Joe Allen [Sold]

[Myo]

he does seem like one of those players that takes a run of games to build form & I suppose that's fair enough.

If you ask me who I would prefer between him & Lucas both on form...Lucas every time. For a few reasons,

1. Lucas is great foil for Henderson's natural game. When Hendo was playing beside Gerrard he couldn't get forward, constant babysitting job and stifling his best attributes. Left us light going forward & pressing was non existent as we where sitting too deep. Playing beside Lucas it seems Hendo isn't more confident of leaving Lucas by himself and can push forward and make those lung busting runs & get into the box. With his attributes and playing his natural game IMO he should be getting up to 10 goals per season.

2. Lucas is more of a physical presence & in a high tempo game even though he lacks pace.... his reading of the game & the way he closes out spaces is brilliant. He is an out and out DM and that's what you get... whereas Allen can be a deep lying HM and was great yesterday in that relaxed tempo but he'll never be a DM. He'll keep you ticking along nicely & work hard but a DM role is not his game.

IMO I reckon Allen would struggle more playing likes of Burnley or Leicester as oppose to City or Arsenal. What i mean by that is teams that are work horses and have to press high and try push us back. Teams that have to be dogged and relentless off the ball as their not that great in possession. He really seems to find it hard to function with little space and high tempo...something that Lucas excels at. I think that's why we see the panicked Allen, side to side passes or passing it back... can be frustrating. Whereas yesterday he was going between the CB's receiving the ball & actually pushing forward and looking to be progressive. Was great to see actually.

3. Lucas is just a much better fit in front of our back 3. He's made for that system & great for our CB's.

Allen will have a few more games before Lucas comes back, would be great to see him put in similar performances in the next few games. I can be a moany cunt and criticise players but you have to give credit where it's due when they put in a good performance. Chap was excellent yesterday

spot on

[SB]

Yeah, but he doesn't do his job well that often, he's been ****ing awful more often that he's been good.

He's in & out of the team which doesn't help. The whole team struggled early on this season which again doesn't help. Having gerrard near him doesn't help. But still I don't think he's been as bad as some make out.

[BigChief]

He's in & out of the team which doesn't help. The whole team struggled early on this season which again doesn't help. Having gerrard near him doesn't help. But still I don't think he's been as bad as some make out.

The only appearances Allen seems to get is when other star players are being rested. He's not good enough for that, but then what squad player is? Even Lucas isn't that good.

However, no one is denying that Lucas is definitely first pick when everyone is fit. Just good to know we have Allen if he's not.

[SB]

The only appearances Allen seems to get is when other star players are being rested. He's not good enough for that, but then what squad player is? Even Lucas isn't that good.

However, no one is denying that Lucas is definitely first pick when everyone is fit. Just good to know we have Allen if he's not.

Spot on.

He's proving that when there's movement ahead of him he can find the man with a great passing range.

[Lecter]

It seems that every time Allen plays well, I come on here and read that the opposition made him look good. Before this match people were predicting that we'd get overrun in midfield by City and at half time people were claiming that Yaya was running the show, yet by full time, we (and Allen) were made to look good because City were ****.

Apparently he can't handle a pressing team, but surely Southampton have proven to be one of the best in the league at that and in the last two matches against them with Allen we have an aggregate score of 5-0.

Burnley up next (‘Burnley were the best at pressing in last season's Championship. Working incessantly hard to close down the opposition, their tactics are built around winning back the ball quickly, then being penetrative once possession is turned over.’), so will be curious to see how he does against them.


Lucas getting injured should have been a massive blow to us, but fair play to Joe, he has stepped up and did a great job.

I thought we were great, I thought City were ****

I am not sure how much we nullified City but we certainly exploited their failings

With regards to the Southampton games, I cant remember the game last year but certainly the other week the scoreline flattered us, we were balls against them. We could quite easily on another day conceded a couple of penalties and maybe even had our keeper sent off

I dont get the selected sampling of matches to use as reinforcement for an argument

I could quite easily point to the ****eness on display last week V Besiktas if I wanted to do that

Fact is in general Allen has been poor for us more often than he has been great

[Lecter]

Yeah, but he doesn't do his job well that often, he's been ****ing awful more often that he's been good.

[Lecter]

So'ton was a weird one. We scored really early and knowing they couldn't hit a barn door at present we sat back and gave them the space to play. We asked if they were good enough to break us down and once we settled, we kept them out. When you play like that it's frustrating as you don't like seeing your team under the cosh, but it worked perfectly. It was also horrible conditions weather wise and a few of our players got some serious abuse and struggled with it.

Burnley will be incredibly difficult. None more so than for Joe. He has run his socks off lately and whilst adrenaline might have got players through against City, Burnley will be a lower key game and another game in a streak where we've had little time to rest. He and Hendo (with his foot injury) will really have to dig in and fight it out with Burnley. He needs to perform, do the same against Blackburn and then finally a bit of a rest before the next game.

Still think on another day we could have lost that Southampton match

We were lucky with quite a few decisions that day

[Chris]

Fact is in general Allen has been poor for us more often than he has been great

Apart from it not being a fact anyway.

[Lecter]

Apart from it not being a fact anyway.

Only in your tiny mind my friend

[RedReet]

I thought we were great, I thought City were ****

I am not sure how much we nullified City but we certainly exploited their failings

With regards to the Southampton games, I cant remember the game last year but certainly the other week the scoreline flattered us, we were balls against them. We could quite easily on another day conceded a couple of penalties and maybe even had our keeper sent off

I dont get the selected sampling of matches to use as reinforcement for an argument

I could quite easily point to the ****eness on display last week V Besiktas if I wanted to do that

Fact is in general Allen has been poor for us more often than he has been great

I picked Southampton off the top of my head as they were the best pressing team I could think of. It wasn't selective sampling as I was fully aware that we were fortunate against them recently. We as a team seem to struggle when teams press effectively against us, I don't think Allen in particular struggles much more than much of the rest of the side.

I agree that overall he may have had more poor performances than good, but when he’s had a settled run in the team he generally seems to do ok. It’s quite hard for any player when they are in and out of the side, not to mention often being asked to play different roles.

[DannyMan2006]

Yeah, but he doesn't do his job well that often, he's been ****ing awful more often that he's been good.

Hmm....

I think that last season, particularly during the run in, he was in good form.

I also think that since he's come back into the team he's been in decent form, and is getting better with each game.

Early on this season we were ****e when Joe Allen played, and we were ****e when he didn't. Only Sterling came out of that spell with even a tiny amount of credit. Virtually every man jack appeared God awful in the vast majority of games and it was painful to watch.

It's difficult. We can base a strikers form on goals or chances created, a keeper with clean sheets etc. but a midfielder who doesn't assist or score? Well the only way we can gauge him is if we are winning / losing the midfield, but in fairness that mostly comes down to tactics. Is Joe Allen better than Yaya Toure? Someone watching a football game for the first time yesterday would think so. Clearly he isn't.

Before the formation change and sticking Raheem up top we were getting beaten by our own set up. So Allen looked atrocious every time he played as we got overrun at the back and in midfield. For me, Allen is a player a coach will love. He'll do exactly what you ask of him and when the coach gets it right, Allen gets it right. Hence he seems to play well when the team does, but poor when the team play poor.

[DannyMan2006]

Still think on another day we could have lost that Southampton match

We were lucky with quite a few decisions that day

On another day we could've lost to City, had Augero headed in after half time. I could say that for every match going. Fact is, had So'ton scored we may have pushed out more and gone and scored another to win. Or we may have lost or drew etc. football is about scoring more goals and we did that. After half time they pretty much ran out of ideas and we bossed it. Joe Allen helping to dictate the passing in midfield actually in that game. For a spell it felt like they didn't touch the ball for about ten minutes. They actually ran out of legs.

In the run we are on we've regularly won by just the one goal, so football is all about ifs and buts.

[Shaggy]

Liverpool Echo @LivEchoLFC
RT @JamesPearceEcho: Rodgers: "£15m for Joe Allen was great value for us."
http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/sport...-views-8736185 …

[McDermotX]

he does seem like one of those players that takes a run of games to build form & I suppose that's fair enough.

If you ask me who I would prefer between him & Lucas both on form...Lucas every time. For a few reasons,

1. Lucas is great foil for Henderson's natural game. When Hendo was playing beside Gerrard he couldn't get forward, constant babysitting job and stifling his best attributes. Left us light going forward & pressing was non existent as we where sitting too deep. Playing beside Lucas it seems Hendo isn't more confident of leaving Lucas by himself and can push forward and make those lung busting runs & get into the box. With his attributes and playing his natural game IMO he should be getting up to 10 goals per season.

2. Lucas is more of a physical presence & in a high tempo game even though he lacks pace.... his reading of the game & the way he closes out spaces is brilliant. He is an out and out DM and that's what you get... whereas Allen can be a deep lying HM and was great yesterday in that relaxed tempo but he'll never be a DM. He'll keep you ticking along nicely & work hard but a DM role is not his game.

IMO I reckon Allen would struggle more playing likes of Burnley or Leicester as oppose to City or Arsenal. What i mean by that is teams that are work horses and have to press high and try push us back. Teams that have to be dogged and relentless off the ball as their not that great in possession. He really seems to find it hard to function with little space and high tempo...something that Lucas excels at. I think that's why we see the panicked Allen, side to side passes or passing it back... can be frustrating. Whereas yesterday he was going between the CB's receiving the ball & actually pushing forward and looking to be progressive. Was great to see actually.

3. Lucas is just a much better fit in front of our back 3. He's made for that system & great for our CB's.

Allen will have a few more games before Lucas comes back, would be great to see him put in similar performances in the next few games. I can be a moany cunt and criticise players but you have to give credit where it's due when they put in a good performance. Chap was excellent yesterday

excellent points

Its almost as if, Rodgers reads the forums.

[RedRum]

Its almost as if, Rodgers reads the forums.

Keep up the good work Brendan.






Interesting about the take-ons, dribbling is a huge asset to his game too but feels like we don't see it too often. Gives us something different from Lucas if needed. Also, check out Lucas tackling stat Replace Gerrard with a solid player defensively and going forward and we are in business next season.