Liverpool boss Arne Slot has made some candid remarks about his side’s plight in recent weeks. He understands the issues in front of him, and yet the Dutchman is struggling to find a route out of this rut.
A summer of sweeping change was always going to run the risk of taking from Slot’s finely-wrought tactical set-up from last season, when the Premier League was conquered so dominantly in his first year.
Hugo Ekitike aside, it is concerning nonetheless that practically all of the Anfield side’s summer signings have flattered to deceive this far. But it’s more concerning still that so many mainstays are just as far down from the wayside.
The struggling Liverpool mainstays
Liverpool are so open defensively, it is shocking. There is a staggering absence of balance from head to toe, and Slot’s comments, alluding that he is currently unsure how to overcome this issue, have been disquieting for anxious fans.
Even during last week’s resounding Champions League victory over Eintracht Frankfurt, the five-star Reds conceded first and looked wobbly until the hosts’ own defensive fragilities shattered open.
Virgil van Dijk has cut a forlorn figure during post-match interviews, with his side’s four-game skid in the Premier League weighing heavily on his armband.
The 34-year-old has not been at the races of late, needlessly giving away a penalty during the recent league loss to Brentford and altogether failing to marshal his troops, shipping so many goals each game.
Mohamed Salah, too, is toiling, with last season’s leading man reduced in strength and significance this year.
But Salah has still had his moments this season, while Van Dijk remains dominant in the duel and leads the side in an almost understated way: without the Dutchman, this struggling defence would unspool chaotically.
However, another of Slot’s most trusted lieutenants has been in woeful form all year, and he’s beginning to show shades of one Thiago Alcantara, who was immensely talented but frustrating under Jurgen Klopp’s wing all too often.
Liverpool’s new version of Thiago
Liverpool signed Thiago from Bayern Munich for over £20m in 2020. Jurgen Klopp and his side had just won the Premier League, and the glittering Spaniard was identified as the perfect technician to open up new dimensions in the centre of the park.
How a fully-fit Thiago would have done for the Merseysiders across a prolonged period, we will never know. Thiago retired after four seasons with Liverpool, making only 97 appearances, all told. His final year, 2023/24, yielded just one off-the-bench display against Arsenal.
It ended up being a disappointment, such was Thiago’s quality, and now, in different circumstances, Alexis Mac Allister threatens to become the club’s new version.
Mac Allister’s current struggles are not of his presence on the sidelines, but rather, the 26-year-old’s inability to impress in Slot’s system thus far.
He was largely immense across his first two terms in red, but the tough-tackling, slick-passing Mac Allister seems to have lost his physicality and athletic robustness. He is a shadow of himself.
For a player whose completeness and control in the engine room has paid such big dividends for Liverpool in the past, this is a concern, and offers shades of Thiago in that he is arguably the most technically gifted midfielder at the club and yet is proving to be a “huge disappointment” in this regard, according to one Premier League analyst, who drew attention to him being the “Thiago-type” in Slot’s team and yet struggling to muster the requisite technical levels.
Thankfully, Mac Allister has been among Liverpool’s most impressive performers since signing, and there is as much an expectation as an anticipation that he will swiftly return to form and spearhead this new chapter.
During the early phase of the 2023/24 campaign, TNT Sports pundit Joe Cole hailed Mac Allister as a “superstar” of a midfielder whose dynamism and sharp-mindedness allowed him to “play anywhere” across the field.
Applying that theory should see the Argentina international thrive as the perfect cog in the middle of the Slot machine, easing Liverpool away from their current bother. Mac Allister has been anything but the solution, with his output on the decline across most every metric in the top flight.
Alexis Mac Allister in the Prem for Slot
Stats (* per game)
24/25
25/26
Matches (starts)
35 (30)
8 (7)
Goals
5
0
Assists
5
1
Touches*
55.8
43.1
Accurate passes*
35.5 (87%)
28.4 (85%)
Key passes*
1.3
0.8
Dribbles*
0.5
0.0
Ball recoveries*
4.2
3.1
Tackles + interceptions*
3.3
1.8
Total duels (won)*
4.9 (48%)
2.3 (44%)
Stats via Sofascore
Right in the thick of things in midfield, Mac Allister cannot be expected to emerge on top across every duel he contests. But he’s proving far less willing to engage in combative situations, with mismanagement, residual issues from an affected early-season setback and the absence of confidence that comes from
The good part is that Mac Allister has proven his quality across a number of campaigns in the Premier League, and he’s a world champions with his nation besides.
But we can’t hide from the fact that he hasn’t been pulling his weight, and what’s more concerning is that Liverpool lack an alternative who can provide Slot’s system with the full package in the way he can.
With this in mind, it’s paramount that Mac Allister revives his quality in the middle of the park and lifts the champions back to the standard they were playing at before. Otherwise, this new Thiago-esque reputation will only harden across the looming wintry months.
