Like Guardiola? High praise, indeed. I like the way Allen plays, too. Hopefully, he can be a thorn in the side of his ex-manager today.
He's had a couple of off games but you can see his quality, hopefully the return of Lucas will allow him to push up and be more creative.
I'm sure Lucas coming back will improve our team no end. His inclusion will make Allen and Gerrard play to their strengths and just play their own game. They will then look a lot better, and the midfield will operate more efficiently. However, I not sure why Brendan doesn't use another player in Lucas' role in the meantime, at least in some games, to let the other players adapt to the formation when Lucas inevitably starts with (mostly) Allen and Gerrard. At the moment Allen is trying to fill in for Lucas and play his own game, which worked initially but he's being pressured by opposition players a lot more now. Henderson could play the DM role well. His passing stat's are comparable last season to those of Lucas, and he tackles and intercepts better than Allen. As I've said in other threads, I'd use Hendo to cover Lucas (or to play at the same if we needed two DMs, like when Lucas and Masc were used together), and Shelvey to be used as a sub/swap for Gerrard when he needs resting.
