Don't get me wrong MITO I think Lucas is better at a lot of things than just passing. But he's not the passer in the squad. He deserves a place and is vital for our team. But he's not good at controlling the flow of the entire pitch like Alonso was. More like Mascherano, who would break down the opposition's attack, quickly turn around, and just hand it over to those more capable and creative. This doesn't have to be a 50 yard Gerrard classic. But it breaks down when we complicate things, like when Allen plays - he tries a bunch of clever one two's, ball shuffles, sideways passes to Lucas, etc. Lucas just wants it out of the centre of the pitch, and Allen doesn't do that. He keeps it there, which is my main criticism of the lad. Henderson certainly isn't a donkey, and neither is Sakho. Henderson is a great runner with the ball. He tends to receive the ball on the wings or directly from the defenders though. He then has to control it with those "three touches", which isn't even what he's supposed to be doing.
Sakho is a central defender. He's very smart and if you saw him today, he made some great forward passes. He's always bombing forward and of course he's going to look more like Carroll than Suarez. But that's fine at LFC. As long as Sakho/Agger/Toure/Skrtel can get that ball to Lucas, who can get that ball to Gerrard/Henderson, who can get it to Coutinho, who can set up Suarez/Sturridge, we'll do well. This is why I want Agger in the squad over Skrtel/Toure. He's a ball player and yes, he'll make more mistakes because of it. But he offers much more than any of the other two combined when it comes to setting up attacks. Skrtel clears it all the time, and Toure positions himself fantastically, but they don't pass it forward to Lucas nearly as much as Agger does.
Agree with what you say about our issues. BR looks to be working on them behind the scenes though, which is positive.
Soft goals, and own goals are our problems this season ,this is area Brendan Rodgers have to look into urgently.
