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Photo by Adam Davy/PA Images via Getty Images
Don’t we all, Alexis. The midfielder spoke about his niggling injury and his contributions in his second season with the club.
There’s been a whole lot of changes going around as Liverpool adjust to life under Arne Slot. The coach himself has been focused on rotating as he learns about the rigors of the Premier League and the tournaments Liverpool are consistently involved in, but he’s also been faced with a number of injury concerns. Included in those concerns are midfielder Alexis Mac Allister, who has found himself on the bench the past couple of matches as opposed to his starting position. Despite this issue, he has still made appearances in all 14 of this season’s matches so far.
Mac Allister is also well aware of what it takes to be able to make those appearances - managing his recovery.
“I feel very good,” the Argentinian told the club website on Friday.
“Recovery is key, I try to do the things I need to do to recover well. Sometimes it’s quite hard because there is not much time. But I’m really happy and every time I feel fit then the manager knows that I will be there to help the team.
“That’s the only thing I want: to play, to feel important, to try to help the team. Until now, I think I’ve been doing it quite well.”
Of course, this assessment follows the midweek match against his former club, Brighton, and looks forward to the next match... against Brighton. Mac Allister came on to replace Tyler Morton on Wednesday (what a substitution), and though the match got a little scrappy towards the end, the midfielder was able to help protect the lead. He is quick to point out the talent that is at Brighton, though, and to be prepared for Saturday - even if it’ll be a different match.
“Definitely a really good result, a really good win for us. For us, every trophy that we can win is important so it was an amazing result against a really good team. You could see how good on the ball they are,” Mac Allister explained.
“So, a really good performance. Some of the guys that didn’t play much had the opportunity to play and did very well, so really happy for them as well.
“It’s a new game. Definitely we can take some things from the game – and they will do as well, so, in that sense it will be very equal. But I think they will change a lot as well; some players that are regular starters for them didn’t play [on Wednesday] so we expect different players but a similar game, because we both have an idea of what we want to do on the pitch.
“It will be a very tough game because they have very good players and, as I said, they have a clear idea. We are already working on what we want to do and we will try to win the game.”
As we enter November (already?!) we are also in the middle of a busy stretch for the club, with two more matches before another international break, and then we move into the historically even busier month of December. With a number of players already out indefinitely injured, keeping fitness is key for Mac Allister.
“Recovery is key, because there is not much time between games. There is no time to train, you just have to rest, recover and go again. We had a very good session today to prepare for the game and that’s all we can do,” the midfielder said.
There are also three matches at Anfield alone coming up before the next break, including Saturday’s, and Mac Allister was confident that playing at home will only be an advantage before going into the international break.
“We know that when we play at Anfield we are stronger than when we play away because of our fans. We have to play our game, try to do the things that we want and I’m sure the fans will be behind us. That’s a plus for sure. To play at home is always special.”
