Roy Hodgson thankful he did not heed Christian Purslow's advice on player cull

[vlahka]

I wouldnt call Lucas our defense. He's in the middle. His role is to stop people coming through midfield and also support the strikers. Considering our game style is always very narrow, its not that wide of the mark. The most assists SHOULD be coming from midfield. If soccernet is accurate then Gerrard is our highest with 3 assists. Lucas only has 1 in the league. And this is after 16 games. I know games arent all about assists, just commenting on what you said.

[Redspin]

Lucas started 41 games last season. Wouldnt call that bench material. He really isnt that good. And I'm not sure what the foreign line was for. The foreigners are better players then the english to be fair. Its not just **** tactics thats giving the team a bad run this season. Its also the players being used. Last season Lucas played 41 games, we came 7th. Season before something like 14 I think, we were higher.

I'm not saying Lucas is our problem, far from it. I'm saying if you use more substandard players then you should expect that level of performance you're getting now.

To be fair that's bollocks. Lucas had a good season and was comfortably superior to Gerrard in our midfield for the entire season, so would you call our captain sub-standard? Anyway, as you clearly have an anti-Lucas agenda I'd just like to wish you a happy paranoia

[Assassin]

To be fair that's bollocks. Lucas had a good season and was comfortably superior to Gerrard in our midfield for the entire season, so would you call our captain sub-standard? Anyway, as you clearly have an anti-Lucas agenda I'd just like to wish you a happy paranoia

+1

[Mattshark]

I wouldnt call Lucas our defense. He's in the middle. His role is to stop people coming through midfield and also support the strikers. Considering our game style is always very narrow, its not that wide of the mark. The most assists SHOULD be coming from midfield. If soccernet is accurate then Gerrard is our highest with 3 assists. Lucas only has 1 in the league. And this is after 16 games. I know games arent all about assists, just commenting on what you said.

He has played as a holding midfielder, so of course he is part of our defence.

I was going over all competitions, not just the prem.

Look at Lucas role in other games, his ball that led to Maxi's goal v Bolton for example, his performances against Chelsea and Villa. His passing against Blackburn and Bolton was top class.

He is a very good player, he has been very good for Brazil too this season.

He is a very good player, yes he is not as good as Alonso and Mascherano, but that doesn't prevent him being a very good player and has been one of our top performers this season.

[Mattshark]

To be fair that's bollocks. Lucas had a good season and was comfortably superior to Gerrard in our midfield for the entire season, so would you call our captain sub-standard? Anyway, as you clearly have an anti-Lucas agenda I'd just like to wish you a happy paranoia

[Redspin]

I wouldnt call Lucas our defense. He's in the middle. His role is to stop people coming through midfield and also support the strikers. Considering our game style is always very narrow, its not that wide of the mark. The most assists SHOULD be coming from midfield. If soccernet is accurate then Gerrard is our highest with 3 assists. Lucas only has 1 in the league. And this is after 16 games. I know games arent all about assists, just commenting on what you said.

Defensive midfielders like Lucas and Mascherano and Alonso in the previous seasons rarely provide assists so perhaps you should qualify your assertion to say that assists should be coming from attacking midfielders.

In each of the last two seasons Mascherano has made just one assist and in Alonso's last season he made just three assists (Lucas made two in the same season in far fewer appearances), so one assist for Lucas at this stage of the season is very much par for the course for a player in his role, as the evidence for fine players in the same role such as Masherano and Alonso clearly shows

Most of our assists in the last couple of seasons have been from the likes of Kuyt, Gerrard, Aquilani and Benayoun - all attacking midfielders

[kris90210]

He has played as a holding midfielder, so of course he is part of our defence.

I was going over all competitions, not just the prem.

Look at Lucas role in other games, his ball that led to Maxi's goal v Bolton for example, his performances against Chelsea and Villa. His passing against Blackburn and Bolton was top class.

He is a very good player, he has been very good for Brazil too this season.

He is a very good player, yes he is not as good as Alonso and Mascherano, but that doesn't prevent him being a very good player and has been one of our top performers this season.

Agreed - he's been class lately. Fair play to him. His improving year on year. No way should he be allowed to leave

[Lecter]

Got rid? Are you sure?

Why is he sitting and talking with players at Anfield then?

The bloke is clueless about football and a lot of the on the pitch trouble are his fault.

Purslow was SACKED

He has absolutely no influence in the board room now so whether he talks to the players or not makes no difference

[vlahka]

To be fair that's bollocks. Lucas had a good season and was comfortably superior to Gerrard in our midfield for the entire season, so would you call our captain sub-standard? Anyway, as you clearly have an anti-Lucas agenda I'd just like to wish you a happy paranoia

To be honest I'm not a fan of Gerrards and would be happy to see him leave. You probably roll your eyes at that statement but he's a hot and cold player. Some seasons pure crap, some seasons great. We would get a pretty good transfer fee from him to be able to boost up other parts of the team. Also I'm still royally ****ed off he wanted to join Chelsea, so thats my main reason for not liking him. I also cant handle having a captain who sulks half the time he's on the field. Tired of seeing it. I have no anti-Lucas vibe in my body. Nothing against him. I just know we can get better. Anti-Gerrard, yes.

Defensive midfielders like Lucas and Mascherano and Alonso in the previous seasons rarely provide assists so perhaps you should qualify your assertion to say that assists should be coming from attacking midfielders.

I know, I was responding to the previous statement about assists and I did say that assists arent the whole part of a players game when it comes to performance.

Agreed - he's been class lately. Fair play to him. His improving year on year. No way should he be allowed to leave

Again, he's been better because the players around him are extremely poor. Theres no way anyone can look at our midfield right now and say they're great. I'm sure most would happily get rid of majority of them. I hope it doesnt come across like I'm having a go at him because I really dont. He's fine. But he did get repeated criticisms throughout the seasons for his performances, which were being measured up with him playing with great midfielders, so he stood out like a sore thumb.

I've got no problem if you all think he's great. We all want this or that player gone One of mine is Lucas. If we had the luxury of bringing in better players I'd be more then happy if he was on the sheet for replacing.