There might be no Liverpool player who has seen his form and standing rebound under Andoni Iraola quite as much as midfielder Alexis Mac Allister, who appeared a shadow of his former self last season under Arne Slot but has returned to being one of the first names on the teamsheet this season.
The combative Argentine international put an exclamation mark on the situation against Villarreal with a pair of goals, and such is the difference in his overall play this season compared to last—and last season compared to his very
two good seasons in Red previously—it’s difficult to understand quite how it all went so wrong last year.
“I would say 30 minutes into the first half we made some changes,” Mac Allister said of a match where the Reds were sloppy and went down two goals early but then stormed back to go up 4-2 before Villarreal made their own late push to give the game its final 4-3 scoreline.
“I think the last 15 minutes of the first half was much better already and then in the second half we scored more goals, which is important. We were not dominating the game and at the end what you want is to dominate the game and create chances so after, thanks to the manager, we changed and did that well.”
It may never be possible to know precisely how and why everything seemed to go wrong for Mac Allister last season, but it’s clear the more front-footed approach embraced by Iraola is a better match for how the midfielder wants to play his football—and Liverpool are benefitting from it.
“From the first day we started working together I saw something really important,” he added. “It’s good. I think we’re going in the right direction, but if you look at the game today it was far from perfect. So we need to work, need to keep giving everything. It’s important for us this year to win win trophies.
“Last year was a really difficult year for all of us. It’s clear that I wasn’t at my level and I’m the fist one to say it. Something wasn’t right with the group but the manger has come in and changed it. The way we play now is quite different, and I don’t like to compare but I’m feeling good now and we’ll see what happens.”
