There's an excerpt from Jonathan Wilson's book in the level 3 thread where Shankly and Paisley describe the change in the way Liverpool played football, and Paisley noted how long it took for the supporters to come round to their way of thinking. The kind of football they wanted Liverpool to play, which Lucas plays, isn't the kind which is immediately impressive, and it doesn't call attention to the individual. But get enough of the team playing that type of football, and they're more effective than a collection of gifted individuals. It requires the observer to first accept that there is a vision, and secondly to buy into that vision. If the whole team buys into that and is capable of it, the result is the most beautiful thing in football, a team playing pass and move. At that point, even the most sceptical observer can see there is something to be seen. The less observant ones won't have seen the lead up to it though.
Lucas came into a very difficult situation in terms of winning the fans over. He had Steven Gerrard the producer of far too many "how the fuck did he do that?" moments so any other player looks very ordinary in comparison. then you have the classiest CM in the world in Alonso who loves taking the piss out of goalies from 50 yards and passed the ball 60 yards down the wing onto someones foot with suspect regularity. And last but not least you have a tazmanian devil of a DM who is so tiny and fast and covers the whole pitch you would have to be closing your eyes to not notice him.
And then you have lucas, a player who is so positionally sound that fans don't think hes doing anything while he actively making sure he can cover passing lanes and spaces in behind which to the casual observer looks like he is just standing on the pitch waiting for the opponent to make a move.
And then he utilizes a short passing game which our side rendered completely ineffective by being as stagnant and rigid as a piece of cardboard. In fact if you put pieces of cardboard in riera's and kuyt's places on the wings you could accurately recreate a spell of possession by having lucas hit passes of these cardboard boxes who then give them back while they stand there not moving into space. The passing tempo was so slow at times last year that the defense barely had to move. Xabi spoiled our side rotten.
It took a very assertive and aggressive CM to come in and hold the sides hand as he forced them to move into space with his short pass and move game that forced a fluid attack onto the side. When maxi was in the same side they played fantastic stuff since both maxi and aquilani are natural movers which suited gerrard and lucas who both move off the ball well.
Lucas' style of player largely goes unnoticed in the team, which is the whole point of it really, as the team is supposed to work as one unit. However, the world class players who use this system tend to be the focal point of the attack like Xavi who is the axis by which barca rotates. everything goes through him so there is no way you can ignore his contribution, it also helps that he's technically brilliant and possesses the best passing vision which takes the pass and move style to its apex with him running it. However, busquests passes and moves as well and is a fantastic player but is very overshadowed by the leader of the orchestra.
If Lucas is to gain popular consensus of his quality he would have to be running the show and involved constantly or else people won't remember his performances in games because they are looking for individual moments of brilliance rather than collective team efforts because they require far less critical thinking and processing. No one has to analyze gerrard's olympikos goal to see its quality. It's a goal that will never be forgotten. Whereas with lucas, he rarely produces a singular spectacular event because he is focused on the overall picture. His performances are a brick wall. If you looked at each brick individually you would be hardpressed to find defining or unique characteristics because each brick is just building towards something bigger and only when you stand back and analyze the whole performance before can you really comment on lucas.