Gerrard misplaces a 40-60 yard pass? When? I don't believe you! We'll have to amend his chant then! In all seriousness, I don't think Allen is as bad a player as some make out. He's got his place in the squad and I'm sure BR will use him wisely.
he's not bag, he's average. i say it all the time there is nothing wrong with being average but you don't want an average 1st 11.
According to Rodgers, apart from his flippant Xavi comparison, Allen is a rare, not average, type of British footballer. Can Rodgers have been so far off the mark? Don't think so. That he's a rare British commodity doesn't actually matter since all international markets are open to us and we can bid for anyone, say Verratti, if we want. Yet, if Allen combines a pinch of British footballing qualities, grit, hard work and honest passion, with his Spanish skills - wouldn't that make him an above-average player? I think so. Or if you insist that he's average, does that mean that there isn't a certain game situation that can be suited to him and raise him to above-average? Can't be. Note: His lack of body strength is a bane only if his task requires it. He'll never be a DM, so the point becomes quite moot. Xavi, Verrati are just as piddling physically btw.
To be fair Xavi is one of the best passers of the ball in history. Not really doing Allen any favours by comparing him to Xavi.
Just to clarify I meant comparing him to Xavi physically. I know you weren't comparing them as players and only using Xavi as an example to point out that physicality isn't everything in midfield but Xavi has a lot of qualities that make up for his lack of size.
and xavi plays in spain. on a wet midweek in stoke would him and messi look so good... as in has messi ever done for an english side. maybe joe allen should go play in spain idunno but i just think he's average. and theres nothing bad about that its just the price padi that draws criticism.
Xavi looked pretty good against Man City today ... And I hate that argument - can Messi and co do it in the PL against teams like Stoke. Yes, La Liga is not the strongest but Real MAdrid and Barca are still light years ahead of our best teams. And Barca pretty much dominated City at the Etihad.
Its not just Xavi's passing either though, its his calmness in possession and strength too meaning he rarely give the ball away. His decision making is pretty much as good as they come too.
And it's not just that - it's his off the ball contribution. This is what makes teams like Barca and Bayern so strong. It's such an underrated quality (probably it's hard to measure with quantifiable stats) but positioning, leading, organising, awareness of space and time are just as important as the more technical attributes.
xavi is 32-33 he's a leader and so forth so its a little unfair to allen. xavi is a one touch, pass and move genius.. allen aint that, he's tiday, he's effiecent and average again nothing wrong with it
I think Allen has a valuable role in our squad. - it's not his fault he cost about £5m too much - he can hit top level performance, as he showed when he joined us - he has a great work ethic and understands the pressing game intimately. He was great against Spurs and City, for example. - he could allow us to close out games In short, let's see if he can stay injury free and have a run of games, pick up some form. He's been frustrating so far because he hasn't quite added enough going forward. Maybe he lacks the confidence.
What people shouldn't forget is that Allen's always started alongside Henderson and Lucas/Gerrard in the league this year, when SASAS was short of one. He had the unglamourous glue role in that trio, thus went unappreciated despite our impressive stretch of beating Norwich, West Ham, Tottenham, Cardiff by a combined score of 17-3 and losing two tight ones to City and Chelsea. Against Arsenal in the FA cup he manned the CM role outside the shadow of Henderson for the first time, and did a good job forward as well imo. He has skills which could be applied not only when closing games out, but also when patiently picking at a resilient defence. The mere fact that we don't have another player of that sort in our squad should make him valuable to begin with.
Not seen the game but sounds like he brought real calmness to our play when he came on and helped change the game
Hopefully people can get off his back and see what else he can do other than pass sideways. Has a place in our squad but we still need quality in the summer.
Well done Allen today, the Magic "Allen crush" just got cranked up another notch A good substitution by BR, Allen stabalised us
Today's game was ideal for Allen. We have had similar games this seasn, like West Brom a few weeks back where Allen was unavailable and we failed to win.
