areola and into the net before it had hit the ground.
While only one of them led to a legitimate goal, these two moments confirmed that ‘Liverpool 2.0’, as manager Jürgen Klopp has proclaimed it, has midfielders capable of opening up defenses at will. There was a vast amount of turnover in that department over the summer, and significant investment, and the result is an exciting evolution.
Mac Allister has played six through balls — defined as a pass sent between defenders into open space — in the Premier League so far this season, ranking him joint-third in the division. Only West Ham’s Lucas Paquetá, who starred for the losing side on Sunday, and Chelsea’s Enzo Fernández, also excellent against the Reds, have picked out more with nine and eight respectively.
Mac Allister is currently beating Manchester City’s renowned pass master Rodri (five) and Manchester United number 10 Bruno Fernandes (four), having made the Premier League top 10 for this metric last year on 15. It’s not surprising to see him up there, then, but it’s proving to be very valuable for Liverpool nonetheless.
Alexis Mac Allister is faring very well in one particular category
It also makes a change from what we saw last season. For reference, the Reds’ top midfielder in this area in 2022/23 was Jordan Henderson, but Mac Allister is already two-thirds way to matching his tally of nine, and even closer to Harvey Elliott and Thiago (both eight).
Fabinho was never an especially incisive passer, but the fact that his replacement in the number six position has already surpassed him (the Brazilian played five through balls) demonstrates that Klopp is now doing things differently.
As for Szoboszlai, he’s already created 12 chances, and only four players in the top flight (teammate Andy Robertson on 13, Tottenham’s Dejan Kulusevski on 15 and Brighton’s Pascal Groß and Crystal Palace’s Eberechi Eze on 16) have set-up more without registering an assist.
Mac Allister’s ball to Núñez was the first assist provided by either member of the $117m (£96m/€111m) duo this season, but when you dig a little deeper, you can see that there should be plenty more to come.
