Jurgen Klopp heaped praise on ‘absolutely exceptional’ Alexis Mac Allister after Liverpool’s triumph over Bournemouth.
Diogo Jota and Darwin Nunez stole the headlines as they both plundered second-half doubles in the 4-0 win to move five points clear at the top of the Premier League. The Reds were below their best in the first half at the Vitality Stadium and it appeared they were in for a long afternoon in the swirling south-coast window.
The standout performer in the opening 45 minutes was Mac Allister as he dictated from the No.6 role. And after the interval, Liverpool stepped up markedly with Mac Allister continued to impress.
And in the absence of Wataru Endo, who is on Asian Cup duty with Japan, Klopp was highly pleased with Mac Allister’s display. The Reds boss said: “Sometimes people forget that because in the second half we scored the goals. Absolutely exceptional performance, I have to say. I’m so happy for us, obviously, but for him as well, he’s a really good footballer, let me say it like that. Defensively did a good job and offensively he is anyway a super-important player for us, he was calm on the ball, all the good things in the first half already happened with him. Yeah, really happy.”
Liverpool handed a Premier League debut to Conor Bradley with Trent Alexander-Arnold sidelined with a knee injury. Bradley assisted Jota’s second goal of the game, while the 20-year-old had two opportunities of his own. Klopp reckons Bradley should have bagged his maiden goal for the Reds.
“Really, really good,” Klopp said on the Northern Ireland international’s performance. “Very impressive. I can say exactly the same, a wonderful kid, a really hard worker, and a good footballer. He is a defender but he can attack as well.
“He could’ve scored, probably should’ve scored a header. I forgot that. No, he should’ve scored in that situation. But anyhow it was a really good game and for the first one, yeah, sometimes you have to forget your first game because it’s just your first one, but no he shouldn’t, that’s a good start.”
