Lucas The Buccaneer

[Parr_Zee]

I've said this before ... we have the players to play really exceptional attacking football - but they have to be sent out with attacking tactics and mentality. Prior to these 2 games, it is clear to me that Lucas and Mascherano are being told to play deep, compact and to keep things simple. When we throw men forward, we are really dangerous.

[dww]

I've said this before ... we have the players to play really exceptional attacking football - but they have to be sent out with attacking tactics and mentality. Prior to these 2 games, it is clear to me that Lucas and Mascherano are being told to play deep, compact and to keep things simple. When we throw men forward, we are really dangerous.

I'm not sure it is as simple as that actually. The play ahead of Lucas in particular has a big influence on how he plays as does how high up the defense plays behind him. Agger is looking fitter and with Johnson at right back that naturally moves the backline higher up the pitch. In the last two games the movement of the three behind Torres has been massively improved.

Those are the two factors that I think make Lucas more effective.

I think the problem with Lucas has been largely about decision making. When he starts deep I don't think he sees the opportunities to get forward. As soon as he is higher up the pitch I think he sees them and hence goes for them more. I can see that the desire to look for them is linked to the mentality of the team though, so I accept that your take is at least partly true.

I'm not totally convinced though that Lucas is told to just sit. I think though his instincts are to hold position unless you see an opening - the deeper you are the harder openings are to see. I hope that the more games he get where he plays in a well functioning team the more he will start to see them.

[Matt]

I hope Lucas is allowed to support the attack more on Sunday. The extra man really makes the difference and Torres is going to need all the support he can get.

[Parr_Zee]

I'm not sure it is as simple as that actually. The play ahead of Lucas in particular has a big influence on how he plays as does how high up the defense plays behind him. Agger is looking fitter and with Johnson at right back that naturally moves the backline higher up the pitch. In the last two games the movement of the three behind Torres has been massively improved.

But if Lucas plays higher, one of their CMs has to play deeper, allowing more space for our defence to push up into.

We usually see Lucas and Mascherano alongside each other, whereas yesterday, Lucas was 20 yards further up the pitch, which meant the ball could go from Agger/Carra to Mascherano, to Lucas/Stevie and then we have 5 players in the attacking 3rd.

[Maxiedge]

About f'in time he got forward. Where would Arsenal be without Fabregas getting forward or Chelsea without Lampard? FFS. Hopefully we'll start playing like that against every schmuck that comes to Anfield.

[dww]

But if Lucas plays higher, one of their CMs has to play deeper, allowing more space for our defence to push up into.

We usually see Lucas and Mascherano alongside each other, whereas yesterday, Lucas was 20 yards further up the pitch, which meant the ball could go from Agger/Carra to Mascherano, to Lucas/Stevie and then we have 5 players in the attacking 3rd.

I guess there is an element of chicken and egg (or more accurately I think of it as a feedback situation) but I tend to feel that the way it works is that if the team is deep and there are no quick options for passes Lucas drifts back to where there are - i.e. close to Mascherano and the CBs. If there is movement and players to move with higher up then he goes with the play.

I've said several times before I think that both Lucas and Kuyt are force multiplying players whose influence is largely dependent on how other set up around them in my view. So when the rest of the team pushes forward Lucas is moved forward which in turn creates options and the space you refer to .

[red g]

lets not get carried away, thought he was great in the first half, not soo good in the second.

I think the critics lay off him now ....but i fnd all this hyperbole him a tad puzzling. Not being funny but after 3 years i would hope he is starting to produce decent performances.....we have stuck by him with enough crap performances

[Shaggy]

He hasn't been crap by any stretch of the imagination, nor is he a world beater. The truth is somewhere in between. He's a good player with the potential to be better. Definitely one our most consistent players this season and deserves his place in the top three or four of this year's MOM competition.

The stick he gets is totally ridiculous and really patronising.

[the rev leeroy brown]

4-1-4-1 suited lucas last night.

when we switched to 4-4-2 then not so much as he had to be more defensive.

as we all know he and mash cannot play 4-2-3-1

hopefully rafa sticks with the 4-1-4-1 formation that aqua showed good form in as well against pompey.

[red g]

He hasn't been crap by any stretch of the imagination, nor is he a world beater. The truth is somewhere in between. He's a good player with the potential to be better. Definitely one our most consistent players this season and deserves his place in the top three or four of this year's MOM competition.

The stick he gets is totally ridiculous and really patronising.

but then i find the praise he gets sometimes totally ridiculous and patronsing.

And he was crap when he first came imo this season he has done well in a poor midfield combo.

[Exiled_red]

I'm not sure it is as simple as that actually. The play ahead of Lucas in particular has a big influence on how he plays as does how high up the defense plays behind him. Agger is looking fitter and with Johnson at right back that naturally moves the backline higher up the pitch. In the last two games the movement of the three behind Torres has been massively improved.

Those are the two factors that I think make Lucas more effective.

I think the problem with Lucas has been largely about decision making. When he starts deep I don't think he sees the opportunities to get forward. As soon as he is higher up the pitch I think he sees them and hence goes for them more. I can see that the desire to look for them is linked to the mentality of the team though, so I accept that your take is at least partly true.

I'm not totally convinced though that Lucas is told to just sit. I think though his instincts are to hold position unless you see an opening - the deeper you are the harder openings are to see. I hope that the more games he get where he plays in a well functioning team the more he will start to see them.

I don't think it's a coincidence that our central midfield has improved since we have players with good movement back in the team and at a decent level of fitness.

He put in some good performances last season when we had similar movement ahead of him

[Kenneth]

He's certainly doing very well this year, especially considering he is ****.

[red g]

He's certainly doing very well this year, especially considering he is ****.

shouldnt but ......

[Mike]

As you begin to type Lucas Leiva into Google, your third suggested search option gives an example of the difficulties facing the Liverpool midfielder.

It is fair to say that the 23-year-old, a 2007 signing from Gremio, does not bask in widespread critical acclaim in the football world, despite becoming a regular in the plans of manager Rafa Benitez this season after Xabi Alonso decided to become a Galactico at Real Madrid last summer.

Having been forced to adapt to a more defensive style since his switch from Brazil almost three years ago, Lucas now feels settled in the Premier League and, as has been the case with most 'big games' in the current campaign, he is expected to partner Javier Mascherano in the engine room for Sunday's vitally-important meeting with fierce foes Manchester United.

However, ahead of kick-off at Old Trafford, Lucas knows that his regularity in Liverpool's starting line-up will not guarantee popularity. It could be thought that he has become an easy target, a young, foreign player, for humbugs in his club's below-par season, but then his hot-and-cold performance against Lille on Thursday also demonstrated why he can prove a frustrating character.

When it is implied that he has had his critics in the past, he immediately responds: "I still have and to be honest I think I will have here forever. I don't think that the people will turn in my way, but I just try to be focused in my job and try to improve all the time and play for the people who like me.

"I don't know why the criticism started with me, but some people just do not like me. I don't know why.

"I never had this before (in my career) so it is the first time it happened and now I am really positive and just try to concentrate on my job."

Some may feel sympathy for Lucas, but he is aware that criticism and learning from lessons is a part of football, a part of growing up. After moving from South America when only just out of his teenage years, he knows that he has changed and that there is still room for progress.

"I was really young when I came here, I was 20," the man from Dourados explains as our interview continues at Liverpool's Melwood training ground on Tuesday. "Now I am a bit older and there are still a lot of things to improve. But I am still young, so I just have to keep going.

"My first season was more difficult because I had to adapt quickly to the style and also the tempo of the game. I am completely settled now in the Premier League, so I am trying to improve all the time and I am doing quite well this season. Of course we have to improve and as a team we can always improve more, so to just keep going is the best way to change things."

Confidence
Familiarising himself with off-field life on Merseyside was also an issue. Lucas, who has two friends from Brazil sitting in the background at our interview as part of their visit to England, admits homesickness was a factor, however, he is now content.

"We miss our family, but my life in Liverpool is really quiet," he says. "I don't go out too much. I like the life I have here, it is quiet and calm. Sometimes of course the criticism makes you a bit disappointed but, anyway, you have to keep going.

"Liverpool is a good city, but not so big. The city where I lived before was two million people, so here is quite small compared to there, but we have some options like restaurants and shops. I am okay here."

Benitez has always been a strong supporter of Lucas, once accusing critics of a lack of appreciation with the words, 'people just don't know how good Lucas is' and the midfielder is determined to return the favour amid rumours his manager could be considering quitting in May.

"He tries to support me and give me confidence," Lucas continues. "He has tried to give confidence for everyone, not just me, and I try to repay this in the performance and try to work hard. But we know that sometimes the people criticise me or him and this is a part of the life in football and you have to accept it and just carry on."

The reason Benitez and Liverpool are under pressure is simple. The Reds have endured a horribly disappointing season and the Europa League represents their only remaining chance for silverware, while they travel to league leaders United desperately hoping to keep alive hopes of a place in the league's top four and a resulting spot in the 2010/11 UEFA Champions League.

"We have made some mistakes, that is clear," reflects Lucas. "I think it will be a difficult race until the end of the season. Manchester City, Tottenham and Aston Villa are in good form at the moment, so we just have to wait and do our best. Winning games is the only way to be in the top four as soon as possible. For sure, City and Tottenham will lose points and if we can win every game it will be much better."

If Liverpool are to make a 100 per cent finish to their league season, they will need to take three points from the irrepressible Wayne Rooney et al on Sunday. It would be an understatement to say that represents a tough task, but, having played in his side's famous 4-1 win at Old Trafford in 2009, Lucas has confidence.

"I played 90 minutes in that game," he remembers. "We played really well and 4-1 is a result that you do not normally expect in games like this.

"Of course we know it (the match) is going to be difficult. Right now Rooney is playing really well. At the moment he and (Lionel) Messi are the best players in the world. I would say in England, Rooney is the best player, for sure. He is scoring a lot of goals and helps the team a lot. We have to be careful, but I think that other players give him a chance to score as well. United have a really good squad, so we have to go there and think positive and think about winning."

[red g]

well he must be doing something right as lucas leiva is crap is not the 4th most searched