Micah Richards alarmed by what he saw from ‘struggling’ Liverpool man who lost 10 duels on Sunday
Micah Richards expressed concern at one Liverpool player who’s ‘struggling’ after what he witnessed in the 1-1 draw against Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday.
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Arne Slot sprung some interesting changes to his starting XI for the visit of Spurs to Anfield, with Jeremie Frimpong replacing Mo Salah on the right-hand side of attack and Dominik Szoboszlai being deployed at right-back.
Although the Hungarian added yet another free kick goal to his collection, his absence from midfield was ultimately missed as Richarlison punished a flat performance from the Reds with a 90th-minute equaliser.
Richards concerned by ‘struggling’ Mac Allister
Whilst dissecting the weekend’s Premier League action on The Rest Is Football, Richards claimed that Liverpool were poorer for not having their number 8 in the middle of the park and voiced concern over the performance of Alexis Mac Allister.
The pundit said: “The balance in midfield when Szoboszlai doesn’t play in there is not the same. It misses that energy. It’s not only what he does going forward – the amount of times he works back and has that energy in midfield and keeps them going.
“Mac Allister at the moment is struggling off the ball. On the ball [he’s] neat and tidy, but he’s getting overrun in midfield, and they need to look at that. Liverpool are a better side when Szoboszlai is in midfield because of his energy.”
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Could Mac Allister be dropped for Galatasaray showdown?
After Paul Gorst claimed in recent days that the Argentine is ‘essentially on trial at Liverpool with regards to a new deal’, he could’ve done with a convincing performance against Spurs on Sunday to answer some of the external criticism.
Unfortunately, the 27-year-old looked lightweight in midfield and was handed a lowly 5/10 match rating from the Liverpool Echo‘s Ian Doyle, who wrote that the World Cup winner ‘flitted in and out before becoming very peripheral [in the] second half’.
A cross-section of Mac Allister’s statistics from yesterday (via Sofascore) perfectly underline the point that Richards is making – the Reds’ number 10 is fine when he has the ball, but there are serious concerns in terms of his work out of possession.
| Alexis Mac Allister v Spurs | |
| Passes completed | 38/42 (90%) |
| Key passes | 2 |
| Accurate long balls | 2/2 |
| Duels won | 2/12 |
| Dribbled past | 4 |
On Wednesday night against Galatasaray, we expect Slot to revert to a more conventional starting XI with Salah in attack, Frimpong resuming his customary right-back role and Szoboszlai moving into midfield, where he can maximise his impact on proceedings.
That domino effect could viably see the Argentina international dropping to the bench, and it was indicative of Liverpool’s feebleness in midfield that the head coach sacrificed an attacker in Cody Gakpo for Trey Nyoni in the final few minutes of the match yesterday.
Mac Allister is a fantastic footballer and we don’t doubt that we’ll see the best of him again, but on current form it wouldn’t surprise us if he were dropped to the bench in midweek.
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