Following on from our great 2-0 win over Chelsea yesterday, it is very easy for us to say that Torres was Liverpool’s man of the match for Liverpool following his two sublime goals. Taking nothing away from Torres as goals are what wins games, but I would have to say my man of the match was Lucas. I never thought I would live to the day that I would say this!
I will be honest, I have not been one of Lucas’ greatest fans ever since the young Brazilian signed for us. He has had an up and down time at Liverpool. There were times during the Rafa reign that Rafa stuck by Lucas whilst many fans were calling for him to be dropped. But credit to Lucas for not giving up and taking all the abuse and criticism coming his way. The lad has just knuckled down and continued to do his job.
When I saw the starting lineup yesterday and saw Lucas’ name on the team sheet, I wonder to myself “Oh know, what is Lucas doing there?” Then when I saw they way Roy Hodgson had set up his stall with Lucas and Gerrard in the middle of the park, my stomach turned. But after 90 minutes I was pleasantly surprised at how well Lucas had done. He broke up play when he needed to and he kept running for 90 minutes. Looking at the stats, it is no surprise that Lucas put in the most tackles during the game.
But let us not rush and think that Lucas is now world class and is our replacement for Mascherano. But at the same time, we should not say that Lucas can not be as good, if not better than Mascherano one day. In the summer we signed Poulsen to replace Mascherano but it is not secret that Poulsen has just not cut it at Anfield yet. Hopefully after yesterdays game, Lucas will maintain that form and carry it out for the rest of the season. What Hodgson needs to do is continue playing players who are in form and not do a Rafa and drop a player who has just played a blinder. As a player plays more games, his confidence grows and I believe Lucas is a confidence player. What one must also note about Lucas is how he seems to be a big match player. Against the bigger teams, Lucas always seems to step up and play his better games which is all good but it is games like on Wednesday at Wigan where we will need him to step it up an extra knotch.
Well done Lucas for a good game against Chelsea. I take back a lot of the criticism I hurled your way.
Good game by Lucas but let us not forget he was not up against one of the best midfields in the league. Had it been Essien and Lampard for Chelsea yesterday it would have been interesting. But as you said Ron, lets see what Lucas does against Wigan, lets see how the team does against Wigan. It will be a shame if after yesterday we go and loose to Wigan.
You gotta give credit where credit’s due and Lucas had a fantastic game regardless who was who he was up against. The fact is he bossed the midfield and treated Ramires & Malouda like a bunch of amateurs and he would’ve done the same even if it were Lampard/Essien partnership. With the midfielders we currently have i would much rather see Lucas name on the team sheet than Poulson’s any day