Liverpool star who lost the ball 12x was better than the scorers vs Luton

Liverpool star who lost the ball 12x was better than the scorers vs Luton

Someone said something about an injury crisis, didn’t they?

Liverpool weathered the storm and emerged victorious once again on Wednesday night, defeating Luton Town in the Premier League to maintain their spot at the summit despite a startling spate of absences.

Admittedly, it was a dour opening, but how often has that been attributed to Liverpool’s first-half performance this season, so often galvanised after the break – down, in no small part, to some Jurgen Klopp invectives at the interval – and so often turning the game on its head emphatically.

Mohamed Salah, Diogo Jota and Darwin Nunez, ostensibly the squad’s best front three, were all sidelined, with this compounded by injuries to Dominik Szoboszlai, Curtis Jones, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Alisson Becker, topped by longer-term absentees Thiago Alcantara, Joel Matip and Stefan Bajcetic.

With a trip to face Chelsea in the Carabao Cup final on Sunday looming, it was a troubling situation, the sheer volume of injuries precluding rotation, but Liverpool got the job done.

The performance of Liverpool’s forwards

A real Jekyll-and-Hyde display, it must be said. Liverpool’s first-half was as bad as it got. Wastefulness, particularly from Luis Diaz, was rife as Klopp’s side looked to prevent a damaging upset, but when good work from Tahith Chong allowed Chiedozie Ogbene to head home from close range, Anfield was silenced after just 12 minutes.

And Luton would take that lead into the break, resilient and uniform against waves of pressure from the hosts, who squandered some fantastic opportunities to poison the atmosphere.

But re-entering the field, Liverpool were fresh and fearsome, and captain colossus Virgil van Dijk provided the narrative-spinning contribution to head home from a corner after 56 minutes, opening the scoring and sparking the comeback that saw Cody Gakpo head his 11th of the campaign home mere moments later.

The goals of Salah and co were sorely missed but the Merseyside outfit exhibited its mettle and never-say-die attitude to continue a remarkable campaign, with Diaz finally bagging his goal after 71 minutes, breezing past the defence and firing home after being handed an excellently won ball by Andy Robertson.

Harvey Elliott, much-improved after the break, curved a shot into the net in the closing stage to seal the victory, with a big contribution from 18-year-old debutant Jayden Danns proving the depth and talent at Klopp’s disposal even with the catalogue of injuries.

The goalscorers all played their part, decisively so. But, the true hero on a night of the utmost importance didn’t actually get himself onto the scoresheet.

Alexis Mac Allister, stand up.

Alexis Mac Allister’s game vs Luton in numbers

With so many first-team stars out of action, it was paramount that Mac Allister was on his a-game against the Hatters, providing energy, creativity and technical quality in the centre of the park.

With Wataru Endo placed as the anchorman, the Argentina international was allowed to roam and proved most effective in between the thirds, keeping it crisp, chipping in defensively and, crucially, providing the forwards with a flow of attacking support.

Alexis Mac Allister: Stats vs Luton

Stat

#

Minutes played

89′

Assists

2

Touches

65

Accurate passes

38/44 (86%)

Key passes

4

Dribble attempts

2/2 (100%)

Duels won

6/12 (50%)

Tackles

2

Interceptions

2

Possession lost

x12

Source: Sofascore

As the table portrays, Mac Allister’s all-encompassing performance was crucial for the second-half turnaround’s success. The glue in midfield, the 24-year-old is proving his worth and then some as the season creeps toward the business end.

Whipping in the corner for Van Dijk’s parity-restoring header before doing the same minutes later as Gakpo, cool as ice, nodded the ball past Thomas Kaminski, Mac Allister pulled the strings and Liverpool would not have succeeded without his ball-playing brilliance.