Alexis Mac Allister has appeared to take a swipe at the tail end of the Arne Slot reign at Liverpool with a comment he made after the Reds’ 4-3 win over Villarreal on Tuesday night.
A sobering fifth-place finish in the Premier League last season cost the Dutchman his job as head coach at Anfield, with Andoni Iraola quickly taking over and enjoying a promising start to his time in L4, with seven wins and just one defeat from his first 11 games.
The Argentine midfielder has been revived since the summer, scoring twice against the LaLiga side to take his goal tally to four for the campaign, just one fewer than he netted in the whole of 2025/26.
Mac Allister: ‘Something wasn’t right’ last season
Speaking to Prime Video Sport on Tuesday night, Mac Allister admitted that his own performance levels dropped sharply last season but intimated that Iraola has been a breath of fresh air since replacing Slot in the dugout.
The 27-year-old said: “Last year was a really difficult year for all of us. It was clear that I was not at the level. I am the first one to say, I have no problem. Something wasn’t right in the group. This manager changed it, and that’s really important.”
(Photo by Alex Pantling/Getty Images)
He added: “The way we play is quite different. I don’t like to compare. I feel good, that’s what I want and that’s what I enjoy. Now it’s more man to man. You have to communicate less because you have to follow [the opponent].
“Last year it was more of a zonal thing. With the national team we do more of a zonal thing and it works. Now we do a one-v-one and it works.
“In the end, it’s about us taking the responsibility. That’s one of the changes, but now it’s much easier. You have to think less but run more, maybe. That’s the way football is going.”
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Mac Allister’s comments seem damning towards Slot
Mac Allister’s comment that things weren’t ‘right’ last season seems quite damning towards Slot, but go back to this time 12 months ago (or the tail end of the campaign) and the mood among Liverpool fans was morose.
Watching the Reds became a chore, with a mixture of poor results and insipid football costing the Dutchman his job, a decision with which few supporters disagreed at the time.
Of course, it must be acknowledged that the death of Diogo Jota had such a devastating impact on the squad that Andy Robertson admitted the players ‘didn’t care about football‘ for much of last season, and Slot carried the burden of trying to guide the team through their grief.
Iraola’s predecessor also has our eternal gratitude for delivering Premier League glory in 2024/25, and while a parting of the ways felt right at the end of May, he doesn’t deserve to be demonised just because his reign ended on a low ebb.
What we can say without fear of contradiction is that the Basque has breathed new life into Liverpool in the early part of his tenure at Anfield, with Mac Allister among the biggest beneficiaries as his welcome revival continues.