Jurgen Klopp makes fresh claim about Alexis Mac Allister after watching him play vs Manchester City

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Jurgen Klopp has once again backed Alexis Mac Allister’s ability to play as a defensive midfielder for Liverpool.

Mac Allister’s role in this new-look Liverpool side has been the subject of much debate all season long. But despite calls to push the 24-year-old further forward, Klopp has continually backed Mac Allister to act as a No.6

That continued today in the toughest assignment of the Argentine’s Liverpool career to date: away to Manchester City. Mac Allister largely coped well though and in his post-game press conference, Klopp was keen to highlight the performance of his No.10.

“Before the game I had to, in the press conference, talk about: can Macca play as a six?” began the manager.

“Yeah, he can. He can, definitely. And everybody who saw the game could say he can play as a six – but how was it around? How compact were we around? That’s then the problem, and that was not as great.

“We went through a lot of tough moments this season already and this today coming here is a tough one.”

Mac Allister impresses at the Etihad

Throughout his backing of Mac Allister playing a deeper role, Klopp’s messaging as been consistent.

The boss has always claimed that it’s very possible for the former Brighton man to do the job, but the rest of the team have to help him.

If the defensive shape is wrong, then Mac Allister will be exposed. That was true of Fabinho last season, and pretty much any defensive midfielder throughout history.

If there’s one game where this can be highlighted more than any other, then it’s away to Man City. That’s why heading into the game, there were calls for Klopp to bite the bullet and play Wataru Endo.

But Jurgen stayed true to Mac Allister, and was rewarded for it.

He hasn’t always been perfect up until this point for the Reds, but today was arguably Macca’s best performance since joining in the summer.

The biggest compliment you can pay the World Cup winner is that he simply never looked out of place today. Playing such a lone role against one of the best sides in history, that’s no mean feat.

Hopefully it gives Mac Allister a welcome confidence boost and proves to the rest of the world – as well as himself – that this is a role he can certainly play in the long-term. There will still inevitably be calls to play him further forward but Macca answered a fair few critics today. Well done, Alexis!