What can Liverpool expect from Joe Allen next season?

Sunday 26th August 2012, just after quarter to five on a lovely summer afternoon on Merseyside. At Anfield, Brendan Rodgers’s Liverpool side lead champions Manchester City by a goal to nil at half-time. Martin Skrtel has scored the only goal but it is the performance of Joe Allen that has most caught the eye.

Joe Allen

Standing at just 5’6″, the Welshman seemed the least likely player on the pitch to tame City’s towering midfielder Yaya Toure and take control of the centre of the park, yet that is exactly what Liverpool’s number 24 did. 45 minutes into his home debut and Allen literally hadn’t misplaced a pass.

The game ended 2-2 and the then 22-year-old did eventually give the ball away, ending the game having completed 93.5% of his passes. It was very early in the season but the Reds seemed to have bought themselves a gem.

Indeed, Reds boss Brendan Rodgers stated his belief that the former Swansea midfielder would soon be worth double the £15m the club had spent to bring Allen to Merseyside.

The next few weeks would have done little to change the Northern Irishman’s opinion as his new man’s performances earned him rave reviews and the Standard Chartered Player of the Month award for August, voted for by the fans. All of this while playing in a deeper holding role rather than his preferred central midfield position which had allowed him more freedom to get forward.

As opposition sides started to target Allen in an attempt to stop Liverpool building from the back and his shoulder injury, at this point unknown to the fans, got progressively worse, the Welshman’s form started to dip.

Allen remained a player the Reds could rely on for much of the time before it was decided surgery was necessary to resolve the ongoing issue with his left shoulder, but, by his own admission, never quite reached the levels he managed earlier in the season.

Now, almost a year on from his arrival at the club, the Carmarthen-born playmaker is due to resume his Liverpool career when the Reds return to Melwood for pre-season training next month. Tabloids all over the country are readying themselves to type the words ‘will be like a new signing’ after the 23-year-old’s name.

Cliché it may be, but the simple fact is they could well be right.

The quick, accurate passing that Allen provides is a given and with the midfielder likely to be played slightly further forward, as is his preference, now that Lucas has returned, Liverpool fans may see more evidence of the full range and incisiveness of that passing.

Additionally, his drive and ability to run with the ball is something Kopites have been treated to only glimpses of – that could well be remedied upon his return.

The Welsh international also possess an astute football brain and his reading of the play allows him to nip in to intercept the ball when defending and the ability to know almost instinctively where his teammates are when he is on the ball.

Perhaps most importantly, with his shoulder problem now behind him, the Anfield faithful are set to witness one of the attributes often referred to by Rodgers when alluding to Allen’s strengths – his body work.

“He is a unique player in that he is a British player who doesn’t give the ball away,” said Rodgers on Allen’s arrival.

“You will see when he comes into this team the difference he can make. He’s incredible on the ball, his body work and intelligence for a 22-year-old is frightening.

“He is in love with the football,” he added. “He wants the ball all the time, and he has so much courage to get on the ball and play.”

It is this that highlights just how much the shoulder injury, certainly considering the severity of it, is likely to have affected Allen’s game.

Brendan Rodgers confirmed that pressing on the shoulder with your thumb would have broken it in the final weeks before the operation. Bearing that in mind, it is clear to see why Allen didn’t scale the heights he did in the opening months of the season as the season wore on and the condition of his shoulder deteriorated.

Knowing the slightest contact could result in a serious injury, it is surely little wonder the Welshman was loathe to go into challenges with the tenacity he showed in August or use his body to shield the ball as effectively as he did before the chronic shoulder injury took its toll, even if only subconsciously.

Without such concerns, Liverpool are likely to benefit hugely from a fully fit, unburdened Joe Allen. The quality on the ball that has been evident throughout his first season in the North West is now likely to be complimented by a physicality and resolve somewhat surprising for a player of such a slight stature.

Allen has played down the impact had on his form but the feeling that injury robbed him of the chance to perform to his maximum for much of the season must linger at the back of his mind. He will be determined to make up for that lost time when the new season kicks off in August, and, for Rodgers and Liverpool, it could be just the boost they need as they look to push on to the next level.