Lucas

[Chris]

[Lee]

[RedReet]

F*ck me, what a nightmare he had again, we can't afford to keep carrying players like Lucas.

– Lucas Leiva had 99 touches of the ball, the most in the game.

– Leiva also completed 91% of his passes, the highest amongst all starting non-defensive players.

– Lucas Leiva led the game with 5 successful tackles.

http://thepremierleagueowl.com/aston-villa-vs-liverpool-individual-player-stats-2/

[SB]

When the average pass goes 3-5 meters you'd hope you'd get the majority on target

[RedReet]

Maybe so, but they are better stats than against Stoke, a performance he was lauded for. The difference this time, he was disposed a couple of times, which for Lucas is unforgivable for some reason and undoes any good work throughout the rest of the game.

[RedReet]

And excluding his possession stats, he had the most tackles, the second most interceptions, kept a clean sheet and restricted a free scoring Villa side to only 3 shots on target.

Hardly a ‘nightmare’ performance now, is it?

[Rich]

Lucas was good yesterday.

[Assassin]

Lucas had a great first half. The second half was different, Villa really overrun us in midfield. Lucas was dispossessed a couple of times but he more than held his own against a very rampant Villa. We defended as a unit and we won a game.

Good teams grind out results, this performance was very promising

[baitman]

not really lucas's fault that other players became more invisible as the game went on.

[Assassin]

not really lucas's fault that other players became more invisible as the game went on.

Fully agree

[RedReet]

Just watched MOTD, he had a massive role in the goal too.

[dww]

I think the quartet of Lucas - Gerrard - Agger and Toure are doing a great job defensively at the minute. They need to start calming the game down and getting our passing rhythm back when the opposition pressure us though. Overall though I think it has been an excellent start to the season by those four.

[Phoenix07]

I think it's testament to Rodgers that he's gone with Lucas and Gerrard as the screen ahead of the back four. Neither are blessed with agility to receive the ball, turn quickly and release. However, they both have the positional intelligence to know where to be on the pitch and where others are in relation to them.

Lucas is an excellent presser of the ball, although he tends to give away free kicks due to his challenges. Gerrard on the other hand is an excellent tackler, and is evolving to learn how to press in key areas in the centre of the park.

There were occasions when there were large spaces in the middle during the second half, whether that be down to fatigue I'm not sure, but it's a working progress, and against Stoke and most of the Villa game, they've been excellent.

[RedReet]

I think it's testament to Rodgers that he's gone with Lucas and Gerrard as the screen ahead of the back four. Neither are blessed with agility to receive the ball, turn quickly and release. However, they both have the positional intelligence to know where to be on the pitch and where others are in relation to them.

Lucas is an excellent presser of the ball, although he tends to give away free kicks due to his challenges. Gerrard on the other hand is an excellent tackler, and is evolving to learn how to press in key areas in the centre of the park.

There were occasions when there were large spaces in the middle during the second half, whether that be down to fatigue I'm not sure, but it's a working progress, and against Stoke and most of the Villa game, they've been excellent.

Really? I was say that's something Lucas really excels at. One of my earlier criticisims of Lucas was that he was always too quick to release the ball, I want him to hold on to it a bit longer until he had more options, but now that isn't a problem.

[Fredo]

Rodgers said that we were tactically set up to defend deep in the second half.