He is slowly getting back into the swing of things and he is desperate to make his home land world cup as you would be! http://www1.skysports.com/football/...-for-Liverpool-and-earn-World-Cup-opportunity So expect him to move up the gears now. We do need another def mid, surely Brendan will address this in the Summer? He is the only def mid we have
I'd have kept Spearing as cover for Lucas but then I think he wanted first team action so not sure who's decision that one was. It's a tricky one really because whoever we sign knows that it's Lucas who owns that position at the moment. Financially we can't (and shouldn't) pay silly money for a bench player. We need to find either someone who is better than Lucas (?) at which point we probably lose Lucas anyway or we go for a younger player who'll be willing to be patient and try and take his chance when he gets it.
Absolutely. It always takes time after injury lay offs to get back to the level you are capable of. He's been out for a long time but is settling back in now. Again he's having to adjust to a different formation and has new players around him as well. Fingers crossed we can keep him injury free now
I know what you mean yeah it happens to lots of players when they have no competition but I just don't think Lucas is the complacent type and as stated above he wants to try and break into the Brazil squad too.
Only have to look at Glen Johnson. He was poor a couple of seasons back but nor did he have competition for his place at Liverpool or England. He's been superb since the emergence of Smalling, Walker, Richards, Jones, Flanagan, Kelly and now Wisdom. I agree with you about Lucas though
Also, if we replaced Lucas with someone better (highly unlikely, maybe a similar level), I doubt they would be as hard working or as passionate to LFC as Lucas is.
I wouldn't let that worry you one iota. This is Lucas we're talking about. Put basically, he's just not like that
Possibly yeah. He's been very poor so far but he's only a young lad so just needs to be given time to adjust. At the moment he isn't good enough for the Lucas role but then Lucas looked like he wasn't good enough for the Lucas role for a full 18 months He's got the passing ability no doubt but his positional sense was all over the place (because it's not his natural position obviously). If he applies himself like Lucas and Henderson have then he'll become a decent enough player.
His problem seems to be starting games. When he came on against Stoke and QPR he looked awesome. Every other time he was ****, especially against the red Mancs.
He should never have played against the manks. He was like a rabbit in the headlights. I can see the potential in him because his passing is very accurate and he has a good awareness for a young lad but he's not yet learned how to buy an extra yard or mix up his passing in terms of when to attck and when to hold on to it. Those things players can learn as long as they have good basics as Joe has. I think if he really wants it then he will come good.
He started off really well, our Welsh Alonso! He has gone off the boil but lets get behind him and hopefully he'll settle in quciker and get back to his best
I've said a few times (including when we beat Norwich 5-0 a couple of weeks back) that our movement is lacking. IMO, Allen suffers from this. A player could be able to pick out a eighty yard pass and land the ball on a 50p (Bluff, that's worth about $4,982,075 ) nine times out of ten, but if players around him don't move and creates options for him then he may as well be Stephen Hawkins!!!
For Allen, read Lucas and Henderson! Lucas is "the first name on the sheet" player now, did we think that a few seasons ago? Henderson, now playing in his preferred position is slowly turning into the player we hoped/want and need, I can see him only getting better! Allen, given another 6-18months (once a position has been identified for him), will be superb and a valuable asset. I like the way Brendan is building this squad/making use of the squad he inherited, keep learning from the mistakes with formation and tactics we've seen so far this season, cut out or limit the individual mistakes and I seriously see us being back in for genuine top 4 contention next year, this year is a year to early IMHO. Don’t think the team needs a major overhaul in the off season either, a CB, LB and a midfield destroyer of good quality please.
