Brendan Rodgers has been a busy boss this summer. If the headlines are to be believed – and they should be – the Reds boss could be parading half-a-dozen new faces by the time his second full season, but the first with something resembling his own squad of players, kicks off against Stoke on August 17. But of all the players chased, signed or linked – that’s a goalkeeper (Mignolet), two defenders (Papadopoulos and Ilori), a wide forward (Aspas), a winger (Atsu), an attacking midfielder (Luis Alberto) and what modern bosses like to call an old fashioned number 10 (Henrikh Mkhitaryan) – there’s one notable omission. A traditional central midfielder. Which gives hope that Joe Allen can rise again. Remember him? According to the Reds boss he was no ordinary Joe. He was a midfield ‘technician’ labelled the Welsh Xavi, he was a £15m signing named man of the match in his first three Premier League starts, and he was an international who appeared to be a potential successor to giants like Alonso and Mascherano. Except he was also a player whose performance levels came down with the Christmas decorations. The Welsh Xavi tag didn’t help. Nor did some high profile criticism. Alan Shearer, in a rare attempt to be as incisive on screen as he was as a striker, highlighted Allen’s preference for a safe sideways ball over a risky penetrating pass. But was it as simple as all that? Is Allen a modern day Butch Wilkins? Did his stock fall simply because he stopped being ambitious with his passing? Not according to the always illuminating EPL Index website. A detailed analysis of Allen’s figures last season showed that he wasn’t backwards in coming forward (Steven Gerrard and Jordan Henderson actually passed the ball back more). He wasn’t a crab either, preferring to pass the ball sideways. Joe Allen actually passed the ball forwards more than Mikel Arteta (31% to 29%) and only fractionally less than Yaya Toure. And another Allen myth – that he can only pass the ball short, which in the hurly burly, impatient attacking style of the English Premier League is considered a sin – was spectacularly exploded. Allen’s long pass success rate last season was the second best in the league at 89.66%. So where did it all go wrong for Joe Allen? Because he was clearly no more a Welsh Xavi in the second half of last season than Robert Earnshaw was a David Villa of the Valleys. From an early season average of nearly 93% passing accuracy, Allen’s average dropped to below 86% after the Goodison derby and never recovered. That coincided almost exactly with the shoulder injury which eventually ended his season prematurely – and the moment he was handed the added responsibility/distraction of becoming a father for the first time. Despite the dip in his statistics after October, the only players to out-pass Allen across the season as a whole were Mikel Arteta and Moussa Dembele, while his Open Play Pass Completion (90%), Attacking Zone Pass Completion (85%) and Final Third Pass Completion (81%) were all well above the Premier League average (86.92%, 80.15% and 70.31% respectively). But the best analysis of Allen’s performances last season came from the man who knew exactly what he was supposed to be doing out on the pitch. After Shearer’s withering assessment in October when Allen was actually performing well, Brendan Rodgers rapped: “Unbelievable – so-called pundits who don’t know the dynamics of a team and how it functions. “Joe’s role is to keep the ball. And that, in Britain, is a special talent. It is why Paul Scholes is still playing at his age. It is such a rare talent for a midfielder to rarely give the ball away.” Allen, as his figures show, treats possession like it is nine tenths of the law. And given a clean bill of health – and no continental imports like Nuri Sahin jostling for his midfield berth – Joe Allen can belatedly justify his £15m transfer fee. http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/sport/sport-opinion/dave-prentice-joe-allen-can-4695064
Loved that comparison Stats tell alot and yet say nothing. It's not about making lots of successful passes or passing it forward (as the stats say he does well), it's making the right pass. Allen was terrible from November (and I would say average from the start of the season, personally) because he would opt out of a quick penetrating pass in favour of a safe pass. Gerrard doesn't clock up as many assists as he did by playing safe, he takes risks which sometimes pay off. I like giving players a chance, I liked Lucas, Skrtel and Hendo even when people slated them, but I have a hard time seeing much use in Allen except as a 70minute 'slow the game down by keeping the ball in our half' role. Incidently, a forward pass could be taking the ball inbetween our CBs and passing it up 5 yards for Gerrard to do something with it - which he did alot. Pointless but successful ball shuffling isn't good.
Sorted Well written by whoever wrote it too (It wasn't that **** face Magic either!) Although I appreciate what you are saying, I feel the need to point out the way we play football could effect these stats. When the keeper has the ball, the two CB's pull wide and allow a central midfielder (Allen if on the pitch, Lucas did it in the latter part of the season) to drop into the gap to collect the ball. At this point, he has three options; pass it straight back to Pepe (backwards pass), pass to one of the CB's (sideways) or to try and find one of the other seven players wearing a Liverbird (forwards). In other words, in this position he has little option but to pass forward most of the time. Of course, I hope the link to the injury is right as he was superb for the first half a dozen games (he turned **** well before Christmas mind).
Thanks but it wasn't me Just forgot to past the link, will sort it in a min. Edit: Cheers for sorting the title
I've got confidence that he can succeed at Liverpool and justify the price tag. But he needs to start the season well and quickly silence they naysayers or I fear he might capitulate under the pressure and expectation. He has the talent, now he just needs the mentality to persevere and succeed.
In that case, I've changed my comment so that when people click on the little arrow thing next to my name to check the validity of the comment, they will see something else
Allen is a nothing player & always will be IMO. He offers little in the final 3rd, is weak in the tackle, & his 'strength' is merely keeping the ball moving with short passes. I just don't see the point of him tbh
You missed out that his positional sense was appauling I can kind of forgive that as he was new to the team but the fact that he gets beaten more than Rihanna means he's a liability. He needs to sort his head out quick or we'll suffer everytime Rodgers plays him....and he will play him If he's getting in ahead of Hendo next season it'll be a ****ing joke.
I dont see the point of a player who's job is to keep the ball. But I think Allen can do much more. He can link play. Link defense to attack and left to right. He also chases the ball forward well.
This. The way Hendo ended the season, no way should shelvery, allen, spero, etc get a look ahead of him at the beginning of the season. If so..... i tproves some serious favoritism.
Apart from Gerrard, will we have one outfield player outside our back four who weighs more than 10 stone next season?
games moved on from that. Johnson, Agger, Skrtel, Enrique, hendo, Downing, all around the same weight etc. Or we should just have everyone at 10 stone, nothing different, cut and thrust right? Allen is too lightweight for DM and I pray he doesn't get in ahead of Hendo but I think he will get a lot more time this upcoming season which I don't think bodes well for us. Aka, think he was a waste at 15 mil.
Like anyone else who pulls on the shirt, I sincerely hope Joe succeeds beyond our wildest expectations and shuts everyone up! His presence provides BR with "options", as Rafa would say. Lucas/Henderson/Gerrard/Shelvey all bring something a little different to the table and BR will need to shuffle this little pack very carefully in order to bring out their best, and it will vary depending on the opposition Can't wait for the new season to start, and if anyone's interested, I can't ****ing sleep so here I am at 5:43 on a bloody Saturday morning posting on here
Think some people know my bias towards Allen. Bottom line is, if we want to be at the top... we need top class players. Allen is not that and probably never will be. He's just good back up against the lesser teams.
