:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/45915294/463011880.0.jpg)
Joe Allen’s night may not have been perfect, but on a difficult evening at the Liberty Stadium one would be hard pressed to find a Liverpool player whose was. Things started off sluggishly, a few poor touches and misplaced passes mirroring the malaise of the entire Liverpool squad, but to his credit he soon settled, and on a night when Swansea should have won, Allen deserves a lot of the credit for why they didn’t.
At times, he was Liverpool’s best player on the pitch. Certainly he was Liverpool’s best in front of the defence. With Philippe Coutinho, Jordan Henderson and Adam Lallana anonymous—or worse—for most of the night and Sterling and Sturridge struggling to create quality chances in the final third, Allen’s hard work without the ball and calm play on it made sure that Swansea’s edge in the run of play never amounted to more than that.
Along with Simon Mignolet in goal and Martin Skrtel and Mamadou Sakho in defence, Allen was the only other Liverpool player in the running for Man of the Match honours, and that he put in that kind of performance while everyone around him in midfield and the attack seemed to be taking the night off makes it all the more impressive. It may not have been a perfect night, but under the circumstances it was certainly worthy of note.
Video by MrBoywunder
