very well written article you have produced and you have given us much food for thought. In summary your point seems to be that Lucas’ role in the team is to work hard in both attack and defence so as to free up players like Gerrard. If it were economics Lucas’ presense would allow for the optimal use of the Liverpool resources so to speak; as players like Gerrard would not have to be the recipient of the ball retention pass or the player that spends his day tracking the Dean Whitehead’s of the Premiership.

Okay, that’s a valid point and I won’t debate that with you MoKo because we are in agreement there. What does worry me though is that Lucas arrived as the Brazilian Player of the Year; and you have mentioned him in the same breath as, “Zico, Falcão, Careca, Alex, Fowi, Romario, Kaká and Tevez”. If this man is as talented as these legends that you have mentioned why would any coach in the world use the player merely as the recipient of the ball retention pass or to close down the Dean Whiteheads of the world?

It makes sense for Darren Fletcher to do the hard work in midfield because he is just not talented enough to make the 60 yard pass or to do the step-overs, a point that MoKo has admitted in his article and which was supposedly hinted at by Roy Keane. But that is exactly why Darren Flecther will never ever win any individual player accolade. He just isn’t good enough. He doesn’t have enough talent. If Fletcher found himself playing in the Coca-Cola Championship I don’t think he would outshine the players in that league because down there all the players are hard workers with limited talent. Fletcher would merely blend in with the rest of the players. Lucas on the other hand was supposedly good enough to win an individual award in Brazil no less, a country that has produced year after year, amazing talent after amazing talent. If Lucas is in the same league as Tevez why is Rafa making the lad the grafter of the team? Did Liverpool really fly a Brazilian all the way across the Atlantic ocean just for his stamina? Couldn’t we have found a Flecther of our own in say, Scotland or, as I have alluded, in the Coca-Cola Championship?

To me Lucas’ new role as the worker in the team is testament to the fact that Rafa believes Lucas is not good enough to pass the ball, to keep possession of it, or to dictate the play from midfield. That’s a problem because he came with a huge reputation and the tag of “Brazilian Player of the Year” and that is why he is under such a lot of scrutiny. If you win an award that Kaka and Tevez win you had best not be coming to Liverpool just to receive a backward pass and then prod it five metres to the nearest red shirt. As stated at the beginning of this post, I agree with MoKo that soccer is a team sport and Liverpool do need that player who keeps the ball moving and who does the donkey work in defence. But where is it written that a player need be confined to that role only? Why can’t Lucas every once in a while receive a pass from Masch and then dictate a move from midfield? Whats stopping Lucas from once in a while providing that killer through ball to Torres from deep? What’s stopping Lucas from slowing a game down when need be and taking the heat out of a situation when we are up one nil at Old Trafford or Stamford Bridge by simply ensuring that we maintain possession of the ball? What is stopping Lucas from giving that crunching tackle in midfield when Liverpool are trying to assert themselves in a hotly contested game? Lucas’ inability to do these things is not because of tactics; he doesn’t do these things because he can’t. Maybe he could do it in Brazil, but he has struggled to settle down in the UK. Lucas is not the first South American to struggle to adapt to the pace of the Premiership and he won’t be the last.

If Liverpool want to win the title we need to get rid of the dead weight; and yes, that includes Lucas. A more diplomatic approach may be to loan him out to a Championship team for a season to force him to get stronger and adapt to the speed of English football. But Liverpool cannot afford to be giving Lucas these lessons in the midst of a title race; Lucas cost us last year and the same cannot be allowed to happen this year.

Aquilani, get well soon!

go on Lucas YNWA

Sezar from IRAQ