Yeah, I'm not quite sure what I'm meant to take away from that video. There were some good interceptions and decent distribution (though the first minute had a few bad passes too), but you're right, it doesn't look like anything we haven't seen Lucas do.
As someone who didn't really see much of Allen at all during his time at Swansea, I can only judge him based on what he's done in a Liverpool shirt and apparently we're not really able to do that yet due to injury woes and what not.
I'd love for him to succeed here because we're crying out for the type of player he was billed as but I haven't seen a whole lot of evidence that suggests superior technique, guile and playmaking ability.
I'd give him a chance to prove himself in the upcoming fixtures but that's largely because I'm not convinced by the current lot and I'd quite like to see us get something out of that 15M quid.
I was one of those who was very happy when we signed Allen, because I thought he looked a top prospect at Swansea.
I won't pretend that he hasn't disappointed me in his time here, but I do think there are some pretty obvious reasons - and these include both the injury he had, and the general lack of balance we've had in midfield throughout Rodgers' time here.
I also don't think Lucas is an appropriate comparison - at the same age, Lucas was bracketed alongside the likes of Biscan and Diao as amongst the poorest midfield players we'd had in years. Allen is quicker, more agile, has the best centre of gravity of probably all our central midfielders, and passes the ball more quickly and sharply than Lucas ever has.
He's struggled to put those qualities together into consistent performances (barring his first 8-10 games, where I thought he was excellent), but given how much we've persisted with Lucas and Henderson (who I think are players of far lesser talent), I think it'd be pretty criminal to leave Allen frozen out. If nothing for the fact that we've spent 15 million on him, and as you say, we need to try and realise that value to whatever extent we can.
Doing that will require both giving him a run of games, and identifying the right position for him.
I have to admit I've had a revision in terms of his ability position-wise in his time here - I see him developing more as a Parker/Carrick/mini-Alonso type rather than the higher position he occupied at Swansea.
