Liverpool legend Phil Thompson has questioned Brendan Rodgers's decision not to use Adam Lallana in their Champions League draw with Basel on Tuesday.
The Reds needed to beat the Swiss outfit to qualify for the last 16 as Group C runners-up to Real Madrid, but could only muster a 1-1 draw at Anfield.
Lazar Markovic, who has started just six games this season, was a half-time substitute preferred to both Lallana and Philippe Coutinho, and was controversially sent off 15 minutes after his introduction.
Former European Cup-winning Liverpool captain and assistant manager Thompson was mystified as to why Lallana was not called from the bench instead, and is confused by his sporadic involvement in general.
"It's very difficult to see why Markovic came on when you've seen Lallana playing in most of the games," Thompson told Sky Sports News.
"Coutinho, you would think, has a lot more to open up this defence. So I thought that was very, very strange. You just wonder how and why they weren't playing.
"I'd like to see certain players like Adam Lallana given a run. He's been the one that you could say has done very, very well. But he's in for one match, he's man of the match, then he's out for two games. You think, 'what's going on on the training ground?'"
Lallana has scored twice in 15 games for the Reds since his £24m summer switch from Southampton.
Joe Fish
