Wasn't he put on alongside Masch against Atleti? Meaning the more attacking midfielder of the pairing?
Yes he was, both against Atleti and against LOM. The problem was that we were playing way to deep vs Atleti at the time to suit him, and against LOM we never really got control (for a number of reasons, but in my book mainly down to Masch having a really bad game).
They aren't mutually exclusive.
Exactly, those 2 quotes don't contradict each other - he's playing at his favourite position as the "defensive" midfielder who has license to push forward (ie, rather box-to-box) - Like I've said all the time in this thread. Which means that if we're playing a 4-4-2, he's competing with Gerrard for a place, and if Gerrard is out or playing further up, he's competing with Alonso for a place (based on that having Alonso in the more defensive position as when Gerrard-Alonso play in a 4-4-2, we'll probably lack pace in the middle with Lucas-Alonso).
Art - very good point about demanding the ball back, as when he play with more high profile players the team-mates aren't looking for him in the same way.
I think that is a very valid observation when compairing him in Liverpool/BrazilU23/Brazil NT vs Liverpool pre-season/Gremio/BrazilU20: in the latter 3 he's been bossing games but in the former 3 there is the impression of picking the simple option.
(this could certainly be applied to a number of other players as well in a new environment - for example Insua in the U20 World Cup when he suddenly got to play with players like Aguero and Banega: He played very good, but it was very unusual that he actually got the ball when he was in great positions or that he got it back in a 1-2)