Joe: Its a challenge you have to relish Joe Allen knows he faces a battle to claim a place in the Liverpool first team having returned from injury - but the midfielder insists hes ready for the challenge. Allens game time has been limited to two appearances this season after he picked up a hamstring problem against Notts County in August. He made his return to the team as a late substitute in the Reds comfortable 4-1 win over West Brom on Saturday. The Wales international is delighted to be back, but he knows Liverpools strong start to the season has raised the bar, in terms of what is required to hold down a starting berth in the side. Its a challenge you have to relish as a professional footballer, he told Liverpoolfc. Theres always competition and theres always someone out for the same spot as you. Its been a great start to the season and were playing really well, so that makes the competition even harder. The atmosphere is great. Were towards the top of the table and thats where we want to be. We know its a massive competition up there and there are some very strong clubs. Allen was introduced to replace Steven Gerrard in the 86th minute of the win over Steve Clarkes Baggies. While the stadium rose to its feet to applaud the Liverpool skipper from the field, Allen also received an ovation of his own from the home fans to acknowledge his return to fitness. It was great to be back out there, said the 23-year-old. When youve been out with an injury, its always nice to get back on the pitch and get back playing. So to come back on in front of the home crowd at Anfield was great. It was my first appearance there in the league for a long time, so hopefully I can get back to full fitness and look forward to making more appearances. I think when youve had a little bit of a lay-off, you miss a little bit of that sharpness and your match fitness is obviously a little bit down, but Im working on that and Im getting back to where I want to be. The idea is to get more minutes on the pitch. Ive just got to make sure I train hard and put my name forward for selection as much as I can
Posted on: Thu, 31 Oct 2013 14:40:00 +0000
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