First choice midfield...

[Armchairkopite]

'Armchairkoptie"

[Shaggy]

He typed that initially...seems to have edited it now.

[Armchairkopite]

He typed that initially...seems to have edited it now.

Frustration and all that.

[little dave hedgehog]

:tock:

[Helios Creed]

Has anyone suggested that the wealth of midfielders we possess means that we could have bought a much-needed striker in the summer instead?

I'm not sure I could stand reading back though the whole thread.

[Craig_H]

Frustration and all that.

or just a typo?

[Guest]

Craig has finally landed on those potential minefields.

[Matt]

Has anyone suggested that the wealth of midfielders we possess means that we could have bought a much-needed striker in the summer instead?

I'm not sure I could stand reading back though the whole thread.

It's certainly possible, although I haven't read a couple of pages, and would certainly make sense.

[RedReet]

It's true though. At the start of the season there was a big Lucas is **** / no he isn't discussion going on and he was getting nomination after nomination by people to prove a point. Not saying he was ****, he was doing fine, but the MOM nominations were getting a bit laughable at the time. Definitely some backing of the underdog going on imo.

That works both ways though. You can’t say the results are skewed because of sympathy votes for Lucas and ignore that fact that that some people refuse to give Lucas credit even when he plays well (maybe not so much now).

[Craig_H]

There's surely a difference though, between giving someone credit, and calling them our best player of the season. I'd give N'Gog credit for having done well, but he's not been our best player. Same applies to Lucas, he's done pretty well. Best player of the season requires more than that though.

[dww]

There's surely a difference though, between giving someone credit, and calling them our best player of the season. I'd give N'Gog credit for having done well, but he's not been our best player. Same applies to Lucas, he's done pretty well. Best player of the season requires more than that though.

What with it being a comparative term I don't think it does this season. At this stage no one (in an outfield position) can in my view be said to have reached the standards that should be expected at a top four club. Some players like Mascherano have at least improved to gain that level but at the top consistency and reliability are hugely important and his form early season was rubbish.

The only players who have improved and played consistently as well as expected or better and shown genuine improvement from last year are N'gog and Lucas I would say. So although it might say more about the generally poor state of affairs this season I think Lucas is rightfully in the running to be our best player this season.

I suppose I ought to give some credit in that last paragraph to Babel of whom my opinion has been raised by his consistently looking awake whilst on the pitch in recent times.

[Craig_H]

What with it being a comparative term I don't think it does this season. At this stage no one (in an outfield position) can in my view be said to have reached the standards that should be expected at a top four club. Some players like Mascherano have at least improved to gain that level but at the top consistency and reliability are hugely important and his form early season was rubbish.

The only players who have improved and played consistently as well as expected or better and shown genuine improvement from last year are N'gog and Lucas I would say. So although it might say more about the generally poor state of affairs this season I think Lucas is rightfully in the running to be our best player this season.

I suppose I ought to give some credit in that last paragraph to Babel of whom my opinion has been raised by his consistently looking awake whilst on the pitch in recent times.

Why restrict it to outfield positions though? I personally think it's a no-brainer that Reina's been our best performer by a chasm. If someone disagrees, then fair enough but i cant see any basis for dispute on this one.

As for outfield players, Lucas has been consistently solid and decent, along with a handful of games where he's been very good. Definitely one of the most improved, and he deserves credit for that.

Mascherano however, had a handful of dismal performances earlier in the season, but in the last 3-4 months, has been absolutely superb.

I'd quantify it by suggesting that Lucas has put in mostly 7/10 performances, with the odd 8/10 here and there, and perhaps the odd 6/10 where he's had one or two of his worse games.

Mascherano had a handful of 6/10 performances earlier in the season but has been consistently turning in 9/10 performances for a few months now.

If you were to add all those up and find a median figure, i think Mascher's would be higher.

I'd put Reina as 1st place, Mascherano 2nd, and maybe Lucas 3rd.

For the number of games played, i'd even argue that Kyrgiakos has maybe been better than Lucas. He brought authority and presence to our backline at a much needed time, so whilst he's only contributed in a minimal number of games, his impact was absolutely critical - which i'm not sure i could justifiably say about that of Lucas.

So i'd personally have Lucas as either 3rd or 4th best performer this campaign.

[red g]

What with it being a comparative term I don't think it does this season. At this stage no one (in an outfield position) can in my view be said to have reached the standards that should be expected at a top four club. Some players like Mascherano have at least improved to gain that level but at the top consistency and reliability are hugely important and his form early season was rubbish.

The only players who have improved and played consistently as well as expected or better and shown genuine improvement from last year are N'gog and Lucas I would say.

So although it might say more about the generally poor state of affairs this season I think Lucas is rightfully in the running to be our best player this season.

I suppose I ought to give some credit in that last paragraph to Babel of whom my opinion has been raised by his consistently looking awake whilst on the pitch in recent times.

how can that qualify as being best player of the season a player being better than a season when he was very poor?

To me only reina has acheived consistently world class performances, Lucas has been Joe average with a couple of very good performances. Masher has had some outstanding games and both Johnson and Torres have still contributed heavily although being injured for most of season.

[Craig_H]

how can that qualify as being best player of the season a player being better than a season when he was very poor?

To me only reina has acheived consistently world class performances, Lucas has been Joe average with a couple of very good performances. Masher has had some outstanding games and both Johnson and Torres have still contributed heavily although being injured for most of season.

I agree with nearly all of that. That's what i think happens with Lucas (as with most players, to be fair), people judge them against the standards which the player has set for himself.

That's why people like Gerrard and Torres are now just expected to be brilliant as the norm, while others get massive praise for a good performance that Gerrard and Torres would just be expected to produce.

I wouldnt call Lucas 'joe average', i think that's harsh. I think he's been pretty decent to quite good, with a smittering of very good performances. Very rarely has he actually been 'poor' and for me, average is like 5.5 or 6 out of 10.

[dww]

how can that qualify as being best player of the season a player being better than a season when he was very poor?

I didn't think he was poor then. It was more related observation that a justification. I didn't put N'gog up for best player because he hasn't bee better than anyone else. I think the entire squad has had poor seasons. I genuinely think that Lucas has been better than most, if not all the outfield players on a consistent basis this season.

To me only reina has acheived consistently world class performances, Lucas has been Joe average with a couple of very good performances. Masher has had some outstanding games and both Johnson and Torres have still contributed heavily although being injured for most of season.

I actually think that the team was made worse defensively in quite a considerable way by trying to accommodate Johnson. He was good going forward but not good at all as a defender. He's a member of the back four so I would not be willing to have him anywhere near our best performers.

I think Lucas has contributed as much at least as Mascherano and did it when others were performing terribly which I think is worth extra credit.

I agree about Reina. I'm never sure comparing the keeper with outfield players in this sort of thing is a reasonable thing to do. As such I tend to draw a distinction and don't include keepers in this sort of thing. I admit this is possibly far from the norm.

It is certainly true, however, that it is more of less the de facto way that it happens in votes as keepers (particularly at decent or better teams) will rarely be ranked as the top player in a game.