Rodgers: We can produce Allens
Liverpool fans have a new word in their football vernacular: technician.
It was a word used by manager Brendan Rodgers after our defeat to Arsenal last weekend. "Allen and Cazorla were the two best players on the field, the two little guys, the technicians," he said.
These are the type of players that our new manager will look to bring to Liverpool over the coming seasons, players who aspire to play the game like the Xavis and Iniestas who have helped Barcelona and Spain conquer the world.
But it won't just be a case of delving into the transfer market, for Rodgers thinks British football - and Liverpool's own Academy - are producing players just as technically adept as anywhere on the continent.
Don't try telling him that English players lag behind.
The boss told Liverpoolfc.com: "I've been fortunate enough in my coaching life, I've worked with kids from five years of age right the way through to some of the biggest talents in European football and international captains, and I've worked with British and European players.
"For me, the European player is no more gifted technically than the British player.
"But where there is a difference is in how they, in their youth and formative years, have been asked to play the game.
"If you're a European player and when you've got the ball your first option is to pass the ball to feet, then of course you're going to look better technically than the British player, when he is asked to get the ball and smash it up the pitch. He doesn't look so technical.
"But that's not technical, that's a tactical concept of the game.
"We have enough top players in this country that are technically very strong. I think the idea of possession is important, that players can understand patience and how to be with the ball. But I don't think it's from a lack of technical quality."
Rodgers has been impressed with the existing set-up at the Academy - to whom the message is 'more of the same'.
"I think the players here are well coached and the guys do a terrific job," he said. "My job is just to reinforce that.
"The best thing other than scoring goals in the game of football is having the ball. I like the players to love to have the ball, and that's something that hopefully over time here we get to see, because it's an effective way of playing and a way that can win games."
No player embodies this philosophy more than Allen, and journalists have not been short of commentators and fellow professionals ready to praise his performances since he joined from Swansea this summer.
But what some might not realise is that he has settled in seamlessly while going through plenty of upheaval off the pitch.
"I think it's remarkable how quickly he has settled," said Rodgers.
"This is a young guy who has moved up from south Wales, he was first of all into a hotel then having to move into an apartment. His partner, Lacey, is giving birth to her first child.
"All of these emotional things have been going on in the background yet he still has come in and made the performances that he has done.
"Is it a surprise to me? No, because I knew what we were paying and I know the boy's qualities. I think the biggest testament that you can give him is that he has come into here and he looks like he has been a Liverpool player for the last 10 years.
"That's great credit to him, and I think you see the supporters are recognising that he looks like a player who is a Liverpool player, because of how he passes the ball, his courage to get on the ball, but also his willingness to put his body on the line for the team and for the club.
"He has been outstanding and he will only get better."
Like the 'little technicians' from Spain, Allen stands a few inches shorter than most professional players, but this has never been a concern for Rodgers.
"For me, it doesn't matter how big or small they are," he said. "With the ball, I like my players to have a good level of technical ability, but I also like them to have the desire and the will when they haven't got the ball.
"If you look at the two best players on the pitch, along with Diaby, in the game on Sunday, they were Joe Allen and Cazorla. You'd probably be lucky if both of them were over 5ft 6, but they're wonderful technicians and players that can both get on the ball.
"If you are going to play a technical game, you need technical players, it's as simple as that. Obviously that's the way in which I like the players to play, and certainly something that we will look for in the future."