Liverpool was not at their best but eventually saw off Sheffield thanks to a fierce strike from Mac Allister
If Liverpool does end up winning the Premier League this season, then Alexis Mac Allister’s strike against Sheffield United will feature heavily in the highlight reels.
The Reds were stuttering and frustration was beginning to settle in against the bottom-of-the-table Sheffield. However, there was a turn of events when Mac Allister speared a stunning strike into the top corner.
The explosion that greeted Mac Allister’s goal was quite the occasion, as an evening of stress evaporated with one swing of the Argentinean’s right boot.
Mac Allister has been Liverpool’s man of the last few months, but those months threatened to come to an end if they couldn’t win their easiest remaining game of the season.
Stress levels at Anfield were in danger of reaching fever pitch in the 20 minutes that followed Bradley’s unfortunate equaliser. But the goal – a pierced, pin-point strike – blew those all away.
Grbic’s decision to first dally and then hopelessly boot the ball straight at the big Liverpool No.9, Nunez, was of course one of those moments that we’ll be seeing again and again.
Back in the dark depths of last season when he’d become the laughing stock of choice for many football fans, the forward was on the receiving end of a subtle barb from his manager when Jurgen Klopp said that the “ticket into his team” was achieved through pressing and counter-pressing, with the sub-text being that the struggling Nunez wasn’t in the team at the time.
He’s in it all the time now though, and as he closed down the hapless goalkeeper he might well have had his manager’s words ringing in his ears, much as they will have all season. Pressing is an aspect of his game he has improved upon, and he got a reward here.
On the other hand, Sheffield for much of the campaign has resembled one of the worst sides ever seen in the Premier League, and one that often didn’t show an ounce of the fight that they displayed here.
Rising to the occasion? Taking the chance to try and poop a party? Whatever it was, Chris Wilder’s side displayed it to show that they will at least go down with a fight, if that is to be their fate.