....og det skal nydes til fulde, men så vil den gamle her alligevel mane til besindighed, for der kan komme et formdyk, når han har været væk så længe.Surf skrev:Hvor er han bare en top atlet. Han har været ude i et år, og så træner han et par uger, spiller 45 min. for reserveholdet. Og så går han lige ind og leverer en top præstation i 87 minutter i PL.
All hail the Massias - øh LucasLiverpool FC v. Southampton FC: Player Analysis – Lucas Leiva
It is no secret that Liverpool have missed Lucas over the past 18 months. Lucas has become one of the most influential players for the Reds and one of the best holding midfielders in the Premiership. Despite a difficult first season at Liverpool after his £6.5m move from Brazilian side Gremio, he is now firmly a fan favourite. Initially, Lucas struggled to break into the Liverpool team, but then there are not many midfielders who would get into a midfield consisting of Steven Gerrard, Xabi Alonso and Javier Mascherano. Despite this, Rafa Benitez always had great faith in Lucas and once said, ‘the problem with Lucas is people don’t realise how good he is.’ He could not have been more right.
Following the damaging sale of Xabi Alonso to Real Madrid for £30m in 2009, Lucas stepped up and eased what was a massive blow to the Reds. This was further compounded by the sale of Mascherano to Barcelona in 2010. However, it was not all doom and gloom as Lucas was able to step up and perform brilliantly for Liverpool. He was deservedly awarded the Standard Charted Fans Player of the Year for 2010-2011, winning an incredible 40% of the votes.
Since the sale of these two great players, Lucas has cemented his position as a vital cog in the Liverpool machine. His dynamism and tackling in midfield has earned him large amount of praise, as well as 20 caps for Brazil. Liverpool have clearly missed his presence over the past 18 months and the poor results during his absence have highlighted this fact.
Last season, Lucas played 12 games, with 6 of those being wins. Without Lucas in the team, Liverpool only managed to win 8 matches out of 28. With Lucas in the team, Liverpool won 50% of their games compared to just 28.6% without him. On top of this, Liverpool only lost 16.7% of games that Lucas figured in compared to 42.8% without him. Lucas also had the best rate of minutes-per-tackle in the Premiership last season with just 20.1 minutes.
The statistics speak for themselves. The loss of Lucas for such a long period of time and Liverpool’s slide down the table is no coincidence. Last season, only Jose Enrique made more tackles for Liverpool than Lucas despite playing 1975 minutes more. Lucas’ astounding statistics bettered not only Liverpool players, but other top players in the Premiership as well. For example, Lucas won more tackles in just 12 matches than Barclay’s Player of the Season Vincent Kompany did in 31 matches.
The loss of Lucas to long term injuries was compounded by the fact that Liverpool did not possess a suitable replacement. Charlie Adam was often forced to play deeper to compensate for this but often struggled in this position. Because of this, Liverpool found themselves using Jay Spearing whose performances did not match the standards set by other Premier League midfielders. A lack of an effective holding midfielder led to Liverpool conceding an alarming number of sloppy goals from counter attacks. It could be argued that despite Roy Hodgson’s poor transfer record during his short time as Liverpool manager, the signing of Christian Poulsen at least provided cover in case Lucas received a serious injury. Both Kenny Dalglish and Brendan Rodgers failed to do so and Liverpool’s league positions over the last two seasons highlight this.
The criticism aimed at Joe Allen has been both unfair and unjust. Allen, like Adam last season, has been forced to play in a deeper position that does not suit his style. Allen has clearly struggled in this position and his small 5 foot 6 height and stature often causes him to be targeted and out-muscled by far bigger and stronger opponents.
The return of Lucas to Liverpool’s starting XI yesterday must have been as much of a relief to Allen as it was to the Liverpool supporters. Allen’s hefty £15m price tag increased the pressure on him to perform and being forced to play out of position has increased this pressure even more. Lucas’ comeback yesterday provided a calming and assuring performance in defensive midfield that Liverpool has lacked over the past 18 months. Allen, Gerrard and Henderson have all attempted to play in this position so far this season and, unsurprisingly, have all been criticised for poor performances as a result.
None of these three players are accustomed to this role; they are all players who are at their best when they are able to move forward knowing that there will be somebody covering for these runs. Last season, Allen had Leon Britton, Henderson had Lee Cattermole at Sunderland and Gerrard, most recently, had Lucas. Lucas’ return against Southampton literally freed Gerrard and Allen from defensive constraints that have limited their impacts so far this season. It was perhaps both of their best performances so far this season and this was due to the return of Lucas to the starting line-up.
Despite being out for such a long period of time, Lucas was still able to last for 88 minutes. Lucas made 8 tackles during the match—more than any other Premier League player yesterday. Lucas also made 88 passes, which was more than any other Liverpool player—86% of these were successful. If Lucas was able to achieve such impressive statistics on his comeback match, imagine how effective he will be in the coming matches when his form and fitness returns to its peak.
It is not just what Lucas brings to the game himself, but also the influence he has on other players. With Lucas in the team, Liverpool will now see the best of Gerrard, Allen and Shelvey. As well as influencing the midfield, the likes of Jose Enrique and Glen Johnson will also make more frequent attacking runs knowing that Lucas is there to cover in case of a counter attack.
Rodgers’ changes to the starting XI this season have been to try and compensate for the lack of a defensive midfielder. Enrique and Johnson are both full backs who are far better at attacking than they are defending. Because of this, Rodgers made it clear to his wide players, usually Suso, Sterling or Borini, that they must track back and help with defensive duties. More recently, Enrique has been used as a left winger to work with Johnson to assist in defensive as well as attacking duties.
The season started with Martin Kelly at right back, and recently that has become Andre Wisdom—two defensively focused full backs. Again, this has clearly been a way of limiting Liverpool’s over commitment to attack which has often led to Liverpool being sucker-punched by counter attacking goals. However, with Lucas returning to the line-up yesterday, Enrique and Johnson were both put in their favoured full back positions and Liverpool did not concede a goal, or didn’t look likely to concede a goal through a counter attack.
Lucas was able to control the midfield as well as the tempo of the match and this was vital for Liverpool’s victory. Liverpool’s poor results over the past 18 months have mainly been down to not just Lucas’ injury, but also the lack of a competent replacement during his absence. This does not just apply to Liverpool—if Sergio Busquets, Xabi Alonso, Yaya Toure or John Obi Mikel were injured for 18 months, then their respective teams would suffer as a result. However, Barcelona, Real Madrid, Man City and Chelsea are able to use their strength in depth to partially fill the void by using players such as Michael Essien or Javier Garcia, thus limiting the catastrophic effects that the loss of such an important player could have. Therefore, it was not just Lucas’ injury that caused Liverpool’s slump, but also the inability to provide a replacement that was good enough to step in.
Liverpool fans would certainly have all been incredibly happy to see the return of such an important player, and be praying that his return lasts longer than it did at the start of this season. With the busy Christmas period coming up, Lucas will be extremely important for the Reds if they are to string a few wins together to climb up the table and begin their assault of the European positions.
His name is Lucas… and this is why we love him
By Dan Holland on January 29, 2013
Dan Holland takes a look at the importance of Lucas and how the Brazilian’s return from injury emphasises his importance on the team.
When a willowy Lucas Leiva broke into the Liverpool first team back in 2007, who would have thought 6 years later he would become such an important part of the Liverpool team.
Initially the highly regarded Brazilian found it tough to win over the majority of the Anfield faithful (myself amongst them). He appeared to me to be on the edge of games without ever really getting involved apart from an occasional interception and cautious 10 yard sideward ball. Luckily not all Liverpool fans and more importantly every manager from Rafa to Rodgers shared my opinion and have given Lucas the chance to become an integral link in our midfield.
The youngster refused to let the negative feedback and often ironic cheers from the terraces affect him. He continued to work hard on and off the field which is testament to his mental strength and confidence in his own ability. Both essential ingredients in any world class player – which I believe Lucas has now become.
The last two seasons have been punctured by injury for the 26 year old and his absence has further heightened his reputation as our midfield appeared unbalanced and rigid without his calming influence. The holding midfield role has become an essential ingredient in all successful teams, the holder of the often unfashionable position isn’t recognised on a weekly basis as a key player but when they are missing from the starting line-up or withdrawn from the field of play a colossus gap is left on the field.
Didi Hamann was another of our essential players who occupied this position and by and large went un-noticed (apart from the occasional 30 yard blockbuster) but was often solely responsible for keeping us in a game. I often refer back to the 2002 Champions League Quarter Final when in the Bayer arena we were matching a very strong Leverkusen side led by the enigmatic Michael Ballack who had been subdued by Hamann. In the 61st minute we were drawing 1-1 with the home leg still to come, for some reason Gerard Houllier replaced Didi with Vladimir Smicer and the Germans scored 3 more goals which proved the difference and we were eliminated. Hindsight is a wonderful thing but if that substitution hadn’t been made…
Whilst to date I am unable to pinpoint such a dramatic impact that Lucas has had on an individual game, the stats for this season especially show how much of a positive impact he has on the teams results and the players around him. It was the 2010/2011 season when Lucas really started getting rave reviews with his ability to break up oppositions attacks with relative ease, always available for a pass from the back four giving a vital link between the defence and midfield. Simple passes ensured we kept possession in such a key area of the field; hard, perfectly timed tackling, which belied his slight frame, often in areas of the field where a badly timed tackle would result in the opposition winning a penalty or a free kick in dangerous positions.
Lucas’ reputation continued to grow throughout the 2011/12 season, when his first lengthy spell on the side lines due to injury coincided with a poor run of form in the league. This poor form confirmed the Brazilians importance to the club and how Liverpool had no-one capable of filling his boots. Enter Joe Allen. Brendan Rogers signed ‘one of his own’ when arriving from Swansea, would he play alongside Lucas, replace him or be an expensive back up?
When the new season started at The Hawthorns, Allen and Lucas lined up alongside each other giving Liverpool what looked like a very firm base in a three man midfield. Unfortunately a 3-0 reverse proved this incorrect – although, for long periods the duo did control the midfield area. The pair also lined up in the following game at Anfield against newly crowned champions Man City. Due to picking up an injury in the pre-match warm-up Lucas’ return to Anfield lasted only four minutes. His season then re-started in December in the home game against Southampton. The stats from the last two months show what an incredible player he is and that Joe Allen, as talented as he is, doesn’t influence the team as much as our number 21.
In games were Lucas has started we have won 57% of those games compared to the Welsh international’s figure of 43%. Leiva has won the same number of tackles as Joe despite having only played a third the number of minutes, this translates to a tackle success rate of 80% compared to the former Swansea man’s 65%. Obviously the importance of a high tackle success rate in that area of the field is immense. The two players share a similar passing accuracy of around 80% but it is the influence that Lucas has on our most vital player that offers the starkest of contrasts.
A certain Steven Gerrard has carried a team’s hope since his debut in 1998, yet his impact on the team at the start of this campaign was, by his own admission, a long way short of his usually exceptionally high standards. Very few would have highlighted the absence of Lucas as a reason for this lack of form as, whilst they play in the same area of the field, one doesn’t obviously appear to impact on the other.
However, recent performances from our skipper prove this to be exactly the reason for his drop in standards. Was it a trust issue? Did Stevie think he had to play a bit deeper to help the new arrival? Was it a lack of service from the defensive midfielder or indeed service in the wrong areas?
Whatever the reason, since the start of December Lucas’ return has seen our leader up his number of assists, up his number of goals and his all round play has been a lot closer to the levels which we have come to expect. Having Lucas alongside him in the ‘engine room’ with his calming influence and his simplistic approach to the game has seen Gerrard score 4 out of his 5 goals and play key passes with 6 of his 8 assists coming since that Southampton game.
With the two of them performing to these impressive standards and the possible addition of Coutinho, the midfield postion certainly looks healthy.
His first name is Lucas, and yes we ******* love him!
Det sad jeg også og tænkte da jeg læste den igennem, men blev enig med mig selv om det var en mindre detalje i den større sammenhæng.AJ skrev:Off-topic: Han har ikke styr på facts mht Leverkusen kampen i 2002. Hjemmekampen kom først.
Måske er det minus hans straffesparksscoringAJ skrev:Off-topic: Hvorfor bliver alle ved med at sige, at SG har lavet fem mål? Tæller scoringen i 5-2 sejren over Norwich som et selvmål eller hvad?
Jeg ville elske hvis han fik 200 kampe mere for Liverpool. Jeg er sikker på, at han nok skal finde sit gamle niveau. Han er den bedste på positionen i hans nuværende form og det har tidlgiere været udtalt, at han formentlig først er tilbage på 100 % i næste sæson. Når han er det, er han efter min mening en af de bedste i verden på den position.Pongolle skrev:Har vi råd til, at blive ved med at bruge ham på den centrale midt?
Han leverede fremragende lige før hans skade i 10-15-20 kampe, men han er vel efterhånden den marginalspiller, som har fået flest kampe i nyere tid. Han har altså rundet 200 kampe nu, 200! Uden at have været prangende i langt over halvdelen.
Han er tung, langsom, præstere stort set ikke fremad banen (Man skulle ikke tro, han var brasilliansk), 6 mål so far, mangler speed og i mange nærkampsdueller, ser han klejn og kluntet ud.
Ingen tvivl om, han har forbedret sig løbende, men hvor går det dog langsomt. Skal han have 200 kampe mere. Tror ikke, vi ser den store udvikling fra nu af. Han er en marginalspiller, ligesom Allen, Spearing og Henderson. Man får, hvad man beér om, hård fight, men aldrig det sidste, der gør dem til topspillere...
Plus at spilforståelse, forudseenhed osv vel også er ved at være banket fri for rust. Når man er skarp på de områder er det lettere at virke hurtig.Aarhus skrev:Lucas havde jo en vanvittig god kamp igår mod Zenit. Han er ved at være tilbage i form!
Det var en fornøjelse at se hans tilbageløb i duellerne med Hulk. Han har virket langsom, men det er som om, at hurtigheden lige så stille er ved at vende tilbage i benene på ham.
Belloni skrev:... [Lucas] var tæt på at skifte da Christian Poulsen blev købt, fordi han ikke følte klubben havde brug for ham.
