THE Lucas thread

[Exiled_red]

The bit not in bold first: I understand Alonso struggled early doors. He was poor at times hence the reason he was nearly sold before. But what is upsetting people now is that we have ten players in our first team who are capable of winning the title, this was proved last season as it ended. The one grey mark is the loss of Alonso and whether the team could manage without him. People will look at the results of late and draw their own conclusions.

The bit in bold: I agree, but Lucas has to have the confidence to express himself on the game and tell players around him how to make the best use of him.

For instance Niall Quinn would have told Kevin Phillips to get in front of him and feed of the balls that he won in the air. If Kevin Phillips had stayed alongside Quinn or dropped deep it would have looked like Quinn was not doing his job and instead wasting possession.

Lucas has been in and around Melwood long enough to know how other players in the system play their game. What he needs to get across is how he will play in this system. Maybe he could tell Mascherano to stay deep and cover his forward runs.

I think there is perhaps a communication problem in our midfield (or at least the more experienced players don't pass on this experience during games), Gerrard and Mascherano never really tell other players where to go or what to do (unless they are frustrated). I think that Lucas could use advice from some of the more senior players to help him develop his game, I think Gerrard benefited hugely from McAllister giving him this type of advice during games a few years back. I don't think Lucas is getting this advice he's been asked to play a number of different roles in the past and I'm not sure he knows what to do now, I think if the other players could help him out a bit more we would see improvements in his game.

[Guest]

Torres is a world class player, has been world class for us and will be world class in the future. People are sick and tired of waiting for Lucas to come good.

Then people should vent their anger at their dog, wife or someone else. Lucas wasn't responsible for us losing tonight. Have you seen how many times Torres went into blind alleys? He lost the ball countless times and most times he's slowed down our attacking moves. Should I start a thread about him being ****e? No, that's not my style.

[cream]

Then people should vent their anger at their dog, wife or someone else. Lucas wasn't responsible for us losing tonight. Have you seen how many times Torres went into blind alleys? He lost the ball countless times and most times he's slowed down our attacking moves. Should I start a thread about him being ****e? No, that's not my style.

Nope, people are venting their anger at Lucas because he is generally a **** player, no big deal really.

[Guest]

Nope, people are venting their anger at Lucas because he is generally a **** player, no big deal really.

Vent your anger at Rafa then, he's been playing him instead of Plessis.

[Jaymo]

Then people should vent their anger at their dog, wife or someone else. Lucas wasn't responsible for us losing tonight. Have you seen how many times Torres went into blind alleys? He lost the ball countless times and most times he's slowed down our attacking moves. Should I start a thread about him being ****e? No, that's not my style.

Thank you

but when i say it..i get slated.

[FatTony]

Vent your anger at Rafa then, he's been playing him instead of Plessis.

Plessis is ****ing quality too.

[Jaymo]

Nope, people are venting their anger at Lucas because he is generally a **** player, no big deal really.

exactly my argument.. Lucas being used as a scapegoat.

[Craig_H]

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.

[Darkon]

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.

agree with everything except babel. Throw benny in gerrards position and Riera on the left and I'd be happy.

Or take the crow in, he seems to have some game intelligence and actually wants the ball.

[red g]

no point blaming Lucas we sent a boy in to do a mans job.

Maybe with Rafa's constant p[raise of Lucas he knew he wasnt upto the job but has been trying to get an extra 10% out of the lad.

Its a shame because we are being forced to play Lucas in a position he doesnt do best and has huge boots to fill.

I think this little spell will make or break the lad and as i dont see our fans being particularly forgiving i think this could set back his progress dramatically.

[St.Anger]

I agree with what was said about putting Gerrard back in mid. There is no point in keeping him up there when no one can feed him and torres the right passes. Torres was so out numbered last night.

Im a big fan of putting up a big string attacker next to Torres. Jones from sunderland would be ideal. From our squad I think Kuyt would be my choice. Than put benny on the right and riera on the left.

I really rate Rafa, but I fear he is going to take a GH and be stubborn about his system and line oops even though its not working..

[The Birdman]

If Lucas made the kind of naive, stupid tackle that Gerrard did 90 seconds after getting ourselves back into the game people would be burning straw filled life sized dolls of him outside Anfield.
He's not Alonso, never has been and the best of my knowledge never pretended to be him so the comparisons are futile.
Lucas is just the current whipping boy, the scape goat so that when we lose it's solely his fault, not the other 10 lads on the pitch as well.

[FatTony]

If Lucas made the kind of naive, stupid tackle that Gerrard did 90 seconds after getting ourselves back into the game people would be burning straw filled life sized dolls of him outside Anfield.
He's not Alonso, never has been and the best of my knowledge never pretended to be him so the comparisons are futile.
Lucas is just the current whipping boy, the scape goat so that when we lose it's solely his fault, not the other 10 lads on the pitch as well.

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.

[Craig_H]

If Lucas made the kind of naive, stupid tackle that Gerrard did 90 seconds after getting ourselves back into the game people would be burning straw filled life sized dolls of him outside Anfield.
He's not Alonso, never has been and the best of my knowledge never pretended to be him so the comparisons are futile.
Lucas is just the current whipping boy, the scape goat so that when we lose it's solely his fault, not the other 10 lads on the pitch as well.

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.

[Guest]

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.