Drives me nuts how often that happens. Rugby players can consistently kick a ball between two posts 50 yards away. Darts players can chuck three arrows into a tiny space several feet away. But footballers can't train enough so that corner taking and beating the first defender becomes second nature.
Are we supposed to feel sorry for him or read this as some kind of sob story, for the money he gets he needs to get with the programme and focus on his game.
If it is Joe Allen, then I think he will be an important player for us in the future. I've been impressed by the way he always wants the ball
This bit would concerne me if he was one of our players, he needs to find a way to impose himself on a game. Opposition players will always target a players strengths to nullify them just as they target a weakness to gain from it.
Exactly Diego, it's not like the game of football is partly based around shutting down your opponents' strengths now is it?! Sounds like excuse making and a cry baby from comments like that and someone not prepared to just man the F up or soldier on.
Little bit harsh perhaps? Its not like Allen has come out saying this to the scum (sorry press). Lets be honest here, there are always reasons that account for bad form, struggling to adjust etc... usually these are private thoughts. Seems like Allen is perfectly ok to discuss these with his own father, the problem is that the father has disclosed this to some random liverpool fan! I would agree with you if this was on the Liverpool website or he was going to the press to win some support but in this case I have to feel Allen has done nothing wrong!
not sure what to make of Allen just yet, wait and see if he has found his feet and settled next season, how long has it taken Downing to start showing glimpses of his previous form(or more to the point needed a kick up the harris), or Henderson showing the promise of why we brought him, they both have had a season to settle, Allen hasn't.
Let's not get carried away. The 'information' that we are commenting upon has come 3rd hand from the father of this player - not from the player directly. Now I don't know about you but I'm proud of my son and if he were having a hard time then I would interpret things he had said to me as the basis of the reason why. That is what is really being commented upon here. Not what Allen has said but what his biggest fan thinks and feels.
I agree Dave! Nothing wrong with what Allen has done (if anything at all) or his father really. His father is obviously looking at the mitigating circumstances and some of the valid reasons why Joe has struggled to adjust. There are reasons and then there are excuses; seeing as this as come from his father you have to say its the former.
Exactly, he never once mentioned that Allen said any of this. What I wrote was basically parts of the conversation in my words. The actual conversation went along the lines of..."Is Joe buddies with Gerrard then?" To which he replied, "I don't think he has a lot to do with the younger players, he mostly practices free kicks and corners on his own then go home." In the OP it was ME who picked that point out and it was ME who was criticising Gerrard because I thought he should be doing more with helping the younger players. His dad was talking about how BR has asked Joe to keep working hard (strength/under pressure etc) to improve his game, he was immensely proud of his son and was clearly upset that he isn't performing too well. I don't know how Joe himself was coping with the pressure, I'm sure he's fine. But as his father he was clearly feeling the strain. Anyway it was interesting to talk to him and I thought it would be interesting to share that on here, but maybe I shouldn't have. The whole comparison between what it was like between being at Swansea and Liverpool was not a criticism of the differences, he was asked and he answered. Just because all the players don't always do things together isn't a bad thing because Swansea do it. Sorry if I gave you the wrong end of the stick.
That is the bit that has annoyed me on this thread. People have read far too much into your 'information' and gone beyond what you actually said to criticise said player. Hell, you didn't even name and shame
Zingy, you're dammed if you do and you're dammed if you don't - that's the problem with 'information'. I suppose the only possibilities are to either keep stum, or to just put it out there with a "make what you will of that" disclaimer.
Looks like a lot of people think like the gutter press: Rare Insight Into A Player's Life -----> Joe Allen Admits He's Sick Of Gerrard
i just gave my opinion on him being here at the present time. haven't made my mind up yet whether he will be a success or not, don't need the gutter press to make my decisions for me, needs at least a season to settle in my opinion, we gave that to players like Lucas,Downing(not convinced he should stay),Skrtel( still not convinced) and Henderson, so why not Allen. cheers for sharing the info anyway Zingy
