Why Joe Allen Is Finally Justifying Brendan Rodgers' Faith at Liverpool
Joe Allen looks set to enjoy an impressive end to the season with Liverpool in the Premier League, and the midfielder is finally justifying manager Brendan Rodgers' faith in him.
Allen has long been a divisive figure among Liverpool supporters, with his understated style of play often going unnoticed in terms of significant recognition.
But the midfielder has been offered a new long-term deal with the Merseyside club, according to Dominic King of MailOnline, and there is no surprise given his establishment of form.
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Allen is now repaying Rodgers' faith in him at Liverpool.
The 'Welsh Xavi'
On the £15 million signing of Allen from Rodgers' former club Swansea City in 2012, Rodgers famously and rather unhelpfully labelled the midfielder as the "Welsh Xavi," as recalled by The Telegraph's Chris Bascombe last year.
At the time, Allen sheepishly avoided the comparison.
The midfielder even declined the Xavi-synonymous No. 6 shirt on joining Liverpool, instead opting for a less-ostentatious No. 24.
Rodgers justified his claims soon after, deflecting criticism from BBC Sport pundit Alan Shearer, as reported by David Maddock of the Mirror.
"Joe's role is to keep the ball. And that, in Britain, is a special talent. It is why Paul Scholes is still playing to his age. It is such a rare talent for a midfielder to rarely give the ball away," Rodgers claimed.
"People have talked about him and his fee, but in time he will be an absolute bargain.
"He will have a long career here. He’s a wonderful talent and over time people will see what facets he’s got in his game."
Allen's ability to keep the ball was outlined in his final season with Swansea, as he recorded a 91.2 percent passing accuracy, as well as an average of 1.3 key passes per league game.
Only six Premier League players have a passing accuracy over 90 percent this season, with only Manchester City's Samir Nasri making more than Allen's Swansea record in terms of key passes on average.
It is clear why Rodgers has such faith in Allen, but the midfielder initially struggled to show this with consistency.
Battles With Form and Injury
Rodgers' praise, and Shearer's bizarre criticism, came after an impressive start to the season on Merseyside for Allen, albeit amid some poor form for the Reds—Liverpool had won just one league game from seven, losing three.
This included a 2-2 draw with Manchester City, for which Allen was awarded man of the match.
Following that game, Daniel Taylor of the Guardian described the midfielder as "prominently involved, linking up promisingly with [Steven] Gerrard."
But Allen struggled for consistent form for the rest of the season before a shoulder injury ended his season.
Seven months later, Allen picked up a hamstring injury, which limited him to just 114 minutes in the league from his March shoulder operation to the beginning of December.
For the rest of the 2013/14 season, with the Reds challenging for the Premier League title, Allen was in and out of Rodgers' side, never making more than five consecutive league starts.
Allen impressed sporadically, particularly when operating on the flanks of Rodgers' successful midfield diamond formation, but never truly hit top form.
However, these injuries have spurred him on to improve himself physically, as he declared back in July: "When you have a few injuries, you get more into a routine in the gym but it was something that I needed to do. I have improved on that...It is about getting those marginal gains."
This has seen the midfielder reach a refined level of form this season.
The length of Allen's absence this season has, again, been unavoidable, with the midfielder missing 13 league games so far, including a seven-game stretch from late December to the end of January.
Despite this, Rodgers reinforced his belief in Allen back in October, as relayed by James Pearce of the Liverpool Echo:
"Joe is a player who never gets mentioned but he’s a player who rarely turns over the ball. He loves the football and gets other people playing. The key feature for Joe on top of that is the intensity in his pressure. He presses the game very well. He’s a very intelligent footballer. Tactically, he’s outstanding in the game and we’ve really missed his energy and his quality since he’s been out.
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This stems from the 24-year-old's great form when in the Liverpool side this season:
- Allen has the 14th-highest passing accuracy in the Premier League (89.2 percent) this season, and is second only to Martin Skrtel (90.7 percent) in the Liverpool squad.
- Allen's combined average of tackles and interceptions (3.6) is fourth-highest behind Dejan Lovren (3.8), Javier Manquillo (5.4) and Lucas Leiva (5.8) in the Liverpool squad.
- Has played a higher percentage (74 percent) of forward passes than team-mates Adam Lallana (62 percent), Raheem Sterling (63 percent) and Emre Can (71 percent) despite Shearer's "risk passes" criticism.
Furthermore, Allen is part of a rare footballing intelligentsia as a midfielder with an uncanny comprehension of space.
This was abundantly clear in Liverpool's 2-1 victory at home to City at the beginning of March, with his crafty movement, boundless energy and efficient pressing dominating the midfield.
As well as effectively stymieing David Silva, Allen's presence prohibited Yaya Toure from gaining a creative foothold on the game.
Despite having the most possession (7.6 percent) of any player on the day, Toure completed just 75.6 percent of his passes, second-worst only to Silva out of City outfield players to start the game.
Philippe Coutinho was awarded the man-of-the-match award for that victory, but it was Allen's ingenuity which arguably won the game for Liverpool—the gulf in City's midfield, as well as the waning of Silva, was largely Allen's doing.
He has proven an indirect match-winner, now Allen needs to maintain his fitness.
The midfielder missed the Reds' last game due to injury but is set to return against Swansea City on Sunday, according to Pearce of the Liverpool Echo, and can look to continue his form.
Addressing the "Welsh Xavi" hysteria back in July, Allen claimed: "Some people have maybe used that in a negative way but from my point of view you have to look at it as something that should flatter you. It should inspire you to become as good as someone like that."
Joe Allen may never reach the heights Xavi reached at Barcelona, but he's starting to justify Brendan Rodgers' faith in him at Liverpool.
Statistics via WhoScored.com and Squawka.com.
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