Alexis Mac Allister must take at the least a few of the blame for Dan Burn’s opening objective towards Liverpool within the Carabao Cup closing.
The Geordie’s header set the tone for the rest of the encounter, with Newcastle proving the way more dominant, bodily facet.
In reality, the Reds had been lucky to not have been blown away on the scoreline after the cup winners fired 17 pictures (six on the right track) to the previous’s seven (two on the right track).
Issues had been hardly helped by Mo Salah’s abnormally invisible exhibiting at Wembley Stadium, although there have been really few Liverpool gamers who may depart London with their head held excessive.
Alexis Mac Allister will wince at Dan Burn feedback
You might forgive Alexis Mac Allister for grimacing slightly if he caught goalscorer Burn’s post-match feedback.
The defender – standing at 6’ 7” to the Argentine midfielder’s diminutive 5’ 9” – admitted he took benefit of his opponent’s failure to maintain his eye on the ball.
“I knew that Alexis wasn’t wanting on the ball, so I’d have the ability to get a great soar on him,” the 32-year-old instructed Sky Sports activities.
“As quickly as I headed it, I knew it was in. It was simply certainly one of them.”
“I do not actually need to fall asleep, I really feel like I am dreaming”
Dan Burn reacts to Newcastle’s Carabao Cup win… and is gate-crashed by his skipper 😅 pic.twitter.com/m4MTiAnUfO
— Sky Sports activities Soccer (@SkyFootball) March 16, 2025
Arne Slot explains logic behind Mac Allister marking Burn
To be utterly truthful to our midfield technician, Arne Slot isn’t innocent for a way ruthlessly Newcastle uncovered this chink in our armour on Sunday afternoon.
The fashionable Liverpool boss did justify his rationale behind his techniques, which left Mac Allister open to being dominated by a much more bodily imposing participant.
“I can clarify. We play zonal so we’ve got 5 gamers zonally near our objective, so if the ball falls there it’s at all times one of many 5 stronger gamers which can be going to assault that ball,” the Dutchman was quoted by the membership’s official web site.
“And we’ve got three gamers that man-mark and Macca is certainly one of them. Usually a participant like Dan Burn or one other one runs to the zone as a result of usually… I believe he’s an exception to that as a result of I’ve by no means seen in my life a participant from that far-off heading a ball with a lot drive into the far nook.”
To be clear, we’re not against zonal marking per se. Nonetheless, certainly it ought to have been made clear from the off that any potential state of affairs pitting our World Cup winner towards Dan Burn, a veritable behemoth of a person, could be removed from excellent.
Zonal marking should nonetheless be predicated on the understanding that sure mixtures of gamers may end up in a complete mismatch.
In Liverpool’s case, it was one which was brutally uncovered, paving the best way for Newcastle to grab one other trophy from our grasp.
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