Mohamed Salah is Liverpool’s runaway star of the show this season, but if you wanted to spread the credit out a bit, then Alexis Mac Allister and Arne Slot would be pretty high up on the list. The pair have now received official Premier League recognition.
It speaks volumes that Slot has already normalized excellence. When he arrived to replace the legendary Jurgen Klopp, many assumed that Champions League qualification would represent a good season, but Liverpool had set its sights on bigger things.
He has squeezed extra levels out of a number of players, inlcuding Salah and Ryan Gravenberch. Meanwhile, Mac Allister has proved to be just as influential under Slot as he was under Klopp, taking a slightly different role completely in his stride.
While Gravenberch may be the most improved, Mac Allister has been the bastion of consistency, barely putting in a bad performance all season. “Player has no significant weaknesses”, notes WhoScored in its statistical profile.
That just about sums it up. Mac Allister has remained defensively active for Liverpool despite sharing the load with Gravenberch, he has made his presence felt higher up the pitch, and he is an important part of Slot’s pressing structure.
It doesn’t hurt that he has the occasional screamer in the locker. And he saved one for title celebration day, firing Liverpool in front from distance against Spurs to set the Reds on their way.
Whether he and Slot receive recognition when the time comes to hand out the end-of-season awards, only time will tell. But the duo have each been nominated for Premier League accolades for the month of April.
(Image: Liverpool FC/Liverpool FC via Getty Images)
Slot has been shortlisted for the Manager of the Month award. It comes amid a run of four wins out of five, with defeat to Fulham the only blot on the copybook.
Arsenal made a very limp effort to close the gap in any case, but Slot’s ability to keep churning out results at the business end has ensured Mikel Arteta never even had a whiff of a look-in. That’s a very valuable trait to have in the Premier League.
Unai Emery, Pep Guardiola, Eddie Howe and Vitor Pereira are the other nominees. Wolves was the only side to complete an entirely flawless month, winning five in a row to climb above Manchester United into 13th.
Meanwhile, Mac Allister is up for Player of the Month. He’s joined by Rayan Ait-Nouri, Harvey Barnes, Jacob Murphy, Morgan Rogers, Ryan Sessegnon and Jorgen Strand Larsen.
Two wonderful goals and an assist don’t tell the whole story for Mac Allister, whose best work happens between the two penalty boxes. But those contributions underline how he has continued to deliver for Liverpool at the vital moments.
He’s the kind of player who can easily get overlooked. But Liverpool will feel that he is one of the biggest bargains of the modern era, and wider recongition is the least that he deserves.
You can vote for Slot and Mac Allister on the Premier League site. Hopefully they take home the awards — and with any luck, there will be more individual prizes to follow in the near future.
