Lucas

[wiw]

Hitting form when we need him most. Thought he was great today. Got stuck in and won the ball time and time again

[Ben_Itez]

Yep thought he was very good today.

Kept possession well and was excellent in winning the ball back and pressing high up the pitch. He'll get a decent amount of gametime in the run in, in fact he'll be playing against Chelsea as Masher is suspended, so lets hope it has done wonders for his confidence.

[DannyMan2006]

Lucas is doing okay, but okay is good enough when we have the quality we have in our squad.

As long as he is not messing up then he will be fine. After the stick he got it was vital he got back to basics and kept it simple. A solid performance against Man Utd seems to have done wonders for him and hopefully he can keep going.

[Craig_H]

Pretty good game today, he's just doing the simple stuff and that's all he needs to do. Leave the magical winners to the likes of Torres and Gerrard, everyone has their role and Lucas performed his very well today.

I was paying attention to his game and i think he did one thing wrong - just before half time, he picked up possession on the edge of his box, dallied instead of clearing it, and got dispossessed. Though he won it straight back, so fair play.

One thing wrong in 95 mins is perfectly fine by me. Well in lad.

[DannyMan2006]

Pretty good game today, he's just doing the simple stuff and that's all he needs to do. Leave the magical winners to the likes of Torres and Gerrard, everyone has their role and Lucas performed his very well today.

I was paying attention to his game and i think he did one thing wrong - just before half time, he picked up possession on the edge of his box, dallied instead of clearing it, and got dispossessed. Though he won it straight back, so fair play.

One thing wrong in 95 mins is perfectly fine by me. Well in lad.

I noticed that. Insua had a similar moment, he too got himself out of trouble. Lucas did put some passes a stray, but no one is perfect and it is unfair on him to expect every pass to go to a team mate. I imagine all the players are feeling the pressure and with him being young he will feel it more than others.

He just has to be backed, not booed, and we will continue to see improvement with any luck.

[Guest]

Pretty good game today, he's just doing the simple stuff and that's all he needs to do. Leave the magical winners to the likes of Torres and Gerrard, everyone has their role and Lucas performed his very well today.

I was paying attention to his game and i think he did one thing wrong - just before half time, he picked up possession on the edge of his box, dallied instead of clearing it, and got dispossessed. Though he won it straight back, so fair play.

One thing wrong in 95 mins is perfectly fine by me. Well in lad.

It's all down to confidence. He's gone back to basics and does the simple things to get his confidence back, that's an old trick of the trade. Lucas is an excellent player who can do much more than the 'simple things' but he didn't show it on a regular basis because he had to get used to the english game.

He'll show you in time how good he is.

[Craig_H]

It's all down to confidence. He's gone back to basics and does the simple things to get his confidence back, that's an old trick of the trade. Lucas is an excellent player who can do much more than the 'simple things' but he didn't show it on a regular basis because he had to get used to the english game.

He'll show you in time how good he is.

He's still not showing it - he's doing the simple things.

He's rarely going to make a game winning impact in the final third, but that's fine, Mascherano rarely does either. Every player has their job.

[Guest]

He's still not showing it - he's doing the simple things.

He's rarely going to make a game winning impact in the final third, but that's fine, Mascherano rarely does either. Every player has their job.

It's not the time to show it as he's got to get his confidence back again. You can't compare Lucas to Mascherano as they are totally different players. Lucas is a ball player whereas Masch is a ball winner.

Lucas has a small frame, which makes it doubly difficult for him to get used to the league here but he's getting there. He has the basic qualities to become a top class player. He wouldn't be put in the firing line if he was ****.

[Guest]

To be fair to him, he does show some glimpses of his quality. He passes the ball very well and he can get into goalscoring positions. I'm sure he can score the odd goal from midfield but it's a bit far fetched to compare him to a Steven Gerrard.

[JohnDoe]

If that was a 'good' game from him yesterday, I really don't want to see the bad ones. Whenever he plays, he's always the weak link in midfield and has minimal impact. You barely notice he's there, so people say "He was in Masch's role, so he did the simple defensive work", but what exactly did he do defensively? How many tackles has he put in? How many balls has he won? At least Masch has some energy going forward, and sometimes he even manages to contribute offensively, he's set up quite a few goals going forward, what does Lucas do? I'll tell you what he does:

1. Receive ball.
2. Attempt to control the ball for about 3 seconds.
3. Gets pressured by an opposition player.
4. ****s himself.
5. Tries to find the nearest man for a simple backwards or sideways pass.
6. Lets out a sigh of relief, and makes a run forward to hide behind the opposition so that no one will give him the ball again.

So 6 works with Alonso in the team, because he's excellent at making the plays by himself, but it fails horribly when he's partnered with Masch because we're left with on one to master our game. This is why Lucas-Masch is so horrible, and why Alonso-Lucas kinda works. He's a liability either way, we just feel he's good when it doesn't hinder our team massively. A player who's a liability by default and is needed to be carried by someone next to him does not merit a starting position.

So when does Lucas have a good performance? When we don't dominate possession and he just concentrates on running around and chasing the ball. Everyone can look good by working hard.

Not good enough.

[Guest]

If that was a 'good' game from him yesterday, I really don't want to see the bad ones. Whenever he plays, he's always the weak link in midfield and has minimal impact. You barely notice he's there, so people say "He was in Masch's role, so he did the simple defensive work", but what exactly did he do defensively? How many tackles has he put in? How many balls has he won? At least Masch has some energy going forward, and sometimes he even manages to contribute offensively, he's set up quite a few goals going forward, what does Lucas do? I'll tell you what he does:

1. Receive ball.
2. Attempt to control the ball for about 3 seconds.
3. Gets pressured by an opposition player.
4. ****s himself.
5. Tries to find the nearest man for a simple backwards or sideways pass.
6. Lets out a sigh of relief, and makes a run forward to hide behind the opposition so that no one will give him the ball again.

So 6 works with Alonso in the team, because he's excellent at making the plays by himself, but it fails horribly when he's partnered with Masch because we're left with on one to master our game. This is why Lucas-Masch is so horrible, and why Alonso-Lucas kinda works. He's a liability either way, we just feel he's good when it doesn't hinder our team massively. A player who's a liability by default and is needed to be carried by someone next to him does not merit a starting position.

So when does Lucas have a good performance? When we don't dominate possession and he just concentrates on running around and chasing the ball. Everyone can look good by working hard.

Not good enough.

That's incredibly harsh. By your same arguments Rafa must have had his eyes in his arse for buying him.

[JohnDoe]

That's incredibly harsh. By your same arguments Rafa must have had his eyes in his arse for buying him.

Not at all, Lucas is not a bad player, he's just not suited for this league. He needs time on the ball and the English game just passes him by. It's something I thought he'd learn with experience, but now I tend to think he won't get it right with us. He just doesn't have a clear role or purpose, and just fills a gap in the squad when Alonso or Masch aren't there.

[RedReet]

So 6 works with Alonso in the team, because he's excellent at making the plays by himself, but it fails horribly when he's partnered with Masch because we're left with on one to master our game. This is why Lucas-Masch is so horrible, and why Alonso-Lucas kinda works. He's a liability either way, we just feel he's good when it doesn't hinder our team massively. A player who's a liability by default and is needed to be carried by someone next to him does not merit a starting position.

Watch the United game and see how the 'horrible' partnership controled the midfield.

[Guest]

Not at all, Lucas is not a bad player, he's just not suited for this league. He needs time on the ball and the English game just passes him by. It's something I thought he'd learn with experience, but now I tend to think he won't get it right with us. He just doesn't have a clear role or purpose, and just fills a gap in the squad when Alonso or Masch aren't there.

This is normal because he hasn't established himself yet. Let's not forget that he's been bought only last year and he did have a decent first season in English football, albeit not great.

I just feel that he needs more confidence, more matches to get used to the fact that fooball is quicker and requires faster speed of thought than what he's been used to. He'll be OK providing he sticks by those principles until he can 'try' more things.

Again, it all depends on how Rafa sees his role in the team. As lons as he's a decent cog in our side and helps us winning championships, I won't be unhappy. Ronnie Whelan wasn't the best player in the world but he did a fantastic job for the team.

[JohnDoe]

Watch the United game and see how the 'horrible' partnership controled the midfield.

We didn't need to take the initiative against the mancs. Maybe for a few minutes.