‘I’m really not interested…’ – £150k-p/w Liverpool player has no time for one particular stat
Alexis Mac Allister has made a frank admission about one statistic in particular which is of no interest to him.
The £150,000-per-week Liverpool midfielder was speaking to Clank! about a variety of topics, reflecting on how he’s found his first few months at Anfield since joining from Brighton in the summer.
The 24-year-old was candid in his views of players’ running statistics, which some observers tie in directly with the effort that a footballer is putting in on the pitch, stating his belief that other performance barometers are of far greater importance.
Mac Allister said: “I’m really not interested in knowing how much I ran. If you tell me how many good forward passes I made, that interests me much more. You have to know what to look at and what not to look at in the statistics. It’s a tool but it’s not everything.”
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It’s not every day that you hear a footballer at the highest level speaking so frankly about his views on certain performance figures, although it’s understandable why Mac Allister feels that statistics such as distance covered aren’t the be-all and end-all.
Quite simply, if Jurgen Klopp felt that the 24-year-old wasn’t putting in the required effort in midfield, he wouldn’t be in the team, and he certainly wouldn’t have started every Premier League game for which he’s been available so far this season (Transfermarkt).
In terms of the Argentine’s use of the ball, he’s played the second-most progressive passes of any player at Anfield (75), the third-most passes into the final third of the pitch (53) and the fifth-most passes into the penalty area (12), as per FBref.
Mac Allister is therefore likely be quite satisfied at how often he’s getting the ball into dangerous positions, even if Liverpool fans might feel there’s one stat in particular where he could improve.
Even allowing for him playing primarily as a number 6, he’s yet to score for the Reds in 16 appearances, which is surprising when you consider his tally of 12 goals in 40 games for Brighton last season (Transfermarkt).
That’s one facet of the 24-year-old’s game on which he’ll certainly be looking to improve, although his continued selection shows that he’s clearly doing enough to please his manager.
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