Lucas and Mascherano cannot work, and Rafa refuses to try and make it work.
The old cliche in football is "You could throw a blanket over the pair of them" and it's true in the case of these 2.
What we have when Alonso partners Mascherano is a player who is solid in the tackle and who's range of passing is so sublime that it means he can play deeper.
When Lucas plays next to Mascherano the passes are all short, lateral, and predictable.
Players from the oppoisition midfield get on to Lucas all the time, he plays a short ball along the floor to either the winger or an overlapping full-back. Every time.
The balls he plays go nowhere, the ones he tries to play foreward are almost always over-hit.
In a game like yesterday this means that the onus is on a player to push forward out of the 2 deeper players to link the play with runs and short balls rather than long cross field balls that Alonso uses.
Yesterday the onus, for some unknown reason, fell to Mascherano. I feel sorry for the fella because he now had to make the tackles that Lucas is unable to, because even Lucas' most ardent supporters will tell you he cannot tackle, then he had to run through the middle, play the ball like a playmaker, or shoot.
Then Lucas fans have a cheek to say Mascherano had a bad game, it's not a bad game if you're at least trying.
All too often I've heard "Well he didn't do anything wrong so he had a good game".
Seriously? What. The. Fuck?
Is that the standard for Liverpool now? Play short meaninless balls to avoid the possibility of a game changing pass not coming off?
I'm in the camp of play him as an attacking midfielder, I've seen highlights of him at Gremio, a danger in and around the box, and I've seen him press on for the reserves but if he hasn't got the confidence, intelligence, or will to do it from deep when we're 1-0 down then what's the point in him playing the Gerrard position when he's scared to do anything different.
Paisley said to Rush "Don't be scared to miss", Lucas needs ot be told if he loses the ball he won't be crucified, if he misses a shot it won't end his career.
As it is he's the epitome of nothingness, a waste of a red shirt when he's on the pitch.
Here's the chalkboard of passing from when we went 1-0 down to 1-1.
Kuyt gets some stick, from me as well, but at least when we go 1-0 down he tries his hardest, as does Mascherano. If Lucas had half the energy and commitment of Mascherano he might have a future here.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/chalkboards/i80Z339Sbn91Z2q9T2L5