Allen eager for more after half-time switch
Though his participation lasted only 45 minutes against Rubin Kazan, it was enough to furnish Joe Allen with even greater desire to clock up playing time under Jürgen Klopp.
The Welshman was brought into the starting line-up for Thursday’s Europa League tie – the manager’s only change from the side which began the previous clash with Tottenham Hotspur.
But the combination of a booking to his name and the visitors’ reduction to 10 men at Anfield persuaded Klopp to switch Lucas Leiva in for Allen at the interval.
The midfielder told Liverpoolfc.com: “It was a disappointing one really. I got booked. The manager explained it was nothing to do with the performance.
“With them going down to 10 men and being on a yellow, it was inevitable. I felt good while I was on the pitch and I’m looking forward to the next opportunity to get out there and give a good performance.”
The Reds must have experienced déjà vu as a third consecutive fixture in Group B concluded with a 1-1 stalemate.
Marko Devic broke the deadlock for Rubin but Emre Can levelled, with Oleg Kuzmin’s red card in between allowing the home side to lay siege to the opposition goal.
“We had plenty of shots at goal, but not as many on target as we would have liked,” said Allen.
“With them going down to 10 men we would have hoped to go on to win the game comfortably. But credit to them – they made it difficult. But there are certainly positives to take.
“We’ve got to take it on ourselves in situations like that to really take the game to them and make them work hard, and get the breakthroughs.
“We got to the final third well enough and looked to get into good positions but it just didn’t quite happen. We hit the post.
“On another day, a little bit more luck and it would have been quite comfortable. But that’s how it goes.”
Liverpool now lie second in their Europa League section, four points behind pace-setters FC Sion with a return meeting at Rubin next on the agenda in the competition.
Assessing the group at the halfway point, Allen added: “We view it as three more games and three possible victories.
“That’s our aim, we want to qualify top of the group and that’s still possible. We’ll make sure we do everything to try to make that happen.”