Adam Lallana believes his late equaliser against Manchester United can kick-start his Liverpool career and again make him an integral part of Jürgen Klopp’s team.
The 31-year-old came on as a 71st-minute replacement at Old Trafford on Sunday and went on to score the goal that secured a 1-1 draw for the Premier League leaders. Lallana’s previous goal for Liverpool came more than two years ago, against Middlesbrough in May 2017.
He has since lost his first-team place, with two hamstring injuries limiting him to 15 appearances in 2017-18. Lallana then managed only 16 last season despite being fit.
“It’s obviously nice to be able to contribute to a top team like this,” he said. “I feel that’s the first of big moments me for this season. Just because I’ve not started any of the first nine games, I don’t think that means I am not going to play a big part in this team.
“Obviously I feel like I’ve been fit for a good year now, especially since coming back from pre-season. But we’re European champions, we’ve got a top squad, so I’ve had to be patient for my chance but delighted to come on and make an impact like that.”
After Liverpool defeated Tottenham in June’s Champions League final Lallana indicated this could be a successful campaign for him and his belief has not wavered. He said; “Of course, yeah. It’s a long old season. We’ve got the World Club Cup to come. We’ve got the Carabao Cup next week, the Champions League this week, the Premier League at the weekend.
“I think the last couple of years, we’ve got to the Champions League final with a maximum of four really fit centre midfielders. It’s about just staying fit, staying strong and staying ready. I feel that’s where my focus will be.”
United dominated large parts of Sunday’s draw despite starting the match just above the relegation zone “It just shows that in this game it [form] kind of goes out the window,” Lallana said. “It’s obviously a tough game and we probably leave the happier team in the end. We could have won it – another five, 10 minutes. I thought we were controlling the game, we were dictating the game.
“The last 15 minutes – when I was on the pitch you could feel that, you could feel that we got that little bit of confidence, that little bit of arrogance that we needed. We were calmer on the ball and we didn’t really have that in the first half.”
