Alexis Mac Allister might have to shoulder some of the responsibility for letting Dan Burn get the best of him when he scored the opening goal for Newcastle against Liverpool in the Carabao Cup final.
Burn’s powerful header set the stage for what turned out to be a match dominated by Newcastle’s sheer physicality and control.
Liverpool was lucky the score didn’t completely get out of hand as Newcastle unleashed a barrage of 17 shots, with six testing the keeper, compared to Liverpool’s measly seven attempts, only two of which were on target.
Mo Salah, usually the star of the show, seemed oddly absent for most of the game at Wembley Stadium, and it wasn’t as though many of his teammates left London feeling proud of their performances either.
After the game, Alexis Mac Allister might have cringed upon hearing Dan Burn’s comments. Towering at 6’ 7”, Burn admitted he capitalized on Mac Allister’s lapse in paying attention to the ball.
“I noticed Alexis wasn’t focused on the ball, which allowed me to get a really good leap in,” said the 32-year-old to Sky Sports. “The moment I made contact, I could tell it was going in. It was just one of those moments.”
Arne Slot is not without fault either for Newcastle exploiting this particular weakness. The Liverpool manager did attempt to justify the strategy that landed Mac Allister in a tricky matchup with a much larger opponent.
Slot explained, “We use a zonal marking system where we have five players positioned to deal with any threat near our goal, so it’s usually one of the stronger players attacking the ball. Meanwhile, we have three players man-marking, and Mac Allister is one of them. Typically, someone like Dan Burn would head to the zone. I must say, he’s an exception as I’ve never seen someone from such a distance head the ball with that much force into the corner.”
In principle, zonal marking works, but it’s crucial to recognize when certain player matchups might be less than ideal. Liverpool learned this the hard way when it allowed Newcastle to seize another trophy win.
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