‘Simple as that’ – Jermaine Pennant calls for Liverpool ‘bystander’ to be taken out of firing line

Jermaine Pennant has called for Liverpool head coach Arne Slot to consider taking Alexis Mac Allister out of the starting XI for the midfielder’s own good.

The Argentina international was one of the stars of our Premier League triumph last season but has found the going much harder this time around, with the 27-year-old yet to register in the current top-flight campaign despite playing in all but one of our matches thus far (Transfermarkt).

The former Reds winger was openly critical of our number 10’s performance in the defeat to Manchester City last weekend, labelling him ‘a shell of [himself]’ and ‘a passenger’ in a strongly-worded post on X.

Pennant calls for Mac Allister to be dropped

On talkSPORT’s Inside Liverpool show, Pennant was keen to stress that he’s very fond of Mac Allister as a player, but reiterate his belief that the Argentine’s standards have dropped since the injury which disrupted his pre-season last summer.

The pundit said: “Listen, we love you [Mac Allister]. You’ve been a great player for Liverpool. You are a great player; you were in the Team of the Season.

“I touched on that after your injury in pre-season. You’ve come back a shadow of what you are; it seems like your legs have gone. In that [Man City] game, he was literally a bystander. He didn’t really get into it at all and that’s what I touched on. It was an observation.”

When asked if the 27-year-old should be taken out of the firing line, Pennant replied: “Sometimes it could be as simple as that. You need to rest and you need your mind to rest and reset, and then you come back the player that you were.

“It is demanding and when the team isn’t flourishing and things aren’t going well, that’s when it can get really punishing, not only on your body, but on your mind as well.”

There are mitigating factors to explain Mac Allister’s dropoff

Even Mac Allister’s most ardent backers would admit that the midfielder hasn’t come close to replicating the standards that he set last season, and he was culpable of ball-watching and then turning his back on Rayan Cherki’s cross to tee up Bernardo Silva’s equaliser on Sunday.

A deep-dive analysis from The Athletic this week highlighted the decline in his match averages for tackles, interceptions and duels won from 2024/25 to now, as well as his creative output diminishing.

In the 27-year-old’s defence, though, there are some mitigating factors which could go a long way to explaining why his levels have dropped from 12 months ago.

The disrupted pre-season obviously didn’t help, and the extent of his international commitments in recent years (World Cup, Copa America, a marathon World Cup qualifying campaign) has deprived Mac Allister of a prolonged break from football.

He and Virgil van Dijk have played the joint-most matches of anyone for Liverpool this term (35/37), with our number 10 featuring in every single game since being rested for the Carabao Cup win over Southampton in September.

With persistent defensive injuries leaving Slot feeling compelled to play some midfielders in the backline, there hasn’t been much scope for the former Brighton star to be given the breather that he might well need.

Hopefully once (or if) the squad is once again close to its full complement, there’ll be greater licence for Mac Allister to revert to the substitutes’ bench and come back stronger from having a brief time-out to recharge.

You can watch Slot’s full pre-Sunderland press conference below, via Empire of the Kop on YouTube:

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