Adam Lallana featured in 9 Matches from 16 leads to Injury

Out of the 16 initial Premier League matches that Liverpool has played so far, Adam Lallana was featured in 9 of those games. The player has been affected with an injury on his knee since making his move from Southampton to Liverpool with a transfer that was completed some months ago.

Even though Adam Lallana has not been such a consistent player in comparison to some of his other teammates, KoloToure believes that Lallana has been the best player of Liverpool so far in this season.

KoloToure defended his decision in calling out Lallana to be the best performer for the Premier League club as the Ivorian defender said that with the few minutes on the pitch that Lallana has had, he has really been working hard and demonstrating what he is capable to do.

“We are very happy with everyone’s performance. But, for me,Adam Lallana has been the best player in this Liverpool team this year. Definitely.”

“Since he came here, he hasn’t had a lot of chances to play but he’s shown great character and worked hard in training. He is a great boy; works hard, is very quick and technically is very, very good.”KoloToure told reporters

Besides Adam Lallana, there also were a number of other players that Brendan Rodgers signed to Liverpool including: Mario Balotelli and Lazar Markovic.

KoloToure stated that he is proud of what Markovic has done and even though the Serbian winger has made fewer appearances than Lallana, Toure still praised Markovic and gave positive feedback towards him.

Mario Balotelli still continues to struggle as he fails to score when Liverpool needs him to and rumors have even started to spread claiming that the Italian forward could be sold soon due to his ineffectiveness.

BALO PROVES HIS WORTH

Liverpool forward Mario Balotelli proved his worth by scoring the equaliser against Swansea to help his team get a winner in the League Cup and progress to the quarter-finals. This was only the second goal of his Liverpool career. The former AC Milan and Manchester City striker has struggled for form and his previous goal came in the Champions League several weeks ago. Balotelli is yet to open his account in the Premier League, but defender Kolo Toure says that the forward has been showing the right attitude in recent weeks despite not being able to find the back of the net.

Balotelli’s most frustrating afternoon came in the 0-0 draw with Hull City last week. He came close with fierce shots that needed the goalkeeper to produce his best, while the 24-year-old was also at the end of several penalty appeals that could have been given on any other day. Brendan Rodgers has been both critical and supportive of him in the last few weeks. Touré, who has played with some of the best strikers in the world like Robin van Persie and Sergio Aguero, says that he has seen enough in Balotelli to suggest that this lack of goals is merely a blip.

Liverpool take on league strugglers Newcastle, who have just managed two wins in succession, during the weekend. “For strikers, goals are like food. Mario needs to feed himself by scoring goals. Now he’s got that one he will do that now, definitely. Getting that goal will be fantastic for his confidence. He is a great player, he has just been lacking goals. Mario is my mate and I’ve tried to help him like Stevie (Gerrard), the manager and everyone else in the dressing room. He is one of the best. He has just been missing goals but they will come now,” said Touré.