It is fair to say that over the last few seasons, no player has divided opinion among Liverpool fans more than our number 21, Lucas Leiva. Part of the reason why the Brazilian had so many Reds fans against him was the fact that Rafa Benitez stubbornly refused to drop Lucas even when it was obvious that he was in poor form. I admit to not being Lucas’ biggest fan during his ‘Rafa years’ but I never wanted him sold; I always believed that he was either a good player playing in the wrong league or a talented player struggling to fulfil his potential.
I liked the fact that he was getting valuable first team experience every week, I just didn’t want him starting as many matches as he was. At a time when he was learning his trade, we were in need of the finished article to help push us to the next level. Too often he was easily pushed off the ball and too often he surrendered possession to the opposing team. Along with that, he also frustrated fans with his constant giving away of needless free kicks in dangerous areas.
It may have taken him a good few seasons but I’m so happy to say that the Lucas we are seeing today is proving all of his doubters wrong. He seems to have eradicated most of his weaknesses from his play and is now fast becoming one of the best defensive midfielders in the league. To address being shoved off the ball so often he has bulked up; no longer does he give the ball away easily because his composure when in possession has increased significantly (to the point where he is now one of our best passers of the ball). He is still prone to committing the odd unnecessary foul but that is simply an occupational hazard considering that it’s his job to break down the opposition’s play.
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He is doing good, but yet many fans including me think there are much better players around doing his job, even better!
quite a joke this article but i got to say, rafa, roy & even king kenny stuck with him in the midfield, clearly they are seeing something in Lucas many fans including me doesn’t..
I still think he gives ball away too cheaply and fails to see what his team mates are doing around him half the time, many times he tries to hold on to the ball even when he himself knows he’s no good at keeping ball & crossing over an opponent..
He did ok in the chealsea game, nothing to shout about..i’d definitely say, let him there in his current role until we find a new mascherano..
I always believed in Lucas. The only problem I observed at the time is it appeared as if he was replacing Xabi Alonso; two totally different players. I am glad that he has managed to turn things round for himself.
“It may have taken him a good few seasons” are you kidding? The lad was bought for £5 million, a very young Brazilian with tremendous potential.
Don’t forget the boy has had to move to Britain and adopt a different lifestyle in a different Country, and fight his way into our team with some thiko fans (the ones that watch and listen to Sky Sport news and Talksport respectively) booing him and criticising him at every step.
Easily a better deal than the one that took his National team mate Anderson to that shower up the road for £18 million. Lucas has arguably been better than Gerrard for more than a season and a half, but there are some out there that will still claim to be unsure about him.
I think he’s brilliant, and exactly the type of player we need technically good, tactically good and intelligent. Something, sadly we can’t boast about most British players.
Please.. He is not in the wrong team.. He is a decent player, its just that he is not good enough for Liverpool.. he’ll do alright for a club fighting in mid table or even the odd 6th or 7th place team.. but not LFC..
Please.. the abilities of a player will not just change because of a 4 match winning streak.. I have been watching him since rafa days.. He is still the same.. He is that type of players whose form and mood is massively affected by those around him..
Judge him when this season is over. Not now, when we have only win 4 on the trot.
Remember everyone! We have ONLY win 4 on the trot.. There is still a long way to go..
Idiots, Lucas has been controlling the games we have been winning under KK. he collects the ball from the back four and starts our attacks. He is always moving and giving the player on the ball an outlet. Have a look at previous matches and you will see that he was the reason that we played poorly against fulham as he was missing.
Plays a million complete passes every week to keep the stats looking good but couldn’t play killer balls on a regular basis if his life depended on it…good enough for the premier league but not good enough if you want to be a top 4 club, same for Kuyt hard work alone is not enough.
some of you fans are fooled by thinking that just because a player cant do any tricks or stun us now and again with a 60yard ball or an amazing goal that he is not a great player
lucas is like dunga and deschamps a quiet solid player when he doesnt have the ball he gets into positions when he does have the ball he passes it forward thats just his job to keep posession and keep play flowing, his off the ball movement is exceptional and the thing that differs between the good players and the elite players is game intelligence and i could see that in him from when he joined, passing, through balls, shooting can all be learnt, a football brain is something that your born with
he is improving rapidly and as said he is much better than anderson or carrick for that matter who is a similar player, there is a lot to come from lucas!
Rafa bought Lucas as an attacking midfielder, but since we had Gerrard in that area, he played in defensive midfield. I think because Lucas never had experience in playing DM, and was afraid to make runs forward because then he would be leaving a gap in midfield and possibly making the manager angry, that caused him to appear lost most of the time. It’s a case of “do i go forward or do i stay?” He does well when going forward though, as we’ve seen in the Europa league, good little passes into the box and decent efforts at goal himself.
To be honest, some th of the things i read from our own fans about Lucas were nothing short but tragic. We sometimes behave like Real Madrdi, when they sold Makalele to Chelsea. What a monumental error! Just because he didnt do tricks and flicks like Zidane, Figo and Ronaldo and only played short passes. Sometimes i feel we deserve some of what we went through for this ungrateful and ungracious behviour. The lad was only 20 when he came to this country and was playing in a different league. He had captained Brazil and had played more than 60 top flight games there but our fans said he wasnt good enough for LFC. Its amazing because all the coaches saw something in him!! He made lots of mistakes, yes….but so did Bale when he first went to Spurs. Its good he is doing well and the team is doing so well now. But any LFC fan who barracks him or any of our players again should bow their heads in shame. We have to change this awful behaviour if we want to start winning things again. All that glitters is not gold, as our ex Number 9 has proved to us!!! Its amazing he is performing so well, a bit of Xabi, a bit of Stevie and a bit of Monster Masch and he is only 23!! |But no some fans would still want him out for someone who could be inferior, hit and miss and would need time to bed in!! He is a dfensive midfielder for us now but still retains his box to box ability. You dont get many of those around nowadays. I hope those other fans change their thorougly un-Liverpool behaviour. I am glad he is doing well. I always felt sorry for him seeing how he was being treated, considering he was so young!!!
must keep this player.. whatever… he will play for first 11 or from bench… he will ranking in 7*.
his a good tackler but need more vision for a game.
good short passer and need more solid deffending his zone from out of penalty box to cantre. what we look jonjo are good to pair with his potition.
out :
Poulsen & Spearing
at the bottom of this article is a excellant video of lucas vs chelsea
http://liverpool.theoffside.com/team-news/tom-hicks-is-back-lucas-is-still-quality-and-other-thursday-notes.html
if that does not get Lucas haters realiseing that what he does should be appreciated a lot more then nothing will. Yes he does not put in them crunching tackles Masch used to, the ones that got everyone all whipped up, but he put in excellant work, clean tackles, good forward passes, and actually poses a threat going forward that he does not score more goals is down to nerves in my opinion and i think as he gets older he will score more goals. Lay off Lucas fools!