Alan Shearer was full of praise for Everton man Allan after the 2-1 win against Crystal Palace.
The Blues prevailed at Selhurst Park yesterday to claim their third win of the campaign.
It leaves them top of the Premier League table with nine points from a possible nine.
And reacting to the victory on Match of the Day last night, BBC pundit Shearer was particularly impressed with new recruit Allan.
Shearer said: "Early on, he issues a warning. [He] allows the full-backs to do what they’re doing, in terms of [Lucas] Digne and [Seamus] Coleman going forward. They can commit more men forward because he just gives them that little bit of protection when everyone else is going forward.
“They’ve also now got that little piece of special play going forward in James Rodriguez, the touch, the vision - and [Dominic] Calvert-Lewin has had a great start to the season.
"Digne was getting into those positions, as Coleman did on the other side, with no worry about losing the ball because that protection is there.
“Allan, there was nothing spectacular about his game, he wasn’t spraying 30 or 40 yard passes around, but he was a spoiler and stopped everything that Palace had going forward. [Abdoulaye] Doucoure, he’s a box-to-box midfielder and he’ll give them that other option going forward, which is what he did.”
Everton's winner came from the spot after referee Kevin Friend eventually awarded a penalty for handball following a VAR check.
While the decision was technically to the letter of the law, the new ruling has been criticised heavily in the early stages of this campaign.
On the incident, Shearer said: "Use whatever word you want. Stupid, ridiculous, pathetic, it’s wrong, it has to change. Roy [Hodgson] summed it up perfectly after the game, it’s madness to give that as a penalty.”
Micah Richards added: "[I]t’s absolutely ridiculous. How can this be a handball in football? When you slow things down, everything looks much worse. For me, I’m absolutely baffled by this decision. I’m done with it.”
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