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View from the Kop

And our Player of the Season Award Goes to . . . . Lucas

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I set up a poll last week to determine who Liverpool fans feel is the club’s player of the season. My fellow writer David Tyrer put forward his nominations, and today, after over a week, we have reached 2000 votes. A good point I feel to stop the vote and determine the winner. With the lion’s share of the vote, midfielder Lucas Leiva came out on top. The full statistics are below (taken from time of writing):

Lucas Leiva (45%, 957 Votes)

Dirk Kuyt (23%, 496 Votes)

Raul Meireles (16%, 340 Votes)

Pepe Reina (13%, 279 Votes)

Other (3%, 44 Votes)

Despite having his supporters since his arrival from Gremio in 2007, it is safe to say that the Brazilian wasn’t universally loved when he first broke into the side. Justifiably in my view, many Reds fans didn’t see what Lucas brought to the team. Originally an attacking midfielder who was awarded the Brazilian Footballer of the Year whilst playing in such a position, he moved to Liverpool as a player labelled with big potential. A positional switch to holding midfielder however made his settling period into English football a lot more difficult.

Always a decent passer of a ball, Lucas was however asked to be the enforcer in midfield, and he regularly failed to contribute to the team, consistently giving fouls away and not really being a threat in the final third. Frustration grew amongst the Anfield faithful as many felt that manager Rafa Benitez was keeping faith with a player who wasn’t up to the task.

At the time, with some of the vitriol aimed towards the Brazilian, it was hard for some fans, who did see something in him, to state their case. After all, he was still very young, and the fact that he had to adapt to a new role in midfield, as well as to the physical nature of the Premier League all got lost in the immediacy of what was unfolding out on the pitch.

Continue Reading on Page 2 . . .



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15 comments

  • Frank says:

    well done Lucas, may you flourish for us for years to come.

  • trev says:

    lucas has been v good but meireles has been better and his first season with the team playin badly yu watch him next season he will be the real star lucas is ever improving long may it continue

  • JJ says:

    delighted for Lucas he has took a lot of stick and while some players would have asked to leave he has stayed and proved himself and in my opinion he will only get better, i think some fans used him as a scapegoat granted he did have a few bad games but if say Mascherano had made a bad pass it was a small mistake but i have heard many a fan go on a rant if he had made one small mistake in a game, i for one hope to see Lucas at liverpool for many years

  • steve says:

    it’s between Lucas Leiva and Raul Meireles for me.but Lucas deserves it 100% for his commitment and hard work in the field..You’ll never walk alone Lucas!

  • Rory says:

    Rafa is the best…even when you’re sure he’s wrong, at the and you realize that he was right (again…) watch Inter Milan…if Kenny will go at the end of the season, please bring back Rafa

    • Jay Wright says:

      Just watched Masch perform again in comparison to Yaya, and Barry in comparison to Alonso – sorry, I’m still very sure that Rafa was very wrong on both of those decisions…

      • Rory says:

        Mascherano has been a lot better player than Yaya for the role in front of the defense and he did a terrific job for us in the past years, we can’t say that he was a weaker player than Yaya, no way…than take the facts as they really are, Rafa tryed to acquire Barry because he knew that Xabi was in the idea to leave (you can be sure that he was contacted by those losers of Real Madrid in the middle of the season…that’s the way they work), and he saw in Barry a good solution to replace Xabi without spending to much cause he can’t…and for last remember the players that Rafa have acquired for us without spend big money (don’t count Torres and Mascherano): Reina, Agger, Johnson, Mascherano, Xabi, Luis Garcia, Kuyt, Torres, than all the young players like Lucas, Kelly…Pacheco and N’Gog will show in a couple of years that they’re very good players…than surely he has make some mistakes like Robbie Keane and Babel (still a bad idea for me sell him…)but who don’t make any mistakes…?

        • Jay Wright says:

          lmao are you having a laugh?? Masch was being criticized every time he played for slowing Barca down too much, and is only getting on the pitch now because of the mounting injuries in their threadbare squad. Meanwhile Yaya has adapted to a new position and is looking like a giant version of Gerrard!

          And there was NOTHING about Xabi wanting to leave until we started trying to move him on, so you’re just making blind assumptions there. Barry has shown absolutely nothing since the transfers to suggest that he could’ve been an adequate replacement for us though.

          You’re the one who said that he never made any mistakes. I was just pointing out two massive ones for you… 🙂

  • Shibashis says:

    Credit should be given where it is due. Lucas has proven himself, he was given a lot of stick in the past which he definitely did not deserve.
    And lets thank Rafa, he did see what Lucas was about and kept faith on him.

  • Pedro says:

    Good on him!! Was a doubter myself since last season but he’s done very well. I’d still like to see him play a more attacking role in the future though.

    • Jay Wright says:

      He’s been playing alongside other defensive midfielders on numerous occassions over the last year or two without ever assuming the attacking role on a consistent basis – I’m thinking that all this talk of him being held back and shackling his attacking talent may just be a myth…

  • Shkrtel says:

    Good on lucas. But the thing with lucas is he performs well against teams from the top half of the table than the bottom half. Simply because he is more of a destroyer than a creator. He destroys opposition play. That is why he excels against Arsenal, Chelsea and the lot. Against teams like WBA, West Ham, Blackburn, to use both Spearing n Lucas is not the best idea. I would prefer a creator like Meireles, Aquilani, Gerrard, even joe cole in the middle.

  • geyom says:

    well done lucas boy

  • Jay Wright says:

    There haven’t been any standout performers for us this season, whether due to injury, loss of form or lack of opportunity, so I’ve got no problem with Lucas taking the award.

    He still hasn’t proven me wrong though. Winning one battle against Yaya Toure (imo Toure was the the few City players that showed up for the game but that’s neither here nor there) doesn’t really prove anything – we’ve seen Gerrard completely marked out of games by Anderson or outplayed by the likes of Holden, (just as we’ve seen our midfield with Lucas at it’s core being regularly dominated by midtable opposition) and don’t hold that up as evidence of those player’s superiority…

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