Lucas

[PTP]

I'll stick with my summary of lucas after the reading game.

For me, he is nothing other than at best a decent player. And I use the fact that people are talking about him as our best player this season, as a sign of how much we have slipped.

taking nothing away from lucas, i'm not having go at him. And i was one of the few who backed him when he was getting slaughtered by everyone for being ****e.

For him his performances now, are similar to his perfomances when he was getitng slaughtered - the difference isn't lucas - he hasn't suddenly gone from being woeful to world class - he has just been the same average player - what has happened is, the team has gone from playing good football, with confidence, which meant lucas looking out of his depth. To now where we are so ****e, and confidence so low and where in such a mess that the same performances from lucas means he looks good compared to the rest of the crap!!

He is improving, and i have always backed him - but he for me, he doesn't do enough, or hasn't done anything yet that has suggested that he should be our first choice centre mid and will be for years to come.

In an ideal world, he should be 3rd choice and being used to rotate/cover the two first choice centre mids and looking to develop from there.

Unfortunatley, and it's not just lucas this has affected - the club has got itself into such a mess that we have put the likes of lucas, ngog and insua into a ****ty position and dropped them in the deep end!! - insua looks to have sunk, ngog is just about keeping his neck above water but is starting to panic, and lucas is treading water and keeping a float - thats the most random thing i have ever said

Anyway - imo, if we were a top side, a good team, were in the position we all feel we should be in/want to be in - we would have a top class left back as first choice, or at least aurelio being fit enough to start most games, with insua coming through, we'd have another top striker to fill the void between torres and ngog - again with ngog still getting rotated in, learning his trade and devleoping, and the same for lucas - we'd have two top clas midfielders (mascher and aquilani/alonso/barry)? and lucas as the back up,

[Guest]

Lucas is NO limited player. He has an excellent first touch, has a great engine and is intelligent enough to spot an early pass and make runs forward. He's improving all the time but he needs someone who complements him in central midfield so as to showcase all his talents. I'm sure he can score a lot of goals too, as he gets into positions. He seems a decent header of the ball too.

All in all he has some excellent potential, which will make him a really good player given more time. He is much more than a defensive midfielder. He's had to be more versatile to find a place in Rafa's side, but I'm pretty confident he can prosper even more in this side.

[the rev leeroy brown]

I'll stick with my summary of lucas after the reading game.

For me, he is nothing other than at best a decent player. And I use the fact that people are talking about him as our best player this season, as a sign of how much we have slipped.

taking nothing away from lucas, i'm not having go at him. And i was one of the few who backed him when he was getting slaughtered by everyone for being ****e.

For him his performances now, are similar to his perfomances when he was getitng slaughtered - the difference isn't lucas - he hasn't suddenly gone from being woeful to world class - he has just been the same average player - what has happened is, the team has gone from playing good football, with confidence, which meant lucas looking out of his depth. To now where we are so ****e, and confidence so low and where in such a mess that the same performances from lucas means he looks good compared to the rest of the crap!!

He is improving, and i have always backed him - but he for me, he doesn't do enough, or hasn't done anything yet that has suggested that he should be our first choice centre mid and will be for years to come.

In an ideal world, he should be 3rd choice and being used to rotate/cover the two first choice centre mids and looking to develop from there.

Unfortunatley, and it's not just lucas this has affected - the club has got itself into such a mess that we have put the likes of lucas, ngog and insua into a ****ty position and dropped them in the deep end!! - insua looks to have sunk, ngog is just about keeping his neck above water but is starting to panic, and lucas is treading water and keeping a float - thats the most random thing i have ever said

Anyway - imo, if we were a top side, a good team, were in the position we all feel we should be in/want to be in - we would have a top class left back as first choice, or at least aurelio being fit enough to start most games, with insua coming through, we'd have another top striker to fill the void between torres and ngog - again with ngog still getting rotated in, learning his trade and devleoping, and the same for lucas - we'd have two top clas midfielders (mascher and aquilani/alonso/barry)? and lucas as the back up,

spot on. lucas is NEVER gonna be a world beater but he is a decent player and it's amazing what a sustained run in the side has done for him. he would be a good back up to rotate in and out cup games or smaller weker teams etc...

[Guest]

World beater probably not, but an excellent player probably yes.

[Craig_H]

I'd say good player. Not excellent.

[PTP]

spot on. lucas is NEVER gonna be a world beater but he is a decent player and it's amazing what a sustained run in the side has done for him. he would be a good back up to rotate in and out cup games or smaller weker teams etc...

exactly - people seem to forget that we play like 60 odd games a season and due to injuries, supensions, rotation virtually no player in any position would playe every game - the likes of insua/ngog/lucas should be looked as our three youngsters coming through the ranks, learning the game, and being rotated as and when - they would still get prob a min of 20 appearences - pushing on 30 imo.

forget about how **** the players have been this season - i still believe some of them are good players. In an ideal world you want two XI's to choose from - now he two XI's are just an example of what he have and what we need, it doesn't have to be that rigid, we should be flexible enough to change things when required - if we had

----------------------reina----------------------

johnson------------agger-------carra--------either top class left back or at least a proper fit aurelio


maxi?? -------------mascher------aquilani????---------top class left winger

-------------------------Gerrard----------------------------

--------------------------torres---------------------------

with a back up

---------------------cavlieri---------------------

degen-----------skrtel---------------kyriakos---------------insua

kuyt---------------lucas---------Yossi------------Riera

-------------------Ngog----------Other top striker.




If that was our 22 man squad. And out of those 22 we rotated etc, tried different formations and tactics etc - then for me, we wouldn't be far off where we should be, obviously though a lot depends on how maxi and aquilani settle

[the rev leeroy brown]

exactly - people seem to forget that we play like 60 odd games a season and due to injuries, supensions, rotation virtually no player in any position would playe every game - the likes of insua/ngog/lucas should be looked as our three youngsters coming through the ranks, learning the game, and being rotated as and when - they would still get prob a min of 20 appearences - pushing on 30 imo.

forget about how **** the players have been this season - i still believe some of them are good players. In an ideal world you want two XI's to choose from - now he two XI's are just an example of what he have and what we need, it doesn't have to be that rigid, we should be flexible enough to change things when required - if we had

----------------------reina----------------------

johnson------------agger-------carra--------either top class left back or at least a proper fit aurelio


maxi?? -------------mascher------aquilani????---------top class left winger

-------------------------Gerrard----------------------------

--------------------------torres---------------------------

with a back up

---------------------cavlieri---------------------

degen-----------skrtel---------------kyriakos---------------insua

kuyt---------------lucas---------Yossi------------Riera

-------------------Ngog----------Other top striker.




If that was our 22 man squad. And out of those 22 we rotated etc, tried different formations and tactics etc - then for me, we wouldn't be far off where we should be, obviously though a lot depends on how maxi and aquilani settle

i've been right impressed of late with degen's performances. he wants to attack just as much as johnson but as of late takes on players more than johnson whop had started to look for the short pass instead. i'd keepo degen in there with johnson for the right side but for the left we badly need a world class full back with aurelio as back up. for me insua just hasnt got it. and i cant see him ever getting it either.

ngog would be ideal along side lucas as a player to rotate as and when but we badly need a top class back up to torres.

[PTP]

our left side has been abysmal for years - we just have never seen to have got that sorted. riise had a good spell at left back for a while and he has prob been our best left side player in 10 years

[Paul12]

If that was our 22 man squad. And out of those 22 we rotated etc, tried different formations and tactics etc - then for me, we wouldn't be far off where we should be, obviously though a lot depends on how maxi and aquilani settle

I agree.

[PTP]

i've been right impressed of late with degen's performances. he wants to attack just as much as johnson but as of late takes on players more than johnson whop had started to look for the short pass instead. i'd keepo degen in there with johnson for the right side but for the left we badly need a world class full back with aurelio as back up. for me insua just hasnt got it. and i cant see him ever getting it either.

ngog would be ideal along side lucas as a player to rotate as and when but we badly need a top class back up to torres.

yeah - degen is depserate to get a run of games and stay ****ing fit. He'd be a decent option as back up to johnson -

the annoying thing for me is our lack of funding hads really ****ed us up - i posted almost the exact same post in the summer!! highlighting the same areas -

As well as the above named players - u keep the likes of darby, kelly, pacheco, spearing as well just to 'fill out' the squad so you have 26 players - 7 of which you could class as young/up and coming - anyone not on the list is bombed out (to be fair we have done so with voronin and dossena) and you fill in the gaps. A left back, left wing, and striker!!

As i say, a lot depends on aquilani and maxi - but hopefully they are good enough.

[Redspin]

He is not at the level of Flamini (pre move). He's nothing like Fletcher or Park either.

He's vastly superior to Fletcher and Park. Both are just head-down running merchants who aren't good at any one thing. Flamini (now) is so good that he can't get a game at Milan and they want to get rid

[Redspin]

bit harsh that son. he'll make it in the prem alright and if not with us then with a small team such as a hull, stoke, bolton etc...

he really isnt as bad as some on here make out.

Cheers. No-one's called me "son" since about 1965.

I hope you're right about Spearing's future away from us as he seems a nice lad. However players like him often go out like a light when they leave one of the big clubs

[Armchairkopite]

Some people just seem to completely ignore the fact that he has just turned 23 and has a lot of developing to do. Think of what king of player we are going to have on our hands when this lad is 25. If is development continues the way it has this season we have a potentially World Class player in our hands imo.

[RedReet]

I wish I had the will to participate in this debate properly, but just couldn’t be bothered at the minute. I’m struggling to understand though why a lot of the people who only a few short weeks/months ago were saying Lucas is absolutely ****, will never be good enough, are now saying he’s pretty good, decent squad player, but ultimately not good enough. If he can suddenly make such a drastic improvement in only a few months of playing regular football, why then at 23 years of age can he not continue improving and fulfil the potential that he obviously has? I’d have thought the gap between complete **** and good would be harder to bridge than progression from good to very good.

I’ve always worried that what might stop Lucas from developing into a quality player, would be lack of support. Thankfully though he’s shown a great strength of character, and illustrated a strong willingness to keep improving and succeed at the club. The maturity of his performance against Stoke in such difficult circumstances really has me optimistic that he’ll grow to be an excellent footballer, a complete midfielder.

[RedReet]

Some people just seem to completely ignore the fact that he has just turned 23 and has a lot of developing to do. Think of what king of player we are going to have on our hands when this lad is 25. If is development continues the way it has this season we have a potentially World Class player in our hands imo.

If I had of read that first, could have saved me the effort of my previous post.