20 Jun 2016 15:31:18
Hi eds,

What's the current situation on Lallana? Personally I think he is a great player and very underrated, more consistent than Coutinho and deserves more game time.
Is he likely to get moved on in the summer?

Thanks.

{Ed001's Note - it is unlikely he will go anywhere. Though I fail to see a 'great' player anywhere there.}

1.) 20 Jun 2016
20 Jun 2016 15:49:26
Ed001, is it because he takes too many touches on the ball and slows down play? He can be frustrating at times, but he presses very well, is a decent passer, and makes good runs. Would you not have him in your starting 11?

{Ed001's Note - he takes far too many touches and wastes most of our best chances by farting about and doing silly turns that are not needed. Yes, he does press well, but his attacking runs are awful, not at all good, nor is his passing. He would be nowhere near my first choice 11.}

2.) 20 Jun 2016
20 Jun 2016 15:56:27
The only thing Lallana is consistent at is in being average, I get the fact he works hard, but where it really counts, ie scoring and creating goals he is sadly lacking, there was a spell last season where he released the ball quicker and chipped in with some goals, sadly that didn't last long and he reverted back to type, however klopp seems to like him so it looks like he is here to stay.

3.) 20 Jun 2016
20 Jun 2016 16:10:10
Who would you replace him with Ed? assuming Coutinho and Firmino are already in the team.

{Ed001's Note - not sure he needs replacing as such. I would rather have one of the youngsters in his slot, Branagan in particular. At least then wwe would have someone to take set pieces.}

4.) 20 Jun 2016
20 Jun 2016 16:31:07
Lallana is a great player to have when the opposition are on the ball, and it is a total myth that he doesn't score or create enough goals. Last season he got 7 goals and 8 assists in about 3500 minutes of football which is a goal/ assist roughly every 200-250 minutes. Hardly poor return.

That being said, he is not good enough for us despite his pressing and creative return. Because countless times we are caught on the counter attack because he tries to much instead of releasing the ball and loses it. And even more frequently our own counter attacks break down because yet again, he just doesn't release the ball quickly enough.

He has to go down as the most frustrating player we've ever had because in terms of skill and technique, he is as good as say John Barnes. But in terms of intelligence ie. Knowing when to pass the ball, and making the correct decisions he is just clueless. His work rate and tenacity is up there with that of Dirk Kuyt, yet he still concedes possession more frequently than he wins it back! I am constantly screaming at my TV because of him.

Then there is the dilemma; what actually is his position? In the centre he gets crowded out as his speed of thought isn't quick enough, yet he has no real pace to play as a wide man. In theory he should be great at cutting inside as he can shoot with either foot. But for some reason, instead of getting a shot off quickly he wants to squeeze in a cruyff turn first!

I need to stop now because I'm getting frustrated writing this. Not good enough due to a lack of application. Effort and talent is there. But he isn't clever enough to make the most of it.

5.) 20 Jun 2016
20 Jun 2016 16:46:17
He definitely doesn't score or create enough when compared to Coutinho, Firmino or even Milner. I would gladly keep him as a squad player however over bringing in Mane.

6.) 20 Jun 2016
20 Jun 2016 16:54:01
Falls over and gets bullied off the ball sometimes way to easy, I like lallana has a lot of potential but I don't think he does enough to take us to that next step.

7.) 20 Jun 2016
20 Jun 2016 17:46:58
Lallana is a bang average player who has had the luxury of this page and some posters. He wouldn't get into current Southampton team let alone Liverpool. Saints robbed us and laughed over us when we spend £27 mill on him.
He only works hard for the first 20 Mts and then his battery dries up.

8.) 20 Jun 2016
20 Jun 2016 18:40:54
Couthino loses the ball quite a lot on the turn n his goals/ assists isn't much better if at all (don't no exactly) but he's world class to some, lallana got better last season probably klopps influence so hopefully he keep improving, a good team doesn't always require 11 worldies.

9.) 20 Jun 2016
20 Jun 2016 18:59:08
If you think Lallana is bad, Mane is worse!

10.) 20 Jun 2016
20 Jun 2016 18:59:21
If you compare Coutinho and Lallana, stats or no stats, Coutinho is a better player than Lallana by a huge margin.

11.) 20 Jun 2016
20 Jun 2016 19:06:56
Depends what you mean by consistent, lallana will give you the same every week, lots of running, but no end product - week in week out.

12.) 20 Jun 2016
20 Jun 2016 22:17:27
Lallana will lose his place to Ojo IMO.

{Ed091's Note - jumping the gun a bit ron.

13.) 20 Jun 2016
20 Jun 2016 23:34:51
I meanin time Ed, not in August.
I've a feeling Ojo will fly around Christmas and will take his place in the team.

14.) 21 Jun 2016
21 Jun 2016 00:57:48
There is nothing great about Lallana.

15.) 21 Jun 2016
21 Jun 2016 02:38:02
It amazes me you all have such a bad opinion of Lallana he reminds me of Hoddle not as good but the same style
only issue I can see is lack of goals.

16.) 21 Jun 2016
21 Jun 2016 03:16:41
Please don't compare john Barnes to lallana. he's not in the same league. Barnes was worldclass full stop and lallana isn't.

17.) 21 Jun 2016
21 Jun 2016 05:28:47
Lallana - however good professional he might be is and will be a let down.

I was excited when he joined from Southampton after seeing his performance for the Saints but have to confess how wrong I was. Ed01 is 100% correct

He is a total let down at 25 million pounds. If we had bought him of 5 million instead that would have us believe we didn't make a costly mistake.

Nothing personal against him - like the looks of him but football wise nothing much to write about.

This brings a question to mind -- I will post a new thread continuing this theme.

Thanks,
Sami Kewell.

18.) 21 Jun 2016
21 Jun 2016 06:02:02
The one think I like about him is he's constantly on the move, ye it can be a bit headless sometimes but on the other hand he's often the one to pull their defence out of position, create a pass or open a gap.

His biggest problem though is once he's created the danger and gets the ball he's far too slow to capitalise and the move often dies with his multiple touches or a blocked shot/ shot straight at the keeper.

I still hope he clicks as I think he has the potential there if he gets it right but he's running out of time to improve his end product IMO.

Alternative would be to move him back into midfield slightly, I think he could be useful there in a 4-3-3 alongside hendo and Can to provide cover.

19.) 21 Jun 2016
21 Jun 2016 06:09:53
How on earth is Llalana like Hoddle (except they might possibly produce a similar performance if they were asked to go in goal)?

20.) 21 Jun 2016
21 Jun 2016 07:51:48
I'm really surprised that only Zimbo mentioned the "shot straight at the keeper" issue. Every time! Most frustrating! But he works hard, presses hard and makes things happen at o und the box. Just needs to improve the end product.

(BTW has anyone seen the number of good through balls Studge has played for England? )

21.) 21 Jun 2016
21 Jun 2016 08:28:05
He's a Liverpool player so will get my support having said that he's no great player, I think he should be given another season, should he fail to improve move him on.

22.) 21 Jun 2016
21 Jun 2016 16:50:00
Football was a totally different game when Barnes and Hoddle were playing, the pace was way slower back then so you can not compare Lallana to these guys. Put it another way, do you think Barnes strolling around the centre circle picking out great passes would suffice week in week out in the premiere league?
Ball would be pinging around so much he might not even get a touch.
Don't get me wrong as I do think Barnes was a great player.

23.) 21 Jun 2016
21 Jun 2016 17:32:39
i think Couthino is getting unfair stick on here, when we play teams they know how dangerous he is so they close him down or man mark him and a lot of the time there's 2 players on him so yes he loses the ball but its because of that, where as Lallana does not get marked out of the game by the opposition team, but he still manages to lose the ball or let our counter attacks fall apart because he want to bally dance with the ball around players, we all know he has the skill but as mentioned in other posts he does let himself down with his distibution and his pass choice, instead of releasing the ball to one of our players who is open for a couple of seconds he does a turn and tries to beat the player again which is very frustrating because the chance has gone, where as Couthino will see the pass very quick and if he has the time and space he will pass the ball through to our player, and please give Couthino the credit of winning the ball back a lot because i have not seen him get the credit for it, he may not do it all game but he does do it, i say let's just enjoy Couthino while he is here because he is a top, top player for us, that's why he has won the awards he has.