Alexis Mac Allister has highlighted a key thing Liverpool’s leaders do in order to keep the team pushing until the very end.
Darwin Nunez‘s late winner against Nott’m Forest was Liverpool’s 18th injury-time winner in the Premier League with Jurgen Klopp in charge – that’s more than any other team in the division during that period, say Opta.
The common denominator here is Klopp, but the German can’t be on the pitch and everywhere all at once. One of the factors that has contributed to Liverpool’s success has been his ability to pick out leaders.
It is now those leaders who are pushing Liverpool on to multiple late winning goals. Mac Allister, who signed last summer, has described one key way the leaders do this.
After the match, he told BBC Sport: “We were always positive. Our leaders were keeping the team very positive. We’re a good group, nice players on and off the pitch.”
Speaking to Liverpoolfc.com, he later added: “You could see Virgil [van Dijk] and our leaders always keeping the team very positive, and that’s very important to keep going until the end.
“We are a very good team, a very good group with nice players on and off the pitch. That’s really important to be always positive.”
Mac Allister’s comments underline the mental strength Klopp has instilled in the players, and also highlights how the ‘doubters to believers’ phrase applies not only to fans, but players also.
The manager’s player leadership group has undergone several changes since he arrived.
With Jordan Henderson, James Milner and others now having moved on, the mantle has fallen on to the likes of Van Dijk, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Mo Salah to maintain the winning mentality.
It is that strength of mind that has seen Liverpool come through the last couple of weeks with four wins from four matches.
The never-say-die culture is also clearly evident throughout the club, with the youngsters who have made first-team appearances carrying the same attitude as the seasoned professionals.
Liverpool’s No. 9, Nunez, didn’t come through the Reds’ academy, but his goal at the weekend was the epitome of never giving up.
It is interesting that, in his home country of Uruguay, winning at the death is described as ‘a lo Penarol’ or ‘at the Penarol’ in English.
Penarol is the name of the first professional club Nunez played for, a team who became known for their dramatic winners, hence the saying.
Nunez has had this never-say-die belief instilled from an early age, and it is something Liverpool supporters love about him.
As one Uruguayan Red said: “Darwin, Penarol and Liverpool, a match made in heaven.”
Perhaps ‘Darwin Nunez‘s winner at the Liverpool’ would have been a better way to start this piece. Then again, it doesn’t quite have the ring of ‘a lo Penarol’.
