After his red card appeal was granted, Alexis Mac Allister may move Liverpool forward far more.
It’s safe to say that Liverpool comfortably qualifies for its second major victory of the year.
The 3-1 victory over Bournemouth at Anfield on Saturday marked the first time in over 20 years that the Reds’ contentious dismissal of Alexis Mac Allister for a challenge with Ryan Christie was reversed.
The only other Liverpool players to have a suspension overturned after receiving a red card in the previous 50 years were Dietmar Hamann (2000), Steve Staunton (1999), and Ian Rush (1986). El Hadji Diouf was sent off in the 1-0 victory at Chelsea in January 2004.
The vast majority of observers who watched replays of the incident expressed shock at the decision to fire Mac Allister, along with the Liverpool players, staff, and fans. However, VAR Paul Tierney and his deputy Constantine Hatzidakis did not think there was a need to have referee Thomas Bramall reconsider his choice on the pitchside monitor.
There was a rumor that the VAR officials didn’t want to jeopardize Bramall’s authority because it was his first competition with Liverpool and only his ninth Premier League game. However, the Reds’ tumultuous past with Hatzidakis and Tierney added an additional element of drama.
Mac Allister is already preparing for the challenging journey to Newcastle United on Sunday rather than serving a three-match suspension that would have kept him out of play for Liverpool for more than a month owing to the international break.
The Argentina World Cup winner will be free to build on the performances that so captured the attention as part of the preseason strategy now that Wataru Endo has been hired as a proven defensive midfielder.
Mac Allister has certainly had experience as a deep-lying midfielder. In fact, he played for Brighton & Hove Albion there for a sizable portion of the previous season. The only time he played as a lone number six for Liverpool before to the season opening against Chelsea was the final warm-up game against SV Darmstadt six days previously. However, that was in tandem with another player, generally Moises Caicedo.
However, Mac Allister displayed far more promise when given a more advanced position in the midfield three. He performed
Mac Allister and fellow summer signing Dominik Szoboszlai have only ever started together in their more anticipated midfield positions during the first half of a 4-3 loss to Bayern Munich a few days later. Mac Allister was outstanding when playing on the right of midfield against Bournemouth but was typically used on the left during preseason.
Mac Allister will then feel relieved that he has the opportunity to keep up his early pace. Joe Cole and Darwin Nunez, the most recent Liverpool players to be dismissed on their home Premier League debut, struggled to catch up when they were once again available.
