The Argentine World Cup winner was part of the team that lost 4-3 to Bayern Munich in an entertaining pre-season friendly.
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Liverpool supporters could have been forgiven for fearing the worst when new signing Alexis Mac Allister was withdrawn at half-time owing to a knock he suffered in the warm-up game. The Argentine World Cup winner was part of the team that lost 4-3 to Bayern Munich in an entertaining pre-season friendly. Pre-season games are not judged by the results but the performance levels of the individuals on the pitch. It is used as means to help the players get back to their peak fitness levels.
Hence, the Liverpool fans were concerned with the knee injury suffered by Alexis Mac Allister in Singapore. However, manager Jurgen Klopp has downplayed the injury concern and revealed the substitution was more of a precaution. “Yeah, knee on knee. He could have played on. So firstly I got the information that it’s too painful, so that was then clear that we will change. There’s no need to push him through. When I spoke afterwards, he said, ‘No, no, I would have been fine.’ But we didn’t want to go [with] any risks. It’s just knee on knee, bruise, that’s it. It was fine,” Klopp, quoted as saying by the club’s website, said at his post-match press conference.
Klopp then shifted the focus to the match and spoke about the intensity at which the action-packed encounter played out. “Was I surprised about the intensity? No. I think it was pretty clear when you set up a game in that period with two teams who are pretty competitive, two managers who are pretty competitive then I think it’s pretty clear that it has to be intense. I saw a lot of good things, but of course some things which I didn’t like and now we have to make an analysis,” he added.
“That’s always in pre-season the same: we need to have a look what is really physically, because we did a lot in training and yesterday a lot in really tough circumstances. And you saw the goals we conceded were mainly lack of concentration in the moment twice. A very similar situation, the first goal we conceded and I think the fourth, were very similar. It’s obviously not allowed but it can happen anyway. We have to analyse it properly, I have enough time to do that on the flight home.”
Even though Liverpool looked ruthless going forward, there were still question marks in the manner in which they defended against Bayern Munich. “Around the goals obviously not that great, but there were a lot of other moments that were really, really good as well. The last line was good. We have to still adjust. It’s not so much about the boys and stuff, [but] yes it is, of course, in these moments. The first goal we concede, Trent and Joel have to react better. This pass, I don’t think it is [able] to avoid, to be 100 per cent honest. We cannot always be there and block all balls, sometimes balls will fly towards our last line,” he explained.
“It was just a little doubt in between, but both stand on both feet – I am not sure exactly when it was, 30 minutes when they scored the first goal? – so we felt the intensity properly then, like humans are. I think it was a similar time [in the] second half, between Joey and Ibou. It’s nothing about speed or whatever, it is just about awareness – check the situation. In football there are no breaks. When you are really tired, that’s the thing you hate the most: there are no breaks. Apart from that, how I said, I saw a lot of good individual performances, I think really encouraging, really positive, and we can work with that, that’s it.”
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