The unfortunate truth is that Lucas has been a bit of a liability for quite some time now, he hasn't suddenly deteriorated in the last couple of matches. When we debated him earlier in the season the vehement defence of his abilities at the time from some was significantly OTT, and recent matches have proven categorically that we are discussing a player here who is chronically short of mobility. Admittedly his excellent reading of the game and the proximity he keeps to our centre backs when playing as a holding midfielder help to mask his deficiencies, but nobody can tell me that a footballer can operate at the top level in World football while being as unathletic as Lucas is. It simply isn't possible in my opinion, and his lack of legs is absolutely what causes him to give so many free kicks away when he is sitting in.
Debating whether or not we should keep him for next season is probably something of a moot point as I doubt we'd be knocked over in the rush of potential suitors for his signature. He'll be on a decent enough wage to scare off the likes of West Brom or the Championship promotees (for whom he'd do a good job) so he will be with us next season.
To my mind though not only is the debate over whether he or Gerrard is the better bet as holder completely dead in the water, the debate over whether he ought to be first stand in is up for question too. He is actually even slower than naysayers such as me thought he was, and that's saying something. Somebody mentioned him "running in treacle" earlier, and they are absolutely spot on. For me he stays, but we desperately need a holding midfield stand in for Gerrard as well as obviously enough depth further forward to ensure we never have to use Lucas again in any other position than the one usually plays in.
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