Does Adam Lallana have seven weeks to save his Liverpool career?

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Liverpool’s Adam Lallana has missed most of the last two years of his career due to injury. Can he still play a part for this Liverpool team?

In December alone, Liverpool will play seven top-flight fixtures. Add into the mix a final Champions League group game at home to Napoli and it is even clearer how much of the Reds’ season depends on a successful final month of 2018.

For some squad players, they will have one eye on the upcoming January transfer window. Adam Lallana is one of those players. The former Southampton trickster has had a tough last couple of years at Anfield because of hamstring and groin problems.

There was a time when Lallana was considered to be one of the first names on Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool team sheets.

Klopp arrived in October 2015 and, up until the summer of 2017, Lallana was the midfielder who epitomised everything Liverpool’s boss wanted with regards to counter-pressing and defending from the front.

He seemed to not only possess endless stamina levels to carry out such a role, but also had the almost-instinctual knowledge of when to pounce on a defender who was in possession, when to charge him, where to direct him.

Persistent injuries then halted the attacking midfielder’s progress. Lallana managed just 12 league appearances in 2017/18. He became something of a forgotten man among Liverpool fans.

Lallana has looked off the pace when he has taken to the field this season. With Liverpool playing less of a pressing game under Klopp this time round, it seems Lallana sometimes does not know his best qualities when on the pitch now. The team’s attacking game seems to slow down when the ball lands at his feet.

Liverpool need squad depth if Manchester City are to be toppled from their perch at the top of the Premier League. It is just no longer clear if Lallana adds the required standard that Klopp expects from his bench.

The benefit of the winter schedule for Lallana is he is bound to have ample opportunity to prove the doubters wrong. Whether Klopp still trusts him or not, he is going to be needed to play his part between now and the new year.

It is up to Lallana what part he plays.