Lallana has a lot in common with the former Liverpool midfielder
In an unexpected turn of events on Wednesday night, Adam Lallana emerged from the shadow of his team mates Philippe Coutinho, Roberto Firmino and Daniel Sturridge to put in a match-winning display of the likes we’d not seen from him since the joined the club.
The 27 year old cost the Reds a fortune a couple of years ago and has only really started to show what he can do since the arrival of Jurgen Klopp. But Wednesday could be a watershed moment for the England midfielder, after scoring a wonderfully placed opener and setting up another, dominating City in the process.
And Jamie Carragher has today compared the Reds star to a former team mate of his, Vladimir Smicer. Writing for the Daily Mail, Carragher said: “Missing a penalty in a shootout at Wembley could rattle the confidence of some players but that wasn’t the case for the Liverpool midfielder.
“He did well when he came off the bench in the Capital One Cup final, helping change the game with fellow substitute Divock Origi, but he showed form in the 3-0 win over Manchester City on Wednesday that we had not seen since he came to Anfield.
“There is no doubting Lallana has ability. His energy is impressive, too, as he has no trouble covering a lot of ground. But what he did in midweek, with a goal and an assist, was provide an end product to his game, which even he has admitted has been lacking.
“Lallana reminds me, in some ways, of my old team-mate Vladimir Smicer. He was very good between the boxes and technically he was excellent — you would see that every day in training — but at times he lacked conviction in decisive moments.
“If Lallana — a player who I like — wants to be part of Jurgen Klopp’s plans in the future, the performance he produced against City has to be replicated. There could be no better place for him to make another statement than at Crystal Palace.”
The former Liverpool defender is spot on about Lallana, in that he could easily become a key player for the club, but needs to show more decisiveness in front of goal and when in dangerous areas.
Of course, if the former Southampton man can mirror Smicer’s career at Liverpool and win himself a Champions League medal and a domestic and European treble, it’s hard to see too many fans being too disappointed with that!
But purely in terms of technical ability, Lallana is easily a more talented player and much more will be expected of him if he’s to remain at the club and a few more match-winning displays like he showed on Wednesday would be a great start.
