Alexis Mac Allister did something very unusual in Liverpool’s 4-1 victory at Brentford on Saturday: he had a shot from inside the penalty area. That obviously isn’t the slightest bit weird in the context of his career but it was his first attempt in the box for the Reds in the Premier League.
And didn’t he make the most of it? Mac Allister became just the third Liverpool player this season to complete a take-on in the 18-yard box before scoring, after Mohamed Salah did so against Arsenal and Diogo Jota followed suit at Burnley. The chance accounts for over half of the expected goals the Argentine has amassed in 2023/24, at least according to Understat.
It’s no surprise his Brentford effort was Mac Allister’s first shot from relatively close range. The match was only his fifth Liverpool start in one of the more advanced midfield positions, with the other examples including the 2-1 win at Newcastle in which there was a first-half red card for Virgil van Dijk. Give a guy a chance, eh, fate?
With Wataru Endō continuing to impress in the holding role and Jürgen Klopp’s midfield options severely limited thanks to an injury crisis afflicting his squad, Mac Allister may receive further opportunities to play higher up the pitch. But whether he does or not, the 25-year-old has already shown he has the quality and skills required to be Liverpool’s defensive midfielder.
Indeed, a look at the $44m (£35m/€41m) man’s statistics on a radar from Statsbomb shows a couple of areas in which he has been truly elite. Even the best midfielders Liverpool have had in the Klopp era struggle to match some of the numbers Mac Allister has been delivering.
There are two metrics in which his performance noticeably stands out. Bear in mind that to reach the edge of the radar, a player has to be in the top five per cent of “statistical production by players in that position group across multiple competitions and seasons of data,” per the official definition. Mac Allister is in elite company for combined tackles and interceptions and also pressures, once both have been adjusted for possession.
This is vitally important in statistical analysis. Liverpool averaged over 60 per cent possession for 2023/24 after the Brentford game, meaning their players had far less opportunity to perform defensive actions than those at, say, Sheffield United (36.4 per cent) or Everton (39.4).
