JOE Allen has cut a jaded, forlorn figure in Liverpool’s midfield in his past couple of games.
Against his former club Swansea in the Capital One Cup he was poor, and against Chelsea last Sunday his performance deteriorated further.
After an impressive start to his Anfield career, the young Welshman is suffering a dip in form, but given Liverpool’s lack of depth in his position, an immediate solution is not apparent.
When Lucas Leiva was ruled out for 3 months just two games into the season, Liverpool not only lost their only true defensive midfielder, they also had to sacrifice their most consistent source of territorial domination. Joe Allen was forced to drop into Lucas’ deep lying holding role and play his unerringly accurate passes from an area of the field that was far less threatening to opposing sides, while at the same time, he was burdened with being Liverpool’s ball winner in the middle of the park. Having decided that Jay Spearing wasn’t up to the task of being Lucas’ understudy anymore and sending the young Scouser off to Bolton on loan, Brendan Rodgers was left with no choice but to adapt the role of his £15m signing from Swansea. To Allen’s credit, he has done a sterling job for the most part; but working double shifts eventually catches up with you.
In the absence of Lucas Liverpool have been vulnerable to counter attacks through the middle of the pitch all season and this was highlighted and exploited numerous times by Chelsea at Stamford Bridge last week. Whenever Allen strayed forward where perhaps Lucas would not have, Chelsea pounced. Juan Mata, Eden Hazard and Oscar all wreaked havoc with incisive dribbles on the counter that penetrated right through the heart of Liverpool’s midfield. Joe Allen was not only outnumbered by Chelsea’s dynamic, inventive trio as Steven Gerrard and Nuri Sahin failed to provide adequate defensive assistance, he was also causing himself problems that weren’t related to his on-field positioning.
Allen’s main quality is to retain possession of the football for his team. His passing accuracy is usually impeccable, but against Swansea and particularly against Chelsea, he was continuously robbed of the ball or presenting passes to his opponents. He was losing possession far more frequently than is the norm for him.
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The obvious reason for this is that Allen is not in peak condition right now, or to put it more bluntly, he looks absolutely knackered. This concerning trait reached its nadir when he was dispossessed by Fernando Torres on the half-way line and had no other way of rectifying his mistake than administering a crude, desperate rugby tackle to prevent the Spaniard’s break forward as he was certain to be left trialling the striker, like a marathon runner chasing Usain Bolt in the 100 metre dash.
Allen’s manager has said on several occasions that he has been doing the work of two or three players in an attempt to keep Liverpool’s midfield running smoothly during Lucas’ prolonged absence, and you can see what he means. Allen is currently being charged with being a ball winner and a playmaker all wrapped into one. For a while it has worked, but physically and mentally it is obviously taking its toll on the Welshman.
Allen is playing only his second full season in the Premier League and is just 22 years old. To ask so much of such an inexperienced player in a high pressure environment like Anfield was always going to pushing it and it is a credit to Allen that he has managed the situation as well as he has.
When Lucas eventually returns to action, Allen is likely to be deployed alongside the Brazilian and left to play his more natural role of prompting Liverpool’s attacks as his defensive responsibilities are reduced. Lucas is now back in training, and with Nuri Sahin, Steven Gerrard, Jonjo Shelvey, Jordan Henderson and Suso all able to occupy positions in Liverpool’s midfield trio, hopefully it won’t be long before Joe Allen also gets a bit of a break. Bad week against Swansea and Chelsea or not, he’s certainly earned one.
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Well I’m not as I didn’t see we had any use for him in the first place! Where’s all this “magic” he was going to bring?
Magic eh… Well considering the kid is 22 and playing out of position. I’d say he is bringing enough to the table at the moment. So he had a poor game last week. So what! Chill out and support, or piss off and grab another chocolate chuncky..
He is not out of position , he played there all last season . he had a awful terrible game last week and has been poor in nearly all games
Liverpool should have better standards than this little pipsqueak
i’ve been telling it from the begining, he’s was just a ‘big fish in a small pond’ while he was at Swansea, and now throw him into the sea and he looks lost. I don’t understand why sahin isn’t tried in that position. He is a much better option.
i really hope Rodgers isn’t being stubborn trying to prove he isn’t a flop just like KD was doing throughout last season with his flops. He needs to be benched a couple of games and sahin need a run.
he needs to be sold ASAP
Like crossing the halfway line, passing forward, having a shot, getting into the other box. well we dont get it so we are not asking too much.
Correction.. You don’t get it. There is no ‘We’ here at all.. He is playing as a defense mid covering for lucas. Any idea what that entails? Here’s a clue… Passing to attacking players and defending. Dope,.
your a dope . Rodgers played him there last season fool . he cant defend anyway
allen is not liverpool standard . and 15m wasted on him is criminal .
and did we need another sideways /backwards midfielder ? we already had lucas , spearing and henderson
he is too small , too lightweight and too negative
Well Bob.. You’re just a bit thick I suppose. If you can’t see the difference in quality between Allen and Spearing/Henderson you probably have not been watching the matches.
allens worse than them u mug
the only difference is them two are stronger and are better defensively , Allen is crap
Totally agree . Should play Henderson until Lucas returns
totally totally totally totally agree bob
What are u talking abt. He wasn’t that bad as u claimed. He’s better than ur good 4 nothing spearing who c’dn’t utilize 6months of lucas absent. As 4 hendo he’s no near ‘wales xavi’ cos he’s a lot 2 learn. The game! Gerrard was,were,is n ever worst than any lad on the pitch. He’s the one u s’d be bold enough 2 talk abt his appelling adoptation into the new lfc formation 4 3 3. He’s been worst since 18th august. He cause agger 4 his red card againrt wba as well as our lost 2 arsenal n the remaining games. The only game gerrard leave up 2 expectation was against man utd. I think his best position is only 2 play at the right wing.that’s the only position i hope he can do well in this system.
Joes a very neat little player who holds the ball well and gives loads of short passes. Whether def mid or attacking mid ,but you liverpool fans need to get something straight about joe ,he can’t head the ball has a very poor shot on him struggles if a team gets stuck into him is very lightweight in the tackle he works his socks off but will not score goals even if pushed forward you may get 2 goals a season out of him he also does not spray 30 yard passes across the field ,unfortunately his instinct is always to make a safe pass weather in front of goal or halfway line it will nearly always go back or sideways ,and before someone says oh your bitter no I’m not would have the little guy back tomorrow ,cause he suits our style and him and Leon britton(who’s the better player) fit together well
we dont need safe passes , anyone can do that
Allen will alone get better he is a good lad he win the ball when he mark…..ynwa
cant believe some of the comments about allen on here. those posting negative views honestly dont know anything about football or player development and expectation. so he had two bad games……AND?
yeah, grab a chocolate chunky….
he has only had 2 good games , start watching the games instead of reading about them
Season ticket holder mate, are you? (didnt think so)
this guy is awful , he only passes 10 yards nd slows the team down .
get rid he is not tough enough
What do mean allen is not lfc standard? The money wasted on him is criminal Huh? He is beta than those ur flops listed after all his abit cheaper than them. Nd u stop saying nonsense
Allen is an average player.He is not worth 15m-the amount that could have gotten us two quality dms. There is no doubt about this. The fact is that we have the worst player scouts in the world.. How on earth did we not sign lassana diarra from real. He is a lfc type of player- very hard & has an eye for goals.
An eye for goal? He’s scored 2 goals in 161 club appearances in his career, a total of 4 goals in 222 appearances in total. His eye for goal are about as good as Stevie Wonders.
about the same as allen so
Its hard to recall a worse performance by a midfielder than Allens display against chelsea . He is just not good enough and makes Liverpool slow and boring to watch
yes we need midfielders that pass quickly and forward
liverpool under rodgers is boring
Forget about lightweight player like Joe Allen. The same also applies to Theo Walcott. Joe Allen maybe better suited to La Liga than EPL.
True about Allen . But Walcott is a striker – he does not need to be physical
for 15million i expect a load more than backwards passing . another henderson i fear
To everyone who wrote negative things abt allen, u gals ar **** n u knw nothing abt football. Actually, why not do some thing different instead of browsin lfc website. F**k off idiots! Allen is sweet when he plays well. Playd more than 10 games for lfc in an unfamiliar role n he just had only two bad games in as many games he has playd, does dat make him a bad player? Probably no! We true lfc fan support u n understand wat u bring to d table. Wit lucas back hope u can get ur freedom n show us dat attackin prowess rodgers has being talkin abt. YNWA
yo bro , ur talkin crap
When Rodgers gets sacked . Allen will be the first out the door . He only plays cause he is Rodgers pet
im sorry to say joe allen is a very poor player , liverpool need better , we must drop joe
rubbish player . take him with you on the way out BR
yes he is waste of time and space , i cannot remember such a weak midfieldr
I would play Henderson and Shelvey with Gerrard behind Suarez . At least Henderson has energy , tries hard and gets stuck in . Allen is terrible at everything except short passes .
And add to that another rather anonymous performance against Wigan, i barely saw anything of him, the commentators barely even said his name. I was mad pissed when we signed him for 15mil when we shudda got a quality european talent