Six reasons behind ‘abysmal’ Liverpool star becoming weak link revealed after ‘drowning’ vs Chelsea
Alexis Mac Allister has become a surprise weak link in Liverpool’s side, with six bad stats explaining his decline after he ‘drowned’ against Chelsea…
Liverpool‘s start to the 2025/26 campaign has been very alarming, with three straight losses against Crystal Palace, Galatasaray and Chelsea not surprising whatsoever.
The Reds began the new season with five consecutive Premier League wins, plus victories over Atletico Madrid and Southampton in the Champions League and Carabao Cup, but their issues were clear to see as they relied on brief moments of quality from top stars to salvage poor performances.
Their luck has run out against stronger opposition, with a worrying lack of balance and dire individual performances giving head coach Arne Slot a major headache.
The form of Florian Wirtz, Jeremie Frimpong, Milos Kerkez and Ibrahima Konate has been given the most coverage, but Mac Allister’s woes are equally concerning.
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Mac Allister was one of the best centre-midfielders in the Premier League last season and narrowly missed out on our team of the year, but this campaign has been an entirely different story.
It has been a stop-start opening couple of months to the season for Mac Allister, who has been eased into the fold by Slot and is yet to complete 90 minutes in the Premier League.
The Chelsea match is the closest Mac Allister has come to completing a Premier League game this season, though he should have been hooked long before the 86th minute.
Our own Matt Stead rightfully went in on the ‘abysmal’ Liverpool star in his 16 Conclusions on the 2-1 loss to Chelsea, with the ‘so poor’ midfielder ‘drowning in the midfield battle’.
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On Mac Allister’s involvement in Moises Caicedo’s opener for Chelsea, Stead wrote: ‘The Moises Caicedo goal – our thoughts are with John Aldridge at this time – was just the most glaring example, as a simple sidestep eliminated the admittedly isolated Mac Allister from the game entirely.
‘It still required the rest of the Liverpool defence to step off Caicedo for infuriatingly long, allowing the midfielder to set himself and line up a shot a couple of times before actually cracking one into the top corner. But it came from those issues in the one area Liverpool didn’t really change this summer: the midfield.’
And six damning stats, provided by the brilliant folk at Opta, reveal where Mac Allister has been going wrong this season.
Firstly, as proven by Caicedo easily gliding past him on Saturday, Mac Allister has been poor in ground duels this term, with the centre-midfielder only winning 46.4% (a lower percentage than Ryan Gravenberch and Dominik Szoboszlai).
And he has been equally poor in possession as he only has the eighth-most progressive carries (28) out of Liverpool’s squad, and of these, only one has ended in a shot, while he’s failed to create a goal, assist or a chance.
Also, Mac Allister has not made a single through ball this season, while he’s been wasteful with his attempts on goal. Five of his five shots have only resulted in one on target.
Slot and others will point to Mac Allister’s injury problems as an excuse, but he has been miles off it and is currently among the weak links in Liverpool’s midfield.
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