Agreed Martin I havent given up on Allen either. There must be huge question marks though hanging over his future at the club considering hes played so little. He has been a major disappointment to date. The centre of our midfield is easily now the weakest position in the team but Allen doesnt seem to be able to make any kind of impression. I know hes been out injured but to be honest I wouldnt have even noticed had there not been pre match updates on the web that reminded me.
Joe Allen. It seemed to go wrong for him last season when
given deep defensive midfield duties. Lad became a single
point of failure, easily targetted by the opposition & overrun.
Not sure whether he had the shoulder injury at that time and
also the Rodgers system was in it's infancy, with the passing
concentrated deep in our own half - no team in their right mind
wants to pass the ball around in their own half!
Anyway it became obvious to some of us on here that Henderson was
the better option and somewhat belatedly the manager made the
switch, though my recollection is that the shoulder injury was cited as
the reason he lost his place.
Matters not, whilst Allen has been out Henderson has cemented his place
in the first 11 - amongst other things demonstrating flexibility to the point
where he was able to assume large parts of the Lucas role the other day -
albeit with a back 3 and at home to Palace.
As things stand Henderson is virtually undroppable in a midfield comprising
Lucas and Gerrard - both lacking natural athleticism (not saying Stevie doesn't
run around, just his contribution in that area is not sustained or effective enough
to be missed if he was out) . I see an opening for Allen as a replacement for
Gerrard around the 70 minute mark, in games where retention of possession
becomes key and breakneck 70 yard passes are less the order of the day.
It is somewhat unfortunate for him the way things have worked out, wouldn't
be surprised if his confidence has taken a bit of a knock. I don't see an automatic
starting role for him at the moment (I never did), he'll need to make the most of what
opportunities come his way now (work on his goal-scoring, in particular - not his strongest
suit) and show a lot of character. Seems a decent guy, who's been a bit unlucky, so
I hope he at least gets the opportunity to show us what he can do.