Those of us with our souls buried deep in everything Liverpool FC have seen many revolutions in the last 20 years. Changes have been made and remade and new promises broken along with hearts. The latest revolution though, so far, seems to be the big one, we can only hope. It is of course far too early to start placing eggs in baskets. After two losses, one draw and four wins, Kenny Dalglish’s Liverpool are getting their balance back.
The mixed messages and utter myths blurted out during Hodgson’s reign from each and every angle are forever being busted with each passing day under Kenny Dalglish. When Hodgson couldn’t get the team motivated, people blamed Rafa. They said he left Roy with an impossible task. Now Kenny has them winning and looking like a team again, it’s no longer anything to do with Rafa, now the talk is of Champions League football, who would have thought it?
Of course, those who actually watched and analysed a game in the last 10 years could see that Rafa Benitez had the best interests of the club at heart and had the ability and most importantly the vision to deliver. However, the impact of Hicks, Gillett and Purslow on the club is often overlooked by pundits and journalists.
Most reports on Liverpool, such as a recent piece in the Independent by James Lawton with Ian St. John, is nothing but laziness. They haven’t researched the depth of the problems brought by the owners, so they don’t feel comfortable talking about it. Instead, it’s too easy to blame Benitez and to overlook the evidence in favour of tired old sayings.
There’s been a lot of change recently though, and it looks as though loose ends have been cut. Roy Hodgson has left, allowing players with flair and talent to rediscover their form such as Agger and Johnson. A rigid 4-4-2 has been cast aside to a fluid, interchangeable formation not seen since the hopeful days that seem so long ago, yet were only in the 08-09 season. Kenny is hear now and I would be surprised if there was any player who wasn’t behind the manager.
Liverpool were, and still could be, in danger of becoming uncompetitive for a long time. Credit to Fenway Sports Group though, they made a crucial decision and changed the manager, a new wave of optimism is running through the club. I admit that, going into the Chelsea match, I thought a positive result would be unlikely, but after 20 minutes my fears were laid to rest. There was a confidence in Liverpool, and a determination and belief that we would not be beaten and that we were not inferior. Players previously derided, Lucas, Johnson and Kuyt all stepped up to be counted.
Lucas Leiva is the epitome of the clubs fortunes over the last few years. He had to overcome harsh and often unnecessary criticism from a lot of people. I feel that at times, Liverpool fans shamed themselves in their treatment of the Brazilian and I hope that now, his quality, composure and drive will convince those, including ex-pros who said he should never wear the shirt, of his right to be at Anfield. At just 23 the young midfielder has a lot of time still to develop in a position where players often find themselves peaking in their late 20’s.
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Lucas, despite what you say, is IMO not good enough to play at the heart of LFC’s midfield. You talk about Liverpool fans shaming themselfs. Why because they hold a different point of view to your own about the ability of a certain player??
We all can’t be wrong. He is playing at the club now for over 3 years and despite PLENTY of first team action, his rate of development is depressingly slow!! Physically he is not up to the combative nature of the premiership. He is easily muscled off the ball all too often.
Every game you can point to certain moments in which he has made serious errors of judgement that have cost or nearly cost the team dearly. Again on Sunday he lost possesion in midfield which led to Chelsea and ‘he who shall not be named’ best chance. He gave away and continues to give away needless free kicks in dangerous positions, games just pass him by and when he eventually does catchup he shows his tackling ability is on par with Paul scholes!!
I would accept that if he had the passing ability of Scholes, alas he doesn’t. He struggles to complete simple 10 yard passes which are inevitably aimed behind him, when have you ever seen him spray a 40-50 yard cross field ball or set up a goal with a defence splitting pass ??
Or even score a goal for that matter!!
Fact is he isn’t good enough , and despite improving from deradful to just plain poor, I don’t think thats any reason to suffer watching him for another 4-5 years to hot his peak.. which will be mediocre at best.
When you say “we” who are you talking about. Last season Lucas was voted as the LFC Young Player of the Year, by the fans in an online poll.
Even the press and former players are starting to apprieciate just what Lucas brings to the team.
As the fox says, year on year he has improved and is one of our most consistant players. He never moans about the treatment he has received from so called supporters like you and is determined to fight for his place.
I also find it incredible that people like you think that you know more than, Rafa, Sammy, Menezes, Stevie G, Carra, Steve Clarke or Kenny!!!!
Sorry typo should read:
As the wolf says, year on year he has improved and is one of our most consistant players. He never moans about the treatment he has received from so called supporters like you and is determined to fight for his place.
The Fox: are you watching the right player? You seem to describe Konchesky.
On a separate note, a very nice article. Totally agree on your points, esp. regarding Rafa having the club’s best interest at heart.
Fux, Get your eyes sorted lad!
Lucas may not be pretty to watch but he is a grafter, a tackler and likes to do things simple.
Simple does not equate to bad. We need that sort of player alongside someone with a bit of class to do the things you mention to give the midfield balance.
Mascerano was too similar to Lucas and so they didn’t work well together and I believe that one of them should have been paired with Aqualani in midfield.
Now that Raul is beginning to show his class it seems we are getting back to the balance we had in Alonso’s day allowing Lucas to thrive at the game he plays
fox are you on crack, or crystal met. lucas has been our best player this season, do you watch our games get off his back u tool. You are wrong, not many liverpool fans are like you, we can see his improvement and we don’t all judge him on his performance as a 20 year old from a new league, we judge him on this season performances. He is better than mikel, song and carrick, who are all in top teams. go suck your mothers tits
Stats from Sundays game:
The Midfield Battle
Liverpool Midfield Stats: Lucas (40/45 successful passes, 5 interceptions, 7/13 tackles made, 1 clearance, 1 block), Meireles (1 goal, 31/37 passes, 2 interceptions, 2/3 tackles made, 1 block) Maxi (32/36 passes, 4 interceptions, 2 tackles, Gerrard (36/54 passes, 3 interceptions, 4/9 tackles made)
Chelsea Midfield Stats: Mikel (52/55 successful passes, 1 interception, 1 tackle, 3 clearances), Essien (86/100 passes, 1 interception, 6/9 tackles, 1 block), Lampard (44/56 passes, 4 interceptions, 1 clearance) Anelka (36/47 passes, 2/4 tackles made)
Ergo – Lucas was the best midfield player on the pitch.
Regarding Lucas, to be honest, some of the things i read from our own fans about him were nothing short but tragic and shameful. We sometimes behaved like Real Madrid, 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 felt we deserved some of what we went through for this ungrateful and ungracious behaviour. In times of adversity, we should protect those of our own who are more vulnerable, not turn on them, as some of the national press always did with glee. I got tired of hearing how poor our squad was, a line parroted by lazy journalists and opposition fans and of course Lucas, who I always had regard for was an easy target, and some of our own fell for it. What people didn’t realise was, all this negativity about our club and players, entrenched a sense of doom and gloom and a club of mediocrity and going only one way down, as we saw with Hodgson. Its great we can see the difference positive thinking makes!!! Lucas 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 wasn’t good enough for LFC!!! It was 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. It’s 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!!! It’s great to see him 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 or miss and would still need time to bed in even if they were phenomenal!! He is a defensive midfielder for us now but still retains his box to box ability. You don’t get many of those around nowadays. I hope those other fans change their thoroughly 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!!! I hope Lucas serves as a lesson for all of us!!!!