McAllister: Adam deserves all the credit
Gary McAllister admits he wasn’t at all surprised to see Adam Bogdan prove to be a hero as he made three vital saves in the penalty shootout victory over Carlisle United on Wednesday night.
With Simon Mignolet given a rest, the Hungarian stopper was handed a debut in the Capital One Cup third-round tie, and he showed he is a more than capable last line of defence.
During his time as a player in front of the Kop, McAllister netted vital spot kicks against the likes of Barcelona, but he admits he might not have fancied facing a goalkeeper of the physical imposing presence of Bogdan.
“He’s got a decent record of stopping penalties and I’ve seen him make saves for Bolton in previous seasons,” McAllister told Liverpoolfc.com.
“He’s a big guy and maybe players are a bit intimidated when they face him in terms of his stature in front of the goal, but congratulations to him.
“It’s tough being a No.2, he’s battled away well, he’s worked hard in pre-season and works hard with the other goalkeepers and he deserves all the credit tonight.”
On a night of drama at Anfield, the first-team coach was quick to praise the efforts of Carlisle United who pushed the Reds all the way through extra-time leading up to the shootout.
He added: “We would have liked to have finished it off in normal time but I’ve got to say congratulations to Keith Curle and Carlisle because they put on a great performance.
“I thought they approached the game very open and tried to play attractive football so well done to them, but the positives from the game is that we are through and we showed a bit of bottle in the penalty shootout.”