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One of Liverpool's best following his return from injury in the autumn, Adam Lallana soon found himself inexplicably benched, victim of Philippe Coutinho's improved form and a seeming refusal on the part of Brendan Rodgers to play the two together. Last night he was back in the starting eleven. And he made a massive difference.
"It was a huge result for us and that's back-to-back wins," said the creative midfielder when he spoke to reporters following Liverpool's victory over Leicester City. "It builds up to the game at the weekend nicely. It's been a big week and we want to finish it well. We have got a great chance to get three points against Sunderland [and] that's what we'll be aiming to do."
His cooly taken goal shortly after Leicester went ahead got Liverpool back on track right when they appeared teetering on the edge of disaster. Saturday's narrow, uneasy victory over Stoke City hadn't been pretty, but it had been a step in the right direction. A series of errors by Simon Mignolet and Glen Johnson, though, looked to have sent Liverpool two steps back.
Yet despite their struggles of late, Liverpool didn't crumble. They pushed back. And Lallana was there, turning that pressure into a goal. And it wasn't just one goal that he contributed, as Lallana delivered the best overall performance of Liverpool's three scorers on the night, running tirelessly and making a consistent, positive impact in all three phases of play.
"We went a goal behind so we had to pull together even more," he said. "When you are not playing so well, you have got to stick together and grind results out when you are not playing at your best. But there were glimpses, especially in attack. I thought Raheem was brilliant again, and Rickie again, and Stevie."
None, though, played as well as Lallana, who again put in a performance to justify his price tag last summer. One can only hope that, this time around, it's enough to keep him in the starting eleven on a consistent basis. With his positional flexibility, his ability to play effectively in almost any midfield role, getting him in the lineup really shouldn't be a problem.
