‘Really impressive’… Ian Wright raves about what he’s been seeing from £35m Liverpool player recently

Add as preferred source on Google

There were plenty of reasons for Liverpool supporters to be happy with Sunday’s convincing win over Bournemouth.

Two goals apiece for Darwin Nunez and Diogo Jota did the damage and sent the Reds five points clear at the top of the Premier League.

Nunez and Jota were both stand-out performers on the day, while young Conor Bradley did brilliantly on his league debut for Liverpool. But with the Reds struggling to get going in the first-half, the man to really step up and stand out was Alexis Mac Allister.

This wasn’t lost on Ian Wright. The spotlight has been on Mac Allister this season as he adapts to a new, deeper-lying role at Liverpool. But speaking on The Kelly & Wrighty Show yesterday, Wright commended the 25-year-old for his recent displays.

“Really impressive, really impressive the way he can play and we’ve seen that he’s got goals in his game,” raved the pundit. “I feel that once he can play continually in that role where he can get space, everybody wants space and the good players when they’ve got space they’ll make sure that they’ll hurt you with it.

“I still feel like he’s still finding his way from Brighton at Liverpool. We’ve not seen that World Cup form but you can see when he’s got time on it he does get that ball in there, he’s so creative.”

Wright praises Mac Allister form

Sunday was perhaps Mac Allister’s best performance in a Liverpool shirt so far. The Argentine displayed absolutely everything you’d want from a No.6.

Not only was he dominant in his duels and excellent at winning the ball back, but Mac Allister also gives you exactly what Wright suggests – quality on the ball.

As you’d expect from a player who wears the No.10 on his back for Liverpool, the World Cup winner is super at picking those little, through-the-lines passes.

Against Bournemouth, every time he got the ball Mac Allister seemed intent on looking forwards.

As Wright mentions, you give a player like that space and he can hurt you. But the really impressive thing about the £35m man on Sunday was that there was not a great deal of it to work in.

It wasn’t as though he was running through wide open areas at Dean Court. Bournemouth press well under Andoni Iraola and there were a number of times that Mac Allister had to play his way out of trouble.

Impressively, he did that on a number of occasions. And if he lost the ball while doing so, Macca went and won it back.

He may not have yet convinced everyone that he’s the defensive midfielder that Liverpool need. But for us, this weekend’s display should end the debate. If Mac Allister is the man Jurgen Klopp has chosen for that role long-term, then we’re absolutely fine with that.

More of the same please, Alexis!