THE Lucas thread

[the rev leeroy brown]

lucas = ****.

mash = rash tackles and headless chicken of late

carra / skrtel = nervous play and poor defending of late

lfc = just plain **** all pre-season and 1st 3 games.

[DannyMan2006]

Danny's got it spot on, we're basically playing the same system as last year, but with a vastly inferior player in one of the key positions. Lucas cannot and will not adequately fill Alonso's role, because he's not at that level and it's not his game.

As i said in a thread i posted not too long ago - until Aquilani is fit, we should pull Gerrard back into CM and play 442 with Babel alongside Torres.

Not only will it give us our grip back in midfield, but it would help Torres no end. At the moment, Gerrard is having to drop deeper anyway, to get the ball because Lucas and Mascher arent capable of finding Gerrard in the way he was used to with Alonso. So Gerrard drops deeper, and Torres is left isolated, with 2 defenders glued to him and outnumbering him. It's so painful to watch.

Say what you like about Babel, but he has the physical attributes to take some of the defenders attention onto him and free up Torres a little. Babel may not be amazing, but defenders will not be able to leave a player with pace and power to his own devices.

442 is a must, staring at Bolton. We either fix the above problems, or we forget any kind of title challenge, let alone winning it.

Its not that he's poor, he's an OK player, but he needs to be playing alongside a playmaker and he isn't, so with Mascher sitting further back, the focus is on Lucas to link up with Gerrard and Torres and this isn't his game.

I feel for the lad but at the moment unless Gerrard is brought back, he needs to become a playmaker pronto.

I agree on the gerrard challenge, but then he did manage to score a fairly unchallenged header into his own goal.

Lucas isnt Alonso and that's not his fault. But we need to stop using the system that relies on an Alonso, when we dont have one.

If Aquilani is upto the task, revert back to the 4231 system then. But til that happens, we're using a push bike to race a Formula 1 Grand Prix.

none of our two holding mids offer any threat going forward

at home, we need more penetration and threat from there

aki might do it, but until then, stick stevie back there.

Sense.

[Marky]

Lucas threads gets bumped every time we get beat, how funny.

Insua had a shocker last night yet not one comment.

[Robbie-9-Fowler]

Lucas has clearly improved from last year, he's still only young FFS! Hate the way he become the whipping boy when we lose a game. It used to be Dirk a couple of years ago, it's obvious he's still got to improve but IMO he will and will become a very useful player.

[Kenneth]

Lucas threads gets bumped every time we get beat, how funny.

Insua had a shocker last night yet not one comment.

Did he?

[red g]

Lucas threads gets bumped every time we get beat, how funny.

Insua had a shocker last night yet not one comment.

till Lucas has a run of games where he constantly delivers he will always be the scapegoat.

Insua wasnt shocking.....only Gerrard, Kuyt and Lucas were shocking imo and 2 out of 3 of them have deserved the right to have a shocker now and again

[razortoddy]

Lucas bashing seems to be the immediate response to a Liverpool loss. Rafa is right, the senior players need to step up to the plate. Villa's first goal was a fluke,Carragher and Torres were nowhere near for the second and Gerrard's tackle for the third was poor. What did Lucas do wrong? A 10 man defence in front of him in a narrow part of the field and unless he is Molby-like he is ****e.Get off the lad's back, he plays for Liverpool ie us. He never hides, always wants the ball,gives 100%, is only young, worked hard at building up his strength and possesses good qualities and no little skill. Ronaldo was average for the first season at Manure. Get off Lucas's back and be what we are supposed to be "Supporters" ie somebody who supports their team, all of them. Is Gerrard good enough because on last nights performance you would have to say no? Everyone has offdays. We are human not machines. Support.

[redstaralex]

Lucas was by no means our worst player last night, the blame for our loss as at the feet of those who missed their chances in the first 20 mins, if any of them had scored we would all be looking happy today

Carra needs to sort himself out, he's not been good yet this season and Gerrard was poor last night

[RedReet]

till Lucas has a run of games where he constantly delivers he will always be the scapegoat.

Insua wasnt shocking.....only Gerrard, Kuyt and Lucas were shocking imo and 2 out of 3 of them have deserved the right to have a shocker now and again

But that’s gonna be hard to do unless the fans start supporting him rather than putting him under more pressure with their sighs making him have to second guess everything he’s gonna do.

[red g]

But that’s gonna be hard to do unless the fans start supporting him rather than putting him under more pressure with their sighs making him have to second guess everything he’s gonna do.

thats football though.

We live in a results business, its easy to point the finger at Lucas so people will.

the fact is Gerrard played worse than him last night,
worse performance from Gerrard for a long time.

[JudgeRed]

I made that call a while ago. He's naturally probably our best passer now that Alonso is gone. And ironically probably the closest player to him in the squad, when looking at skillset anyhow. He did quite well against Portsmouth the only time he played there for us. So if he's training again (apparently) and available before Aquilani I wouldn't mind seeing him there for a game to see how he goes. He'll definitely add a broader range of passing which would definitely be a good thing.

The only thing is whether it would damage the confidence of Lucas further- which is something I dont want to happen. For the record I like Lucas and think he will come good.

[Mattshark]

Lucas was by no means our worst player last night, the blame for our loss as at the feet of those who missed their chances in the first 20 mins, if any of them had scored we would all be looking happy today

Carra needs to sort himself out, he's not been good yet this season and Gerrard was poor last night

[Delinquent]

Lucas spent half of yesterday running away from the ball. The amount of times either Masher or one of our centre backs were left with NO options to pass to in the middle of the pitch was unbelievable. Either his confidence was shot away and he was making very effort to avoid the ball, or he'd mistaken Masher for someone who can hit defence-splitting 40 yard passes.

Lucas has been ok thus far, and was arguably one of our better players during pre-season (not difficult) but he needs to start demonstrating some of this 'confidence' he's talked about of late out there on the pitch. There is a weight of responsibility on him to try and channel our play. Alonso is gone and Masher will never be a playmaker.

No-one is expecting him to replace Alonso. ****, I spent enough time talking about how implausible that was before Xabi left. What I do expect however, is for him to show himself for the ball - make himself available, keep things ticking over. Not rely on the likes of Masher or our central defenders to pick him out of a crowd. Like it or not, until Aquilani returns, we are relying on him to create things, or at the very least, move the ball around to people who can. I don't want to see him making 'intelligent forward runs' when Masher or Carra are looking for someone to pass to in the centre circle.

I did feel for him after his own-goal. He must've known he'd undone much of the work he'd done in restoring the crowd's faith in him. Unfortunately though, expectations are high at this club. He needs to man-up and start asserting himself, or find a club where he think that completing a few passes and not being the worst player on the pitch is an acceptable target to aim for.

All that said, I do agree with some that there were many more who could have threads dedicated to them after yesterday, not least our two star players. But then, we know they'll come good, don't we?

[red g]

Lucas spent half of yesterday running away from the ball. The amount of times either Masher or one of our centre backs were left with NO options to pass to in the middle of the pitch was unbelievable. Either his confidence was shot away and he was making very effort to avoid the ball, or he'd mistaken Masher for someone who can hit defence-splitting 40 yard passes.

Lucas has been ok thus far, and was arguably one of our better players during pre-season (not difficult) but he needs to start demonstrating some of this 'confidence' he's talked about of late out there on the pitch. There is a weight of responsibility on him to try and channel our play. Alonso is gone and Masher will never be a playmaker.

No-one is expecting him to replace Alonso. ****, I spent enough time talking about how implausible that was before Xabi left. What I do expect however, is for him to show himself for the ball - make himself available, keep things ticking over. Not rely on the likes of Masher or our central defenders to pick him out of a crowd. Like it or not, until Aquilani returns, we are relying on him to create things, or at the very least, move the ball around to people who can. I don't want to see him making 'intelligent forward runs' when Masher or Carra are looking for someone to pass to in the centre circle.

I did feel for him after his own-goal. He must've known he'd undone much of the work he'd done in restoring the crowd's faith in him. Unfortunately though, expectations are high at this club. He needs to man-up and start asserting himself, or find a club where he think that completing a few passes and not being the worst player on the pitch is an acceptable target to aim for.

All that said, I do agree with some that there were many more who could have threads dedicated to them after yesterday, not least our two star players. But then, we know they'll come good, don't we?

yes we do

[Exiled_red]

Lucas isnt Alonso and that's not his fault. But we need to stop using the system that relies on an Alonso, when we dont have one.

If Aquilani is upto the task, revert back to the 4231 system then. But til that happens, we're using a push bike to race a Formula 1 Grand Prix.

The point I've been trying to make