When reading it, try to take it at face value. Will we get the old Lucas back? Should we look to provide cover or possibly replace? It is one I am sure many will say no, but you hve to believe that the staff may just have a look ( Iturra is the example, couple that with possibilities of Diame and others).
I think the above is most important, he has not been at his best in some games but has still played well I have no doubts he will be back to his usual self soon.
Do agree with cover. Whoever it is, but I think we need to have some more steel in there and I think Iturra could be the best bet in terms of a DM who can also play the ball around as well. ( for Rodgers style).
I'm really not keen on football journos pretending to be novelists, it's difficult to work out the essence of the piece with all that florid nonsense ( even I'd baulk at using "fugacious" ). "Lucas struggled to begin with, got better, got injured, and now is not quite at his best." Is all it seems to be saying. Well, yes- we can see that. Where does he go from here? Only time will tell. Unfortunately, many players don't regain their best form after a serious injury. Some do, let's hope he's one of them.
Cover is definitely needed. Cover or competition ... whatever you wanna call it. He is a very good player and he will need time to get back to full fitness and sharpness. Hopefully pre-season should sort him out. However, the tactics do not help him or our defence as it leaves them exposed and vulnerable.
That is the big crux of the whole thing I suppose. Should we add to just provide cover or do we be a bit ruthless and part ways? We know it can be ruthless at times but I think/hope we see the true Lucas next year.
The trouble is we're not rich enough or successful enough at the moment to keep quality players on the bench. Cover would have to be a "promising youngster" and even they would be inclined to move on if not getting enough game time. I'm not as up on foreign leagues as many seem to be on here so I have no idea who we could get who'd fit the criteria.
He's not played badly this season just not up to the high standards he set, there's not much better out there imo.
Saint. I reckon I have a pretty well-developed vocabulary, but I don't have a ****ing clue what that word means. What it does mean effectively, is that the author of the piece is a pretentious **** Read my PM.
Lucas has a lot of pressure on him. He needs to be rotated. Not just cover for when rested but rotated until he gets back to his best. He is capable of playing most games but if he is rotated the pressure will be less.
I think we need another DM even if its to provide competition for Lucas. Wanyama from Celtic would be a good option imo, he would not cost much and hes only 21.
He's always been a player who is a little bit clumsy in the tackle so I'd refute the claims of the author that this is a new thing in his game. As far as I'm concerned he's definitely playing well enough to still be one of the first names on the teamsheet and he's still not hit full throttle. It isn't a coincedence that we've looked much better in the league since he came back into the side, the last game he was left out of? Southampton. And we got slaughtered without anyone picking up runs or giving away those niggly little fouls that halt the opponents build up play. The reason nobody has considered what to do in the event of Lucas not regaining his form of 2011 is that he is still one of the better players in our squad and we clearly have much bigger problems to sort out. I hope (and assume) he may well be our new Vice Captain from next season onwards and rightly so.
I suppose it means fleeting or transitory (like in tempus fugit). He's just being a show-off. I've read it, will answer in a bit.
Think he mentiones where out of 49 points Lucas has had a hand in 33 of them, so still shows how important he is. The other question is how long do you keep hoping for that player to come good? We should know that after a few big injuries sometimes players can never get it back ( Joe Cole, HARRY ****ING KEWELL, etc).
I suppose my point is that, even if he doesn't reach the heights of 2011 again where he was one of the finest midfielders in the league, he is still a very good player to have amongst the team. Personally I have complete faith in him regaining the sparkling form of the last few years. If any player has the mentality then it's Lucas.
I amin the boat of someone to compete with him and to help cover. Spearing could have been useful there this year but I think we can get someone of a better quality.
So the author has identified that a number of players haven't been as good as they were previous to Rodgers' arrival. Perhaps a common denominator exists here. Perhaps the author doesn't have the ability to identify that, because it doesn't appear to have occurred to him as having anything to do with Rodgers whatsoever. A whole bunch of players have struggled due to their own inabilities, or injuries, or egos, or whatever it is that distracts the author's attention away from the real reason.
So you're saying? Tbh though I don't get this author I think Lucas has done well since coming back and like MFG says others around him have not been great at times so that will also expose him, it seems that the author is looking for a problem that just isn't there.
Remember who he played with under Dalglish and Rafa? The likes of Gerrard, Masch, Alonso, Meireles, Kuyt, Torres, Maxi. These were players that ran forward (other than Masch) and knew what to do with the ball. Today he plays with Joe Allen and Henderson. The problem with both is that they are young and haven't developed their vision completely. They usually shuffle the ball around midfield, forcing Lucas to have to play the ball more, leading to more interceptions and play bypassing him. Henderson is coming good and is getting better at this, but Allen certainly needs to learn the forward pass or to run forward. Its simple probability that the longer you hold the ball in midfield, the more likely you are to lose it there. This is affecting Lucas the most. Our attackers are also dropping too deep and this means that they aren't forward enough to give Gerrard, Lucas and Hendo space to control the channels. Instead they get the ball around halfway across the pitch and run through the other half with the ball. This doesn't give Lucas or Gerrard time to set up proper attacks - we rely on our attackers to do that.
