Mac Allister On Sub Role Against Lille and Liverpool Strength in Depth
Today at 01:00 PM
The standout midfielder was rotated out of the starting eleven on Tuesday but still played a key role and will be expected to start against Ipswich.
You won't head into the final week of January top of the table in the Premier League and Champions League simply by having a strong first eleven. You don't get to where Liverpool are now without a strong squad and quality depth.
The flip side of that is in a side challenging for the biggest titles and trophies, there will inevitably be players on the fringes good enough to start for some very good sides who simply don't get the kind of minutes their quality deserves.
Even for key players there will be times the need for rest and rotation means spending a half or even entire game on the bench. It's easier, though, when results keep coming and you can see how good the players on in your place are.
"It's never easy to be on the bench but the coach tries to make clear that everyone is really important for the team and everyone has to contribute," said key midfield man Alexis Mac Allister after a game where he started out on the bench.
"I really like it because as a team if you want to compete for trophies you need players who can come off the bench and do the things we are doing. So I'm really happy for that and everyone can see that we have a really good team."
On Tuesday against Lille, it was Curtis Jones stepping in for Mac Allister to start only for a lower body injury to force the switch at the half, with Mac Allister coming on in a game manager Arne Slot likely hoped he wouldn't have to.
Still, some rest is better than none, and Mac Allister will be expected in from the start when the Reds return to Premier League action by hosting relegation-battling Ipswich Town on Saturday before again likely rotating out next week.
"It was an important game for us to secure the pass to the next round," Mac Allister said of Tuesday's result that means Liverpool will finish top two in the Champions League league phase no matter what happens next week against PSV.
"We played a really good team that came here to do the things they know. It was a difficult game but the important thing is we got the result. They build from the back, try to play the third man—it's not easy to come to Anfield and do that.
"Even when they played down to ten men I think we maybe struggled a little bit to press them high up the pitch but that's a credit to them. We ran a lot, we worked really, really hard, and that's why in the end we got the result."
