Allen's strengths and weaknesses are pretty clear.
PLUS - short passing, awareness when being closed down, mobility over the 1st few yards, hard work running about
MINUS - complete lack of physical presence, little medium range passing, no long range passing ability, no shooting,
nothing special in midfield battles, useless in the air, little dribbling ability beyond the 1st few yards. not the vision of a real playmaker.
TBH I think his top level skill set is so narrow. And his weak pts are very large.
He could "do a job" in lots of teams, but its even harder for him in this team. Ageing Gerrard, inexperienced Hendo, Suarez gone. Coutinho is a little light. Sterling and Marko are young and even tho they are committed, they will never defend like Mascherano. Frankly I think he's a bit overhyped. Why else would he be linked back with Swansea. And I think he was brought in originally because he was one of BR's "own men".
In deep midfield I want power, pace and tackling OR (or even AND) vision, dribbling, the ability to spray the ball.
Which of those does Allen offer? He's not a bad player. But does he yell maintaining 2nd, or going one better? NOPE!!
« Last Edit: Aug 27, 2014 09:09:00 am by AmericanPlant »
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