But speaking to the Western Mail\/Walesonline\u00a0the midfielder admits his greater concern will be looking which way to turn in the Liberty Stadium tunnel. Allen returns to Swansea City this weekend, the club where he walked in as a nine-year-old and left as Wales\u2019 most expensive player.<\/p>\n
It will be an experience he expects to be strange \u2013 \u201cforeign\u201d to use his own term \u2013 as he tries to focus on performing in the red of Liverpool and forgetting the memories in the white of his boyhood favourites.<\/p>\n
As it happens, much of the spotlight surrounding his \u2013 and Brendan Rodgers\u2019 \u2013 first trip back has been taken up by the meeting of Williams and Suarez following the\u00a0brutally honest assessment of the Uruguayan in the defender\u2019s book My Premier League Diary.<\/p>\n
Allen was himself cited by Williams in the recently published tome as giving Suarez a piece of his mind after last year\u2019s goalless draw at Anfield.<\/p>\n
Some 12 months on and the 22-year-old is now an impressed team-mate of the Premier League\u2019s top scorer, intrigued at the impending tussle between the pair and wondering what walking out an opponent at the Liberty will be like.<\/p>\n
\u201cPlayers are always different when they\u2019re opponents to when they\u2019re on your side,\u201d says Allen (pictured right), speaking of Suarez but something he will experience himself this weekend.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know both and it will be a fascinating match-up to look out for on Sunday, I\u2019m sure.<\/p>\n
\u201cAsh and Luis are two top players and it will be a great test for both of them.<\/p>\n
\u201cLuis is an unbelievable player who\u2019s in top form at the moment and a superb player to have in your team.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019d certainly rather play with him than against him because, in the form he\u2019s in, he gives no defence an easy time.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou only have to look at the number and quality of goals he\u2019s scored this year to see that.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd everyone knows how good a player Ash is so it will be an interesting match-up just like it will be an interesting game.\u201d<\/p>\n
Given the events of the summer where Rodgers left the Liberty and then proceeded to pay \u00a315m to take Allen with him, this was always a fixture to intrigue. But Liverpool\u2019s unbeaten league run of seven and Swansea\u2019s impressive form make it a match to catch the interest on its own.<\/p>\n
And Allen admits he\u2019ll be putting his own personal attachment aside, even if it all will take a bit of getting used to.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m looking forward to it; I had so many good years at the club it would be hard not to,\u201d said the Wales playmaker.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt will be strange, a bit foreign, but ultimately it\u2019s a match I\u2019m looking forward to.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019ll be things like remembering not to turn into the home dressing room that might make me think twice, but I have to focus on my performance\u00a0really.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat the occasion means to me or the gaffer (Rodgers) is a bit of an irrelevance \u2013 it has to be business as usual.<\/p>\n
\u201cOf course, you\u2019re going to be wondering what kind of reception there might be but, as a professional, it\u2019s your job to deal with things like that and keep the focus on the game in front of you.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt will be a very strange experience for me on Sunday but in terms of performing, it won\u2019t be different from any other game for me.\u201d<\/p>\n
If there is any anxiety about the crowd, Allen should remember the \u2018one Joey Allen\u2019 chant aimed at him from the away fans in Swansea\u2019s recent 3-1 cup triumph at Anfield, one he described as a fantastic gesture.<\/p>\n
Whether supporters will remain so kind if Liverpool get on top this weekend remains to be seen for both the midfielder and the boss in the dugout.<\/p>\n
Allen admits focus on Merseyside has not yet fully turned to the Liberty clash, Liverpool involved in Europa League action last night although several senior men \u2013 including Allen and Suarez \u2013 were rested with Swansea in mind.<\/p>\n
But the Pembrokeshire product conceded he will not have to give any training\u00a0ground tips about his former club such was the way they underlined their ability in that Anfield victory a month ago.<\/p>\n
\u201cEveryone could see for themselves what Swansea are about from that cup game,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a tough game from both mine and the club\u2019s point of view and the league games gives us a chance for us to put that result straight in some ways.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut there can be no surprise what to expect down there.<\/p>\n
\u201cAny new manager will mean some subtle changes to the way they play.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut ultimately they are a team who move and keep the ball very well in keeping with the philosophy that\u2019s been spoken about at the club and that will probably remain.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe result at Newcastle didn\u2019t surprise me at all and they will be all full of belief going into this one.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe way they\u2019ve performed in the last month means their confidence will be sky high at a bad time for us.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut we go there on a good run of form ourselves and on the back of a solid home win, so I\u2019m sure it\u2019s going to be a great game<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
But speaking to the Western Mail\/Walesonline\u00a0the midfielder admits his greater concern will be looking which way to turn in the Liberty Stadium tunnel. Allen returns to Swansea City this weekend, the club where he walked in as a nine-year-old and left as Wales\u2019 most expensive player. It will be an experience he expects to be […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":453,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"cybocfi_hide_featured_image":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19004","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jackarmy.net\/wp67\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19004","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jackarmy.net\/wp67\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jackarmy.net\/wp67\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jackarmy.net\/wp67\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/453"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jackarmy.net\/wp67\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19004"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/jackarmy.net\/wp67\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19004\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jackarmy.net\/wp67\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19004"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jackarmy.net\/wp67\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19004"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jackarmy.net\/wp67\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19004"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}