Liverpool would suffer what felt like countless low points during the 2022/23 season. Sure, there would be a few false dawns along the way too, but each time the Reds picked themselves up, it would not be long before they were brought crashing back down to earth.
You can only hit ‘rock bottom’ so many times, yet Jurgen Klopp’s side had to keep redefining what ‘rock bottom’ actually was with each new low.
Admittedly this is all hyperbolic. An 11-game unbeaten run to finish the season would see Liverpool recover to fifth, after all. Such a finish would be an achievement to so many sides, with the likes of Brighton & Hove Albion and Aston Villa celebrating ‘mere’ European qualification, courtesy of finishing in the two places behind the Reds, as though they had won a trophy themselves.
But for a Liverpool side that has won every major prize on offer to them over the past five years, being crowned champions of England, Europe, and the world along the way, such unfamiliar surroundings are not where they are meant to be. As Mohamed Salah posted on social media the night the Reds’ failure to qualify for the Champions League was confirmed, this season Liverpool have failed.
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The Reds’ 3-0 defeat away at Brighton back in mid-January wasn’t the last of Liverpool low points this season. In truth, looking back, it wasn’t even the worst or most deflating. But now, five months later, it could be the most decisive.
You see, with a long-awaited midfield revamp already planned for the summer, that cold Saturday winter afternoon on the south coast was the day that broke the Reds’ midfield once and for all, and convinced Klopp to bring Alexis Mac Allister to Liverpool.
The World Cup winner was already on the Reds’ radar prior to the mid-season tournament in Qatar, having been earmarked as a key summer target. But in that 3-0 loss he ran rings around a midfield that had started in a Champions League final little over six months earlier.
On paper, a trio of Jordan Henderson, Fabinho, and Thiago Alcantara was Liverpool’s strongest. And while they were initially set up in a diamond on the south coast alongside Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, with the Spaniard operating behind Salah and Cody Gakpo in attack, before reverting to a more familiar set-up, it was the day the penny dropped once and for all that this Reds trio had lost their legs in the engine-room and that big changes were needed.
Three days after the loss, both Henderson and Fabinho would be dropped as Stefan Bajcetic burst into the Liverpool starting XI for the 1-0 FA Cup replay win away at Wolves. The teenager would ultimately keep his place at the expense of the two below-par senior pros in the weeks that followed.
For the majority, the 18-year-old would remain a starter under Klopp also until injury ended his season two months later in mid-March. But by this point, injuries elsewhere had earned Henderson and Fabinho recalls as the Reds meandered towards their end of season revival.
Yet that loss at Brighton was more impactful than just opening the door to Bajcetic’s emergence, with it also being decisive to Liverpool’s would-be pursuit of Mac Allister.
The Daily Mail would report that in the days after that 3-0 loss, Klopp was ‘left feeling numb’ and ‘couldn't fathom how his team had collapsed at Brighton’. At the AXA Training Centre, pondering what had gone wrong on the south coast, it was clear that change was needed.
While the qualities he demands from his players weren’t on show at the Amex Stadium, or, in truth, for much of the season, they were apparent in Mac Allister. With Klopp bemoaning that his side had lost its ability to surprise, the World Cup winner ticked Liverpool boxes.
And while the German was already monitoring the midfielder, ‘turning it on’ in front of Klopp ensured he was very much on his mind for the future as he reportedly plotted how the midfielder could fit into his side.
A number of Liverpool signings in recent years have directly caught Klopp’s eye prior to their moves to Anfield. Darwin Nunez, Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane, Gini Wijnaldum, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, and Takumi Minamino all scored against the Reds, while the likes of Virgil van Dijk and Alisson Becker would stand out defensively against the German’s side.
Yet Mac Allister neither scored or assisted against Liverpool in his 83-minute performance in Brighton’s 3-0 win, or in any of his six appearances against Klopp’s side, before being replaced by Jeremy Sarmiento moments after Danny Welbeck scored the Seagull’s third goal with all three points already in the bag. So what exactly did he do so well against a bleeding Reds side to catch the German’s eye?
Lining up in a deeper role for Brighton alongside Moises Caicedo in a 4-2-3-1 formation, he dominated in an all-round performance in the middle of the park, while Liverpool’s own engine-room floundered as they were left chasing shadows.
Offensively, Oxlade-Chamberlain was the only Reds player who could match his total of two shots as none of Liverpool’s other midfielders even registered a shot on goal. Meanwhile, Mac Allister returned one key pass, with Fabinho the only opposing midfielder to manage any at all.
The Argentine's total of 76 touches was comfortably more than any of Liverpool's midfield. While Thiago would come close with 68, Henderson recorded 47 touches, Fabinho 40, and Oxlade-Chamberlain only 31.
Consequently, the 24-year-old's pass return was also significantly higher than the opposing midfield. Playing 66 passes, 60 of which were accurate, Thiago would attempt 53 passes with Henderson, Fabinho, and Oxlade-Chamberlain trailing on 43, 31, and 16 respectively. Mac Allister's 91% passing accuracy was also the highest of the two starting XIs, excluding three of the four centre-backs.
Completing his only dribble attempted, Oxlade-Chamberlain was the only Liverpool midfielder to even attempt a dribble. Meanwhile, unlike Henderson, Fabinho, and the former Arsenal man, Mac Allister wasn't dribbled past either.
Elsewhere, Mac Allister's total of two aerials won was the highest on the pitch, with the midfielder winning one in an offensive situation and one defensively with an 100% success rate. In contrast, no Reds midfielder won an aerial battle.
He'd also win his only tackle, with Brighton's dominance ensuring he wasn't as busy as his Liverpool counterparts on that count, while, for all the touches, he was dispossessed only once. And he wouldn’t commit any fouls either, unlike Thiago, Henderson, and Fabinho.
Meanwhile, it was Mac Allister’s interception of Joel Matip’s misplaced pass, steaming ahead of Henderson to win possession before luring the Cameroonian out of position, that started the attack which led to Solly March’s opener as Brighton continued to put pressure on the surrounding Reds players. Coming in the 47th minute, it was a decisive, game-turning moment as Liverpool capitulated and Klopp watched on in helpless despair.
While individually Mac Allister’s performance wasn’t spectacular, it was effective as he thrived where the Reds’ own players fell short.
Of course, one specific game didn’t prompt Liverpool interest. The Athletic would report how the Reds regularly assess shortlisted targets in 10-15-game review blocks, with no game ever taken in isolation. From such reports, with Mac Allister on their radar long before Klopp’s side’s 3-0 humbling, his consistency, versatility, composure under pressure and game intelligence are all said to have stood out regardless of the role he filled.
The standout player in Brighton’s impressive season, as they qualified for Europe for the first time in the Seagulls’ history, Mac Allister returned 12 goals and three assists while barely missing a game from 40 appearances. Meanwhile, the majority of the games he did miss were the result of his excursions winning the World Cup with Argentina.
It was in this 3-0 win against Liverpool that Brighton welcomed back the midfielder from Qatar, as he showed off his medal and trophy to the adoring crowd before kick-off. While following a gradual road to Anfield all season long, he confirmed everything that Reds bosses already suspected in one domineering 83-minute showing back in mid-January.
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