The heaviest criticism came for the player when Benitez opted to play him alongside Javier Mascherano at the start of the 2009/10 season after the departure of Xabi Alonso and the injury to Alberto Aquilani. Two defensive midfielders was seen as very negative at the time, especially if neither offered a great deal of attacking threat, and the anger towards Lucas was generally a concoction of the frustration felt at the loss of Alonso, the poor start to the league campaign, and the manager’s tactics. As Reds fans are now aware, two defensive midfielders doesn’t necessarily have to mean negative football; you only have to look at the 5 goal demolition of Birmingham on Saturday with Lucas and Spearing in the team as testament to this.
By the end of last season however, Lucas began to turn a corner, and this campaign, he fully deserves to be named player of the season. In a season plagued with mediocrity from the Reds point of view, Lucas stood out as not only the most improved player, but also the best. His tackling has come on leaps and bounds, but his positional play and anticipation are what stand out about his displays this season. Lucas always does what is instructed of him, shielding the back four not necessarily through sheer strength like so many other fellow holding midfield player, but by intercepting balls, breaking up opposition attacks and giving the Reds a platform in the centre of the park to move forward. Alongside Spearing, he managed to nullify the speed and power of players such as Yaya Toure, and contribute massively to improved performances under Kenny Dalglish. Well done Lucas, you deserve all the plaudits coming your way.
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well done Lucas, may you flourish for us for years to come.
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
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
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!
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
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…
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…?
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… 🙂
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.
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.
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…
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.
well done lucas boy
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…