Lallana

[Gary25]

I see a lot of Liverpool fans on forums and Twitter overlooking Lallana in their starting lines up next season.

Whilst it's a long old season and I'm sure Jurgen will go horses for courses, I think people might be in for a shock by how much Lallana features. Klopp clearly really likes him as a player. Can't look too much into a pre-season friendly against a half arsed Barca side but it was interesting to see Lallana in a more central role at the tip of a midfield 3...and he completey ran the show helped by the pace and movement of Mane down the right hand side.

We look very well stocked in the attacking mid positions but who's to say Lallana won't get games there. He's definitely got the touch and the ability to get out of tight areas to play there.

 

[Oncy]

He was in mine.
Hes a Klopp player.

 

[refugee]

He doesn't offer enough goals or assists and isn't good enough defensively to compensate for it. He often over-complicates play by not releasing the ball early enough and when he plays it early he regularly selects the wrong pass. He's also lightweight and gets shrugged off the ball, and sometimes he entirely disappears from games.

It's a squad game and he'll get games due to his versatility and being inoffensive, but he's been here for 2 seasons and hasn't been good enough in either, and hasn't shown any hint of getting better.

 

[hmmmmm1]

He will do his flicks and Cruijff turns miles away from the opposition half and end the season without getting into double figures.

 

[mom]

Klopp clearly rates him. Get used to him starting.

 

[Squiggles]

He's no longer an automatic starter and will have to up his assists and goals to justify a regular starting place, but like Coutinho he will look better now we have contrasting attacking options when he's on the pitch.

His work rate on the pitch is insane.

 

[Gary25]

He's no longer an automatic starter and will have to up his assists and goals to justify a regular starting place, but like Coutinho he will look better now we have contrasting attacking options when he's on the pitch.

His work rate on the pitch is insane.

I agree he's no longer an automatic starter but I just mean I think he'll play more than people think.

Actually there's very few players that can be deemed as automatic starters in my view. We've pretty much got two players for every position...in a season without European Football, and also loads of versatility throughout the squad which makes it even more difficult to predict the starting 11 week in week out.

Can only hope the likes of Lallana thrive on the extra competition for places.

 

[willby]

High work rate, but no end product.The stats posted on a another thread comparing him to Henderson & Lucas, shows him trailing both in terms of tackles & duels won. He's ahead, though, on possession lost or something, and 4 goals scored in 2015/2016. Seeing as we don't have as many games this season, if a good offer comes along, I'd say sell.

 

[Frogfish]

He doesn't offer enough goals or assists and isn't good enough defensively to compensate for it. He often over-complicates play by not releasing the ball early enough and when he plays it early he regularly selects the wrong pass. He's also lightweight and gets shrugged off the ball, and sometimes he entirely disappears from games.

It's a squad game and he'll get games due to his versatility and being inoffensive, but he's been here for 2 seasons and hasn't been good enough in either, and hasn't shown any hint of getting better.

And yet. Whilst not disputing some of your comments above it's obvious Klopp loves him because he fits perfectly with his pressing game, as in he's intelligent enough to press in the way Klopp dictates and has the stamina to maintain it (see also Firmino). As I posted in the Arse thread, Pearce also seems to think he'll start next week and he was one of our best players vs. Barca. He is clearly underrated on this forum and whilst he wouldn't make my first XI for Arsenal it's obvious that his strengths give him a strong chance of starting the match.

 

[Mystic]

I love Lallana, I'm a massive fan of the way he plays, his work rate, his skill, it's just that end product, it's abhorrent. Now there were small signs he was improving on that last year, but it almost seemed too little too late, maybe not, it seems like Klopp is trusting him this season and you'd think that Klopp would have told him increasing his output is imperative, because I can't see a situation where one of the attacking four in a top four side can be excused only getting 4, or whatever it was, goals.

 

[gkmacca]

I think his improvement last season was remarkable. Here was a player who usually seemed shagged out after about an hour during his first season, and yet under Klopp he became a veritable Duracell bunny. And his intervention against Barca the other night was fantastic. I think he'll keep improving and he's one of the players I like most in this current squad. Yes, he needs to work on his finishing, but he's a clever player and I'm confident he'll be invaluable in the coming season.

 

[Ryan]

He doesn't offer enough goals or assists and isn't good enough defensively to compensate for it. He often over-complicates play by not releasing the ball early enough and when he plays it early he regularly selects the wrong pass. He's also lightweight and gets shrugged off the ball, and sometimes he entirely disappears from games.

It's a squad game and he'll get games due to his versatility and being inoffensive, but he's been here for 2 seasons and hasn't been good enough in either, and hasn't shown any hint of getting better.

The bit in bold is shite. He works his arse off, and defends from the front better than anyone we've got.

 

[mark1975]

High work rate, but no end product.The stats posted on a another thread comparing him to Henderson & Lucas, shows him trailing both in terms of tackles & duels won. He's ahead, though, on possession lost or something, and 4 goals scored in 2015/2016. Seeing as we don't have as many games this season, if a good offer comes along, I'd say sell.

The stats are bollocks really. His worth to the side in terms of our attacking play is pretty obvious, anyone can see that when we play good football, he is usually fairly integral to it, direct stats or not. There are loads of playmakers/attacking midfielders who statistically fall by the way side, but their overall contribution to their teams best football is undeniable. Your point about giving the ball away, it's easier to lose possession when you're trying to make stuff happen, as opposed to keeping it simple and playing the easy pass.

I thought he was one of Klopp's best players in the second half of last season, his workrate and intelligence from the front was what helped us be successful. So Refugee's point about him "not showing any signs of improvement" is nonsense too.

 

[Fabio]

I think lallana is the forums new lucas

 

[6TimesaRed]

The bit in bold is shite. He works his arse off, and defends from the front better than anyone we've got.

Yep he does, it's one of his key areas to his game. He is a Klopp type player definitely, when the squad is fully fit he will probably start ahead of Coutinho atm..

Traditionally any player who's name begins with L and plays for Liverpool is always open up for debate..

 

[mark1975]

Yep he does, it's one of his key areas to his game. He is a Klopp type player definitely, when the squad is fully fit he will probably start ahead of Coutinho atm..

Traditionally any player who's name begins with L and plays for Liverpool is always open up for debate..

Well, that and being English Premium. It attracts the usual profile of poster, stubbornly standing by their desire to see him fail, while championing crap like Markovic.

 

[Modo]

Yep he does, it's one of his key areas to his game. He is a Klopp type definitely, when the squad is fully fit he will probably start ahead of Coutinho atm..

Traditionally any player who's name begins with L and plays for Liverpool is always open up for debate..

Ahead of Coutinho?

 

[Modo]

Well, that and being English Premium. It attracts the usual profile of poster, stubbornly standing by their desire to see him fail, while championing crap like Markovic.

Unlike super players like Downing and Carroll or Flanagan even.

Crap like Markovic are you serious? Did you see the assist to Grujic against Barca?

 

[Modo]

The stats are bollocks really. His worth to the side in terms of our attacking play is pretty obvious, anyone can see that when we play good football, he is usually fairly integral to it, direct stats or not. There are loads of playmakers/attacking midfielders who statistically fall by the way side, but their overall contribution to their teams best football is undeniable. Your point about giving the ball away, it's easier to lose possession when you're trying to make stuff happen, as opposed to keeping it simple and playing the easy pass.

I thought he was one of Klopp's best players in the second half of last season, his workrate and intelligence from the front was what helped us be successful. So Refugee's point about him "not showing any signs of improvement" is nonsense too.

He was the one of Englands best players in the Euro's as well. Amazing he was.
How many goals and assist did he get btw?

 

[6TimesaRed]

Ahead of Coutinho?

At the moment yes.. Coutinho not really done anything of note in Pre Season to warrant an automatic start, though I expect that will change..
Traditionally he takes a couple of months to get going at the start of the Season..

 

[Mystic]

The bit in bold is shite. He works his arse off, and defends from the front better than anyone we've got.

Yeh, thats quite possibly the most ridiculous criticism i've seen of Lallana.

 

[6TimesaRed]

Spurs where rumoured to have enquired about his availability towards the end of last season.. IMHO he should be one of the first names on the Teamsheet, he was one of our most consistent players and probably most improved under Klopp..

That speaks volumes in itself..

 

[beejay]

Flatters to deceive could have been an expression coined just for Lallana. Does everything well in his own little bubble but when you assess what he actually achieves you find it's usually fuck all.

He will wow the fans for a lung-bursting 40m sprint to close down the goalie but will then scuff a few shots hopelessly wide, cross to no-one and generally slow down our counter-attacks with a few nice little turns before passing it back to the fullback to milk the applause. Show pony.

He has improved under Klopp and is a decent squad player but Mane has been bought to do all the things that Lallana can't, like create and score goals, stuff like that. He will have to drop deeper if he is to get into the side because we now have much better attacking options.

 

[HC]

The bit in bold is shite. He works his arse off, and defends from the front better than anyone we've got.

Absolutely, he presses and comes deep to recover the ball better than anyone else we have by quite some distance. If anything that is his greatest strength / contribution to the side thus far

 

[hmmmmm1]

Lallana cost 25 million, so he will be judged by different set of standards to lucas.

Will be interesting to see how GW performs in compariso to lallana.

 

[Modo]

That's weird, Arn isn't around and the discussion still turns to Lucas for some reason as he obviously is the barometer for shittiness.

 

[Brizzle]

Might not be an automatic starter, but we know that Klopp wants his best pressers on the pitch when away against the bog boys and Lallana is still one of those. Expect him to start against Arsenal.

 

[Frogfish]

Considering how much Klopp values Lallana's input I can see us starting with this line-up next week. It would be different if we were at home or away at Burnley for example but at Arsenal he'll either want his 'workers' on from the start or will have them queued up so that when fucked he just immediately subs the next in line on.

Mane ............... Lallana ................ Coutinho

........................... Origi

Those partners being ; Lallana & Firmino, Origi & Ings, and Henderson & Milner. I can see Mane seeing out the game and Wijnaldum or Grujic coming on for Coutinho.

 

[Modo]

Firmino, Wijnaldum, Coutinho and Mane didn't start or didn't play against Mainz. Could be and indicator.
However, Can and Henderson started and they'll obviously start against Arsenal.

 

[Whirly]

Flatters to deceive could have been an expression coined just for Lallana. Does everything well in his own little bubble but when you assess what he actually achieves you find it's usually fuck all.

He will wow the fans for a lung-bursting 40m sprint to close down the goalie but will then scuff a few shots hopelessly wide, cross to no-one and generally slow down our counter-attacks with a few nice little turns before passing it back to the fullback to milk the applause. Show pony.

He has improved under Klopp and is a decent squad player but Mane has been bought to do all the things that Lallana can't, like create and score goals, stuff like that. He will have to drop deeper if he is to get into the side because we now have much better attacking options.

On that note about Mane, it's interesting that two of the main cheaper alternatives being considered to an expensive Lallana purchase two summers back were Firmino and Wijnaldum.

Now we've purchased both in consecutive summer windows, and for more than we paid for Lallana.