Watch him bounce of players he is trying to tackle and pass the ball sideways or backwards. I know now I have said this he will have his best game for us scoring a hatrick and making 3 other goals, but he is still not first team LFC level.
I like Allen. He does need a run of games to get up to speed but once he does, he's a good player. I think he's the most intelligent midfielder we have, excellent positionally and recycles the balls very well. I think if he beefed up a bit, he would be a very good holding midfielder.
He won't put in the big challenges but he's the best presser at this club. He's good defensively. Shame he is lightweight else he would be a very good.
It is a surprisingly strong team. No Benteke is good. Not sure if Lovren, La la , and Firm are up to the quality of Carlisle but the rest looks pretty good.
The draw for the League Cup fourth round follows tonight's action: 1 Bournemouth 2 Aston Villa 3 Everton 4 Hull City 5 Leicester City 6 Manchester City 7 Middlesbrough 8 Stoke City 9 Crystal Palace or Charlton Athletic 10 Liverpool or Carlisle United 11 Manchester United or Ipswich Town 12 Milton Keynes Dons or Southampton 13 Newcastle United or Sheffield Wednesday 14 Norwich City or West Bromwich Albion 15 Tottenham Hotspur or Arsenal 16 Walsall or Chelsea
He has a beard now so top top player But I agree, I think he gets a lot of stick unfairly. He needs a creative player alongside him because he doesn't have that side to his game but as you say his positioning is very good, on the ball his passing is good and he keeps thigns moving so doesn't slow down play by taking too many touches. We all moan we've been too slow in the build up recently, well Allen would improve that in my opinion.
Allen is like Coutinho-light. He has the same basic skills and attributes... Just not nearly as good. A decent enough stand in or substitute to rest Coutinho in some games.
Allen at the base with Henderson and Can ahead of him could work. I remember when he first came in and he was brilliant in that role - he would control the ball instantly and pick the right pass, quickly and crisply. As you say, we move the ball far too slowly in the midfield. He at least plays in between the lines and bypasses lines with his passing.
