Joe Allen is one of those players who when he's out of the team he seems to get better and better until he plays again and reality hits.
I wouldn't say Joe is something every team needs, I would personally label that a Lucas. A strong character, loyal and always ready step in, happy enough to sit on the bench if necessary but always giving 100% and with enough quality to push a proper starting defensive mid. We don't have one of those unfortunately and Lucas is pretty much our only specialised DM.
Joe simply doesn't have the quality to put any starting midfielder under pressure. He's the biggest non-entity I've personally seen on the pitch for us in many a year.
I'll caveat that with saying occasionally he'll surprise you and have a good game, but those games are so infrequent that they can be considered anomalies.
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