Adam Lallana believes Liverpool have found system to turn things around

http://www.theguardian.com/football/2014/dec/25/adam-lallana-liverpool

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There are times when game plans, philosophies and long-term aspirations take a back seat and, as Adam Lallana puts it, “you just have to show a bit of bottle”. That time is now for Liverpool and, for all the justified criticism of Brendan Rodgers’ team, bottle has helped alleviate the growing sense of crisis at Anfield. A trip to Burnley demands more.

It would be premature in the extreme to suggest Liverpool, top of the Premier League last Christmas and 10th one year on, are a convincing unit once again, despite their manager’s talk of a top-four challenge after the 2-2 draw with Arsenal on Sunday. Equally it would be churlish to ignore the character of a side that began a defining period with a Champions League exit and a 3-0 defeat at Manchester United, then moved into the Capital One Cup semi-final and dominated Arsène Wenger’s possession-based team at Anfield. Liverpool’s character has been questioned this season, often rightly so, and a riposte has belatedly arrived.

“We’re causing teams problems again and we can gain belief from that,” said Lallana. “The lads were lacking a bit of confidence, not just myself, a few of us. That comes with disappointing results but you have these points in your career when you’ve got to show a bit of bottle, where you’ve got to go looking for the ball. We’ve done that. It’s maybe easy to hide when you’re not playing well and results aren’t going well but that’s when you have to work through it because eventually it will click. We all have bad days at work and it’s about how you bounce back and how hard you work.”

Christmas provides opportunity for Liverpool to give substance to Rodgers’ top-four hopes with home games against Swansea City and bottom-of-the-table Leicester City following the visit to third-from-bottom Burnley. The team has made tentative but important steps forward since Rodgers reverted to a 3-4-2-1 formation that has enabled Lallana and Philippe Coutinho to exert a greater influence. The system is not all that has changed, however, with the Liverpool manager adopting more of a siege mentality in a bristling response to his critics.

“I think the manager has been fantastic with the whole group but I’m sure he’s found it difficult as well,” admits the England international. “You can’t always ignore what people write and what people say. Eventually it gets out there. But it’s about sticking together. That’s what he’s mentioned – that we all stick together no matter how many different people have their opinions and want us not to do well just because we’re not fighting for the league title like last year. There are reasons for that. People might not like the reasons but there are reasons and it’s up to us, step by step, to get back to where the lads were last year.

“I’ve been impressed by the way the manager has been looking for different solutions to try and make it work. He’s looking for the system to suit the personnel we’ve got and over the last couple of games I think we’ve found it and that’s credit to him. It’s not the only system we can play but it’s kind of just clicked with Raheem [Sterling] playing a great role for us. It’s not his natural role but he’s been doing really well for the team.”

So, too, has Lallana. The £25m summer signing from Southampton had a frustrating start to his Liverpool career with injury followed by a spell on the bench. Rodgers explained that demotion was purely tactical, claiming he needed more pace behind Rickie Lambert when the centre-forward was leading the line, but the 26-year-old accepts the responsibility.

The midfielder explained: “I never thought it was going to be easy coming to a club as big as this. Maybe parts of me wanted to do too well and I was trying too hard – just a combination of little things really, settling into playing at such a big club and so on. But I’m getting there. I’m feeling more relaxed and a relaxed Adam Lallana on the pitch is when I’m at my best. I’m gradually feeling that and I’m gradually feeling myself more and more.

“It’s important we take things game by game. We’re in the semi-finals of a cup competition [against Chelsea next month]and, for someone like me who came in from a great club like Southampton to Liverpool, I wanted to push on and win silverware and straight away we’re in the semis. I can’t wait for that. People say it’s only the Capital One Cup but it’s a great competition. We’ve also got a good run of games coming up in the league where, if we put in performances like we did against Arsenal, we’ll have a strong chance of moving up the table.”