Adam Lallana came as close as anyone to denting Liverpool’s title-hopes on Sunday.
The Reds came from behind to beat Brighton & Hove Albion 2-1 on Easter Sunday thanks to goals from Luis Diaz and Mohamed Salah. But the former Liverpool midfielder came agonisingly close to an equaliser after getting in between Jarell Quansah and Virgil van Dijk, only to stroke narrowly wide across goal.
It might be four years since the 35-year-old left the Reds, but he remains a popular figure at Anfield. Making 178 appearances across six seasons, scoring 22 goals, injuries might have limited his impact during his final two seasons with Liverpool, but he still left the club as a Premier League, Champions League, FIFA Club World Cup, and European Super Cup winner.
Consequently, he received the warmest of receptions on his latest Anfield return. Spotted embracing and catching up with Jurgen Klopp on the halfway line as the two sides warmed up ahead of kick-off, his name was greeted with cheers by home supporters both when the two sides were read out ahead of the game and when introduced as an 83rd minute substitute.
It would have been somewhat cruel to those of a Liverpool persuasion if it had been Lallana who denied them all three points against Brighton. Yet, with the Reds hanging on for victory after his miss, the result saw them regain top spot in the table ahead of Man City playing out a 0-0 draw with Arsenal.
Lallana had set tongues wagging ahead of kick-off when being interviewed by Sky Sports. Sharing his delight to be back at Anfield, he inevitably declared that he wanted Liverpool to win the Premier League title – even if he admittedly hoped such a prospect would still be possible alongside them losing points to Brighton on Sunday.
“It’s absolutely amazing coming home, I love coming back here,” he said. “And I do call it home. Great fond memories here and I’m used to playing here.
“We’ve picked up a good few results in the last few years. The title race is really heating up. Of course I’m desperate for Liverpool to win the league and go far in the other competitions.
“I still think it’s possible if they can maybe lose one more game and that’s what I’m aiming for today unfortunately. We’ve got our own fight this season and we want to make Europe again.”
Defeat for Brighton leaves them ninth in the table with nine games left to play, two points off the top seven and potential European qualification.
Meanwhile, with Klopp confirmed to be stepping down as Liverpool manager at the end of the season, Roberto De Zerbi is one of the leading candidates to replace the German after Xabi Alonso decided to stay put at Bayer Leverkusen.
And Lallana, who has shadowed the Italian at times as he ponders a future coaching career, has already admitted that he is worried about losing his current manager to Liverpool.
“It wouldn’t surprise me,” he told talkSPORT in February when asked if De Zerbi could take charge at Liverpool. “I think all the clubs are looking at Roberto.
“In my eyes, he is one of the best coaches in the world. We will see. It’s like a domino effect with these managers at the moment, managers are always under pressure wherever you go.
“I don’t know if that puts you off going into that after, but that’s just the world we live in.”
Lallana is out of contract at Brighton at the end of the season and will celebrate his 36th birthday next month. Consequently, he has already hinted that he could retire this summer when lifting the lid on his relationship with De Zerbi and potential coaching aspirations.
“When I was injured last year, he (De Zerbi) said, ‘Just shadow me for four months’,” he told My Albion TV in January. “I was in his office before games, after games. Telling me about the team, what he wants to do, who he’s going to play there.
“Just hearing that and being in those situations is great learning. I feel I helped his initial bedding-in period. I helped him a lot get his message across to the group.
“I’ve had that as a skill throughout my career. I remember when Mauricio (Pochettino) came to Southampton, when Jurgen (Klopp) came to Liverpool, I always had the ability to get the manager’s messages across to the players and that was kind of the same here.
“It (interest in coaching) probably started at Liverpool where my game-time wasn’t… I had a lot of injuries and you start to see the game differently. You start to think about you might not always be a player.
“And then you get to your thirties and you’re like, ‘Woah, it is coming to an end sooner or later’, so you start thinking differently. Getting your message across and helping young players.”
Lallana, who is already part of the England Under-21s coaching team, continued: “I‘m doing my badges now so at the end of the season I’ll have my ‘B’ and my ‘A’. It’ll be difficult to do my ‘Pro’ while I’m still playing.
“I will get to the end of the season first and see what happens with my playing career. I’m not sure if this will be my last year playing, but that is a conversation later in the season…
“I’m still not a million percent sure if I want to do it (coaching and management). I think I’ll be stupid not to give it a chance though considering I’ve spent 15 years being a footballer. Especially in the last five, six, seven years, I feel like the way I’ve been on the pitch in terms of a player, I’ve always tried to help team-mates.
“Eventually you’ve got to learn on the job, you’ve got to take a job. That’s where I think you really feel if you want to do it or not. You say to me, “Do I want to be a coach?’ It sounds nice but until you do it and taste it, I’m not sure.”
It will be intriguing to see if Lallana is offered a place on De Zerbi’s coaching staff should he decide to hang up his boots this summer.
If he does retire and embark on the next stage of his career, while it is by no means certain that Liverpool even move for the Italian as their managerial search continues, it is not beyond the realms of possibility that a domino effect could see Lallana ‘come home’ to Anfield on a more permanent basis in a new role in the not-too-distant future.