One Booking From a Ban: Iraola’s Mac Allister Problem Before Old Trafford
The second international break of the season arrives at a useful moment for Liverpool, and we would argue it is needed more for the head than the legs. Fourth in the table with 18 points from 10 league matches reads respectably enough, yet anyone who has watched this team closely knows the numbers flatter a side still searching for its identity under Andoni Iraola.
The last few weeks summed up the mood. Defeats to Arsenal and Fenerbahce in quick succession sucked the energy out of Anfield, and it took a 3-1 victory over Crystal Palace to restore some calm. The attack has not clicked, and the back line can look composed one weekend and nervous the next.
A fortnight to think
Iraola has spent the opening months spinning plates between domestic and European football, rotating to protect players while trying not to drop points. Some of those calls have paid off. Others, the Fenerbahce defeat chief among them, have backfired.
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Injuries and thin cover have not helped, and with the squad stretched, a suspension would be a needless blow. That is our biggest worry.
Mac Allister walking a fine line
Alexis Mac Allister has collected four Premier League yellow cards already. One more and he serves a one-match ban, and the timing could hardly be worse. A caution against Manchester United would rule him out of the Merseyside derby with Everton, a game where his bite in midfield is exactly what Liverpool will need.
This is the delicate part for Iraola. The Argentine is at his best when he is snapping into challenges, pressing high and getting stuck in. Tell him to tiptoe through the United game and you take away part of what makes him so valuable. Leave him to it and you are rolling the dice on the derby. A quiet word about picking his battles seems sensible.
The wider disciplinary picture
Mac Allister is not the only name on the watch list. Ronald Araujo, Virgil van Dijk, Milos Kerkez and Bradley Barcola are each sitting on three bookings, and the concentration of defenders in that group is what concerns us most. Lose two of them at once and the back line suddenly looks very thin.
There are still nine league fixtures before the threshold rises from five yellow cards to 10, which is a long stretch to get through without incident. Our take is that this break should be used to sharpen concentration as much as fitness. A cheap booking at the wrong moment could cost Liverpool far more than a single afternoon.