Lucas Leiva (Liverpool > S.S. Lazio)

Tbh i don't mind him in his present position owing to paucity of options available but what i would like to see is the other midfielders showing more fight. It is well and good playing two attacking midfielders like in the previous game but what happened was they were starved of possession and the unwillingness of Raul and Gerrard to come come back deeper was not so appealing to me. It is no use having attackers when you don't even have the ball to play with so what i would like to see is the other midfielders coming back and contributing to the defensive side of the game when it was apparent that Lucas was being overrun. I don't want Lucas to be given any preference nor am i asking the side be arranged to suit Lucas all i want is more fight from the other midfield players to share the burden of controlling the midfield when the going is not in our favour.

He is the best midfielder we have, it is either him Poulsen or Spearing so if I was manager I'd play him as well. Doesn't mean he is not a problem in that position, I don't think he is mobile enough or quick enough for the position I think that is the reason you see him give away so many clumsy free kicks around the edge of the box.

Look mate getting into the Brazilian side doesn't mean what it used, Gilberto was playing in Lucas position for the last I dunno how many years while playing in Greece or what about the other Gilberto that couldn't get near the Spurs team yet was in the Brazil team for the World Cup

Where would you like him to play would you like Kenny to change his formation to suit him

I respect him as a player, but that does not mean he's good enough to be a consistent fixture in a side that challenges for Trophies and to be honest thats what we all ultimately want.

Red, you know I usually agree with you - but Lucas is class - and should be in our midfield for many years to come - hence discussing a new contract with him.

He is a 1st choice for Brazil as well, which shows the lad is quite something

So was Gilberto for years after Wenger flogged him because he thought he legs had gone.

Where would you play him next season kb2 because it is clear we need a defensive midfielder would you think kenny should change the formation to suit Lucas or would you drop Raul or Gerrard for him

So was Gilberto for years after Wenger flogged him because he thought he legs had gone.

Where would you play him next season kb2 because it is clear we need a defensive midfielder would you think kenny should change the formation to suit Lucas or would you drop Raul or Gerrard for him

I don't think we should play the defensive midfield system. It produces boring football.

With a 3-5-2 there is very little need to with wing-backs.

Ideally next season it will be     Gerrard - Lucas - Meireles, with johnson and a new LB bombing down the wings.

The only player i would drop Lucas for is Aquilani.

So was Gilberto for years after Wenger flogged him because he thought he legs had gone.

Where would you play him next season kb2 because it is clear we need a defensive midfielder would you think kenny should change the formation to suit Lucas or would you drop Raul or Gerrard for him

If they aren't playing well or perhaps for certain games, tactically, for sure.  No player is bigger than the club, as pointed out by a certain wily Scot recently and therefore NO player is undroppable.  I don't care what a player has done in the past on matchday, it's what they can do for the team that day, Gerrard has been more than a tad injury prone in the last few seasons and so the occassional rest will do him well and Miereles form has been up and down, so of course Lucas will get the nod in some games.

Lucas gets in front of Ramires and Anderson to name some starters for our biggest rivals. I also believe we need a better defensive midfielder which i hope to see next season. Ideally I would like Lucas to compete with the likes of Aqua, Raul, Shelvey and Gerrard for the CM places next season. I know many think he is inferior to many of those i have mentioned but count Lucas out at your own peril because he seems to have something up his sleeves as always because of his never die attitude and the very fact that his attributes suit being in the traditional CM position than the position in which he is currently deployed.

I don't think we should play the defensive midfield system. It produces boring football.

With a 3-5-2 there is very little need to with wing-backs.

Ideally next season it will be     Gerrard - Lucas - Meireles, with johnson and a new LB bombing down the wings.

The only player i would drop Lucas for is Aquilani.

Mate, even the best and arguably most exciting football right now, Barcelona, is played with a defensive mid, Busquets. It's the other midfield players who are important, especially when it comes to their creativity, to produce exciting football.

We already play with Lucas Gerrard and Meireles in midfield and our away results clearly show it is not workng something has to give seen our midfield bossed by way to many ordinary teams this season.

 I think we need a defensive midfielder in the Summer and then Lucas can compete with Gerrard and Meireles for a place

Dexter is right Barcelona employ Busquets who is amazing and Masch is getting piles from the long time on the bench. But the work ethic of their midfield is supreme. Look at their closing down and the way everybody defends and attack as a unit from the front to the back.

In our case the attacking players should attack and the defensive duty should be borne only by our defensive midfielder Lucas and the other midfielders have no defensive duty especially raul who I have never seen putting in a commited tackle.

Lucas is not a defensive midfielder even the lads that rate him highly say he is being played out of position there, I thought Lucas gave very little to the team last season even with Mascherano beside him. I think Lucas is a good squad player to have and think he will find himself on the bench a lot more next season

As a full fledged Brazilian International i don't think he is going to take it very kindly to sit on the bench and losing whatever chances of furthering his international career. I think if Lucas is to stay with us he should play in his best position and if we have better players in his position than he has to sit on the bench which i think he won't because he will leave us in pursuit of regular football. Lucas had gambled with his reputation by playing in an unaccustomed role so if he is given time to play in his best position i see no reason why he should not be a success.

Where is his best position max because it sure as hell ain't defensive midfielder. Being a Brazilian international means F**k all, he replaced Gilberto who as I said legs went about 5 years ago.

 I can't see where Lucas will be a regular next season if we buy a defensive midfielder. Unless you want to play him ahead of Raul or Gerrard Max

What I would like to see happening to our central midfield this summer is the following. Ofcourse this all depends on what kind of formation you prefer. But currently our central midfield is a bit of a mess, while it's the backbone of the team. We should always try to fill positions with one class player and a good backup player/upcoming talent. We have Poulsen, Spearing, Cole, Lucas, Gerrard, Meireles, Suso and Shelvey. I say, get rid of Poulsen, Spearing, and Cole. Get a class DM in, make him battle it out with Lucas. Get a class CM playmaker in, make Shelvey backup. Gerrard and Meireles for the AMC position. And Suso should be given time in CM and AMC next season in cup games etc. That should do the trick in my opinion.

I want him to compete with Gerrard and Raul. Dats all i want. If he can't get into the team thats his problem not mine.

That is all I was asking max, i agree with dexter post above

Everything settled then.

What I would like to see happening to our central midfield this summer is the following. Ofcourse this all depends on what kind of formation you prefer. But currently our central midfield is a bit of a mess, while it's the backbone of the team. We should always try to fill positions with one class player and a good backup player/upcoming talent. We have Poulsen, Spearing, Cole, Lucas, Gerrard, Meireles, Suso and Shelvey. I say, get rid of Poulsen, Spearing, and Cole. Get a class DM in, make him battle it out with Lucas. Get a class CM playmaker in, make Shelvey backup. Gerrard and Meireles for the AMC position. And Suso should be given time in CM and AMC next season in cup games etc. That should do the trick in my opinion.

Well said Dexter, I don't know why people take exception to suggesting there is better out than Lucas, if we want to progress as a football club, then you need quality players and no disrespect to Lucas but trhere is better quality out there that will offer us so much more in the most important part of the pitch.

Just take a look at that question on the top. Is Lucas a GOOD player for Liverpool. The vast majority agree that he is.

Change that to Is Lucas a GREAT player for Liverpool? Then the answer would fall dramatically.

Good but not great. The best we have at the club at present time in his position. However I see it as a key position going forward to strengthen if we are to be succesful.

Used as a scapegoat for bad performances in my opinion. Much more heavily criticised then any other player we have. He was shocking in his first season under Rafa, but I think he deserves his place in the team. If we got someone else in for his position let him battle it out to try and retain his place, nothing wrong with healthy competition.

Not used as a scapegoat some people don't think he should be allowed be critised at all

Not used as a scapegoat some people don't think he should be allowed be critised at all

Yet he was better than Gerrard against West Ham & Stevie clearly left him exposed on several occasions.  If, as some are wont to do on these pages, we compare Lucas/Gerrard partnership to Masch & Alonso, Alonso never left Masch exposed in the way Gerrard left Lucas exposed against West Ham and I'm not saying Lucas played well, I just say some people get on his back far too quickly & some players are immune to criticism or, and I've seen it on here, Lucas gets the blame for their poor form as well, but Gerrard CERTAINLY contributed to Lucas' poor game and nowt is said.  And let me clarify, for me Lucas is a good squad player, no more no less and that's how I evaluate him, Gerrard is meant to be more, but we can't build the team around him any more.

Gerrard has earnt more lee way then Lucas and he was also coming back from an injury.

 But when I see a team running through our midfield the first person I'm going to look at is our defensive midfielder to see was he doing his job and on this occasion like most away games he wasn't.

 Like for Parkers goal he plays a one two Lucas ball watches Parker gets ahead of him and scores a good defensive midfielder would have stopped that.