Lucas

[dww]

Good.

[Joe King]

Can I say that there are no good commentators on tv and radio at the moment? I thought Rob Hawthorne really tried to hide his Manchester United fanaticism

Bring back Barry Davies.

[RedReet]

I think these chalkboards stats are not even close to be accurate tbh, if you look at who he has been passing to it seems he was passing even handed to Man U players as well.

Sometimes they aren't on the most accurate, but on this occasion it was pretty close. Lucas misplaced two passes all game. The one they highlighted could have been omitted as the ball was played to Kuyt on 94th minute and Evra just poked his foot in to nick the ball. He had one clear missed pass that they did miss, again a ball to Kuyt on 81.

[wiw]

Lucas

He's definitely adapted to the English game now imo. His stamina is fantastic now and has massively improved, which I think has helped his all-round game

[DannyMan2006]

Yep, I've seen him there before as a fan, sitting in the Centenary. Unbelievable that a fan who is also paid to air his views can think like this. ****ing ridiculous.

He's just a frustrated red.

You'd hear much worse if some posters of this site were allowed to moan on the radio. Truth is, everyone has a moan every now and then, it just so happens that he is live on radio when he does it.

I could ask that he keeps his opinions to himself, but if he did he wouldn't be doing his job properly. It's up to Liverpool wo win the league to silence him and every other critic about. Because until they do people will continue to take a pop at us.

[Redspin]

Tony Barrett was very positive about Lucas in the Times online, calling him the best player on the park.

Alonso didn't get loads of assists because he played very deep. He provided the pass before the assist on many an occasion. He was fantastic last season and there is no getting away from that. He was a great foil for Mascherano.

However I believe in Rafa and trust he has found an ideal replacement in Aquilani who will hopefully become a great creator for Liverpool in the coming months.

Lucas's only problem is that unlike Alonso he is not an ideal foil for Mascherano.

Like you and I, Tony Barrett is a Liverpool fan, so I'm not surprised that in his article he took an identical view to me. It's the wider media - the non-liverpool fan journalists - who won't give him credit. One paper praised several players and then said something like "...even Lucas had a half-decent game..". Such a sneering attitude was typical after the match.

I'm sure that I watch as many Liverpool games as most on here, but I think it's a bit fanciful to say with any conviction that despite Alonso's lack of assists last season he provided the pass before the assists many times. I can't remember any examples actually, but if you can rattle off half a dozen or so I'll believe you.

My point was that - and you agree with me - he played very deep. However, the likes of Gray and many journalists assert with absolute conviction - as Gray did during the game on Sunday - that we are missing his through balls to Torres, so have less creativity and attacking threat as a result. I can only remember Alonso, after coming on as a sub at Sunderland, passing to Torres about 35 yards from goal. Torres carried it forward and scored from about 25 yards.

Technically it's an assist, although it was really a goal created out of nothing by Torres, who had everything to do after receiving the pass, but I can't recall a single other direct link between Alonso passing to Torres and a goal being scored. Maybe you can - Andy Gray appears to have convinced himself of this happening lots of times, so maybe it's just me.

Interestingly, to put Alonso's lack of impact in the final third into perspective, already this season, Insua has made three assists from left-back, as many as Alonso made all last season.

Alonso and Mascherano did play well together for the most part but that doesn't justify the wild criticism by fickle fans on here and journalists elsewhere directed at Lucas. Not being Alonso is not enough of an reason - and surely it's as much the "fault" of Mascherano that he's not an ideal foil for Lucas?

[Redspin]

lets not get carried away by one good perfromance. all credit to the lad. he takes some amount of stick especially in the media but showed against the scum another side to him. but he is far from being 'the boss'. him and masher had a good afternoon running around breaking up passes but neither did anything spectacular.

So would you prefer the contributions of Man U's central midfield on Sunday by way of comparison? The ponderous Scholes and the journeyman Carrick made precisely no forward motion, so Man U's play was very pedestrian and predictable.

For me I'll have Mascherano and Lucas breaking up their feeble attempts every day of the week.

I would have been delighted if Lucas's easily dispossessing of Scholes in the first half had been converted by Kuyt as it deserved. At least his vision on getting forward to support Kuyt led directly to Ngog's goal. But I'm sure there are those on here who will say it wasn't much of a pass, completely ignoring how he ended up where he was, from being deep in his own half just seconds earlier.

[Guest]

I don't think it's fair to say that they 'only broke up' Man. Utd's play. They passed it around pretty well also, especially Lucas. We played a good passing game on Sunday and were very confident for a team allegedly low on it.

[DannyMan2006]

Not being Alonso is not enough of an reason - and surely it's as much the "fault" of Mascherano that he's not an ideal foil for Lucas?

It is. I agree it is the partnership at fault. The partnership worked against the big teams in Chelsea and Man Utd, but less so against middle of the road sides like Villa, Spurs and Lyon.

I only ever say drop Lucas for a playmaker as I see Mascherano as the best holding player in the world. Both are doing pretty much the same job, with both offering the team pretty much the same. Maybe Lucas slightly more going forward and Mascher slightly more at the back.

I think against the majority of teams Mascherano acting as a shield in front of the back 4 is enough, and we can sacrifice Lucas for a playmaker - Aquilani when he is ready.

If it weren't for Lucas competing against the best holding player in world football I'd probably have him starting in my ideal first XI. But we only need one of them IMO.

[dww]

While I agree the partnership is important I think that Lucas/Mascherano is made a lot more viable by Agger at the back and/or an greater emphasis on play making in the other three behind Torres. The way Aurelio and Benayoun play the ball (and Kuyt made runs and hassled higher up the pitch, something that Gerrard has only intermittently looked fit enough to really do this season) all contribute to how well that axis works. The same could be said for a lot of United's midfields actually. At the minute they lack a CM who dictates the way a game is played much as we do. The difference has been that they have had a solidity throughout the team this season we have lacked.