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Albion Analytics: Alexis Mac Allister's first 100 games

A deep dive into how our World Cup winner's game has evolved and improved during his time with Albion.

By Liam Tharme • 08 April 2023

By Paul Hazlewood
Alexis Mac Allister at full stretch during his 100th appearance for Albion at Bournemouth.

Brighton’s World Cup winner made his 100th appearance for the club in the midweek 2-0 win at Bournemouth.

He becomes the fifth player currently at the club (after Lewis Dunk, Solly March, Pascal Gross and Adam Webster) to reach this landmark — only Dunk (26), Gross (24) and March (22) have more goals than Mac Allister’s 18.

As a central midfielder, Alexis has retrained from a No.10 role when he first signed into a deep-lying playmaker (a No.5 in Argentinian footballing terminology and for the national team), Mac Allister’s impact is not always measured best through goals.

Since Mac Allister’s Premier League debut in March 2020, in games he has started (compared to games without the Argentine), Brighton have a better win rate (35.5% vs 29.4%), create more shooting opportunities (14.1 vs 11.9), attempt more open-play crosses (13.2 v 11.7) and concede fewer crosses too (10.7 v 12.9).

On an individual level, this campaign has been Mac Allister’s best yet in the Premier League in terms of — per 90 minutes — ball recoveries (7.09), passes (55.7), pass completion (86.7%) and completed passes to the final third (4.83). Across short (90.8%), medium (91.5%) and long distances (72.1%) his pass completion rates have progressively improved to his highest success rates this season. It is not a case of Mac Allister simply playing safer passes in deeper locations, he has clearly expanded his passing range.

In Mac Allister’s 100th game at Bournemouth, ranked against Brighton players, only Pervis Estupinan and Pascal Gross (6) completed more progressive passes than Mac Allister (5), despite the 24-year-old only playing 72 minutes. He ranked third for progressive carries (3) and shot-creating actions (4).

Last season (62.1%) was the first time Mac Allister played the majority of minutes in a league season since arriving at the club, which shows some time needed to adapt, but he is one of five players to have clocked over 2,000 minutes this season — alongside central midfield teammate Moises Caicedo.

He ranks third among Brighton players for shot-creating actions (70), an almost identical total to his tackles plus interceptions (74 — second-most for Brighton), a reflection of how all-action Alexis has become. He leads the scoring charts with eight, having scored six in his last three seasons combined, and while five of those goals this season have been penalties his record from the spot this season has been perfect and is the best in the Premier League.

For all his positional evolution, Mac Allister still shows No.10-style flair. He has the highest dribble success rate of any Albion player with 10+ dribbles (59.6% — 28/47) and only Caicedo (37) has won more fouls than him (35).

SofaScore’s algorithm rates Mac Allister’s best league performance this season the 4-0 win at home to West Ham, where he scored a first-half penalty and assisted Joel Veltman for the second with a delicate flick-on from a corner.

That day Mac Allister (10) completed the most progressive passes of any Brighton player, made the joint-most ball recoveries (7), had the second-most touches in the opposition box (7) and ranked second for progressive carries (5).