Familiarity can breed contentment. And that could be felt around the AXA Training Centre on Friday morning after another encouraging week for Liverpool.
The momentum continued for Arne Slot’s side after they followed up a Premier League draw at Arsenal last weekend with League Cup progress at Brighton in midweek.
Such results – it’s now 12 wins from 14 in all competitions under the new boss – have gone a long way to ensuring the transition at the training ground, the daily base for the playing and coaching staff, from the Jurgen Klopp era to Slot’s tenure has been drama-free.
New boss, same focus, business as usual, from the brisk manner in which Slot addressed the media ahead of Saturday’s swift rematch with Brighton to the few stragglers in the press room who were booted out as the under-21s held their regular pre-match team briefing ahead of the weekend encounter with Wolves.
And there’s one player who has more reason than most to welcome Liverpool’s double header this week. Alexis Mac Allister spent more than three years at Brighton before moving to Anfield for £35million last summer, and was warmly welcomed by the home fans at the Amex Stadium when emerging from the bench during the second half of the Reds’ 3-2 League Cup fourth round win on Wednesday evening.
Mac Allister can expect to be back in the starting line-up for the Premier League reunion between the teams at Anfield, reunited with Ryan Gravenberch – the Dutchman rested completely in midweek – at the base of Liverpool’s midfield.
It is the third position in which Mac Allister has been a regular for Liverpool, having been a sole number six for much of last season and then switching to a number 10.
And Liverpool head coach Arne Slot believes the versatility of the Argentina World Cup winner is transforming him into an all-round part of the new-look engine room.
“He’s a player I would maybe play all three positions in midfield because he’s so comfortable in all three,” says Slot. “I think I saw quite a lot of him at Brighton because there was a manager who I was quite interested in back then – that was (Roberto) De Zerbi, of course.
“I saw him a lot playing double six there and in some moments, he played as a 10. He can play both. In the moment, he plays a bit in between. Ryan is always the deepest, Dom (Szoboszlai) or Curtis (Jones) are playing a bit higher and he’s in between.
But Slot adds: “It’s not that strange for us in football. In the older Champions League or Europa League world, if it was in the play-offs you played the same team twice in a week. We are used to playing the same team again a few days later.
“But it’s different as both teams didn’t start with the team they will start with on Saturday. For both managers (playing again so quickly) is a positive thing as you know even more about the opponent.
“However, players make the game and it’s different if a different player plays. The playing style might be the same but the qualities of the players are usually different, that changes the game on Saturday compared to the one on Wednesday.”
