Liverpool head coach Arne Slot has praised midfielder Alexis Mac Allister for his role in the club’s Premier League title win. The Argentine has been nominated for the top flight’s Player of the Month award for April.
On the day that Liverpool clinched the title, beating Spurs 5-1, it was Mac Allister’s goal that put the Reds in front after Dominic Solanke opened the scoring with a header and Luis Diaz equalized. And the South American former Brighton midfielder has had another excellent season.
“I don’t think he is underrated by me because he played maybe every game or close to every game,” Slot said during his press conference ahead of facing Chelsea. “Maybe the few times he didn’t play, that was because he needed rest or he got a knock, so he couldn’t play.
“(He’s a) very important player, (has) game intelligence (and is) so comfortable on the ball, but what makes him even more special to me is normally players that have so much game inside and are so comfortable on the ball are not as aggressive and intense without the ball.
“He is one of the few players in the world that combines this great game intelligence, great on the ball, but (with) a tenacity without the ball. In our midfield, he stands out in terms of tenacity.”
Slot also promised that he would be making some — though not wholesale — changes to his starting XI before the season is out to give a few players a bit more of an opportunity to impress. Harvey Elliott and Federico Chiesa are among those who fans would like to see more of.
(Image: Stu Forster/Getty Images)
“It’s nice that we play some very strong teams with Chelsea, Arsenal, Brighton and [Crystal] Palace, so that gives immediately the challenge to those games,” Slot said. “It’s the end of the season but we also have to look at this as the start of next season already. It’s Chelsea away first.
“We played them earlier on in the season and I’m completely surprised, not shocked but surprised, if I look at the gap we have with them at the moment, because at that moment in time they were the better team on the pitch.
“We found a way to win and that is a quality that we didn’t need a lot because mostly we were the better team on the pitch. But in the game we had to suffer more than any other game maybe. So to be so many points ahead of them is a big compliment for everyone here at this club.
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“We could maybe see a player in a certain position, what he does in that position combined with someone else. But like I said, it is not going to be a big change.
“There’s not going to be seven or eight new starters. It’s going to most of it be the same and to see how a few players do in a difficult game like Chelsea away and where they are in their development.”
Liverpool.com says: Mac Allister might be the most underrated midfielder in the Premier League. He is exceptional, but doesn’t seem to get the wider credit for his showings, perhaps because he was signed for a relatively modest transfer fee.
Having won the World Cup and now the Premier League title, Mac Allister’s trophy haul is starting to grow. In the next few years, he is in the perfect place for it to expand even further.
