Darren Gough shared his doubts about Liverpool midfielder Adam Lallana as he questioned whether the 31-year-old could get back to his best.
The retired England cricketer wondered if it was possible for Lallana to get back to the form he showed two years ago as he had suffered a lot of injuries since.
Gough claimed that injuries do take their toll on a player and as it stood, he only saw Lallana as being someone capable of coming off the bench.
“Can he get back? Can he get back to the form he showed two seasons ago? That’s the big question” said Gough on talkSPORT (Tuesday, August 6th, 17:37pm).
“Injury after injury, it does take its toll from a sportsman’s point of view, and he has had a lot of injuries.
“I see Lallana as someone who comes off the bench, if Coutinho goes back to Liverpool, he is someone who starts not comes off the bench.”
OPINION
Gough is spot-on with his verdict on Lallana and it’s up to the attacking midfielder to prove he can get back to his best this season. The 31-year-old, who earns £110,000-a-week (Source: Spotrac), has had a terrible time with injuries and has struggled to feature as a result. Lallana made only 15 appearances in his 2017/18 campaign and 16 appearances in his 2018/19 season, and it has been a rare sight to see him play a full 90 minutes. The attacking midfielder has had more than his fair share of hamstring and knee issues, with his injury history a long read on his Transfermarkt profile, and hopefully, his luck is about to change. Lallana, when fit, is capable of being a starter for Jurgen Klopp’s side, but for that, to happen he doesn’t need to just avoid injury but he needs to roll back the years. The 31-year-old was involved in 15 goals for the Reds in his 2016/17 league campaign and impressively averaged 45.39 passes per match, as per the Premier League, and that’s the sort of stats he needs to have in order to feature on a regular basis for the Reds.
