Joe Allen and Liverpool's Top 10 All-Time Midfield Pass Masters

Joe Allen, Liverpool's new midfield signing this season, has come into Brendan Rodgers' new-look side and settled straight away into the heart of the side, helping the Reds dictate the tempo of games and implement the passing, ball retention-based strategy in next to no time.

So far in his three league games, despite Liverpool failing to win, Allen has excelled—completing 96, 93 and 93 percent of his passes during each fixture and frequently helping his team win back the ball when not in possession.

Allen is one of a long line of players to have worn the Red shirt and be associated with exemplary passing and technical attributes.

Should he carry on the way he has started, there's no telling how far he could go.

Here are the top 10 passers of the ball for Liverpool, including Allen himself.

stats from EPLindex.com

10. Joe Allen

As per the opening slide, Allen has settled in extremely well at Anfield, and is easily the first name on the team sheet at this early stage of the season.

Pass completion statistics might not be available for players of previous successful generations, but it's a fair bet that Allen would have stacked up to the best of them.

How well he maintains that form over the course of the entire season might dictate how well Liverpool perform in Rodgers' first full season in charge.

9. Steve McMahon

Steve McMahon was as tough as they come in midfield, with an engine to dominate entire matches. But, he also had the gentle first-time touch and range of passing of a much more cultured player.

A Liverpool player between 1985 and 1991, McMahon played well over 250 times for the Reds and was a great foil for the attacking members of the team in the late '80s.

Long or short, McMahon was always confident of finding his man.

8. Gary McAllister

A fantastic free transfer signing by Gerard Houllier, Gary McAllister joined Liverpool at the age of 35 and somehow revitalised a side containing players 10 years his junior.

Gary Mac was a dead ball specialist and scored some important goals for the club during his stay, but his constant, unerring ability to find a teammate in open play throughout his whole career was his biggest and most endearing asset.

7. Xabi Alonso

The man who Liverpool fans felt they had yet to really replace—perhaps until the arrival of Joe Allen, anyway.

Steven Gerrard linked up the forward play of Rafa Benitez's successful side, but Xabi Alonso made it tick. Equally comfortable winning back the ball or using it when in possession, the Spanish midfielder is possessed of a superb range of passing and with either foot to boot.

Long and short, Xabi's passing was key in many of Liverpool's goals during the mid-to-late 2000's.

6. Jamie Redknapp

One of the finest passers of a ball England's international side had the pleasure of watching during the 1990s, Redknapp played for Liverpool for over a decade. He amassed slightly more than 300 games, but he could easily have managed well over 400 had it not been for a succession of long-term injuries.

Even so, when fit, Redknapp was a scintillating player, capable of striking a ball into the top corner from 35 yards, or finding his target in a Red shirt with his talented right boot, whether that be over five yards or 50.

5. John Wark

An overlooked player in many instances of picking some of the best Liverpool sides, John Wark was an absolute monster in the centre of the park for the Reds, dominating matches with his ability to quickly turn defence into attack.

A fantastic range of passing, especially longer passes low to the ground, was allied to an unerring shot from the edge of the area which helped Wark net 42 times in little over 100 games for the club—an astonishing strike rate from midfield.

Injuries curtailed what might have gone on to be one of the most successful of Anfield midfield careers.

4. John Barnes

John Barnes is best remembered for his time at Liverpool as a flying winger and goalscoring wide forward, but later on in his Reds' career, he reinvented himself as a central midfielder.

As injuries took their toll on "Digger" and the weight gains became more difficult to shift, the less mobile version of Barnes switched from wide to centre and exuded a measure of control and calm which saw him be impossible to knock off the ball.

Always blessed with exemplary technique, Barnes was a tremendous passer, and at times seemed to never give the ball away.

3. Ronnie Whelan

In very close to 500 games as a Liverpool player, Ronnie Whelan played both left and central midfield for the club and was spellbindingly good with the ball at his feet, rarely wasting possession and perfectly happy to use either foot in his distribution.

Whelan captained the Reds and was one of the most respected players around during the 1980s, though injuries restricted his impact at the start of the following decade.

He was a hugely talented passer of the ball.

2. Graeme Souness

For some, Souness is one of the very finest players to ever wear the Red shirt of Liverpool.

Graeme Souness was a destroyer of men in the centre of midfield, combining an iron-clad belief in his own immortality with a complete fearlessness of any opponent, irrespective of size or reputation.

And with reason—Souey outfought, outran and outplayed them all.

On the ball, that fiery combative side disappeared and the Scot was as penetrative and accurate as an Olympic archer, finding his fellow Reds with assured passing anywhere from box to box.

In six years, he won 15 trophies and played well over 350 games—showing a perfect combination of hard and soft in them all.

1. Jan Molby

Pass and move has long been the mantra of Liverpool teams through the years.

Big Jan was 99 percent about the passing, and just about the other one percent with the moving—but boy was he effective.

Rarely can a player in the history of world football have been so capable of directing and controlling an entire match without seeming to leave the centre circle.

Left foot, right foot, instant control, one-touch passes or a little dribble with a 40 yard ball at the end of it—whatever Jan Molby wanted to do with the ball, he did.

Set pieces didn't escape his majestic accuracy either; free kicks and penalties alike were dispatched aplenty as the Great Dane set his considerable bulk behind the ball to propel it into the back of the net.

The finest passer in Liverpool's rich history, beyond doubt.

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