I had high hopes for Joe Allen - he looked a good player at Swansea, plus he seems like a decent lad who is relatively bright and personable, so you'd like him to do well.
I thought we had signed him to come in and dictate the pace of play and link things together, so I wasn't really concerned about the lack of goal threat, small physical size or even direct assists contribution. However that said, he has been almost entirely limp in every aspect of his Liverpool career up until now, and incredibly frustrating - he certainly cant be considered a starter for next season, and if we keep him (which in all likelihood we will) he just looks like a roadblock for younger players with potential (Rossiter etc).
Quick point of order re Cech: he's under contract until 2016, so he ain't leaving on a free from Chelsea unless they are feeling particularly magnanimous, and I suspect they will ship him out of the country to PSG or some such.