You see this is my problem with the Lucas fans in here. I get the impression that if he coughed you'd clap.
He played fine in the first half. Didn't do anything wrong (apart from a woeful shot) but didn't do anything particularly good either.
See, this is the problem with your argument.
It´s about having a TEAM. A team of players playing together, having their duties, doing their jobs and making as little mistakes as possible.
But to recognize this, you have to know first what the job of a deep sitting holding midfielder is.
Knowing exactly when to tackle, knowing how to make yourself available in order to give the player with the ball an option to pass to AND covering the gaps at the same time. How to know to play in triangles still covering the center etc. etc.
Believe it or not but Chelsea struggled a lot because they couldn´t replace Ballack proberly. For years I heard very similar arguments about Ballack as with Lucas now and they were just as wrong. In fact the balance was completely gone.
I could go on for hours but it´s really the same thing over and over again. It´s not about judging the player. It´s judging what he is doing in order to make the team work better. THIS is especially true for holding midfielders but more or less for every position in a team.
A great attacking full back is nothing without knowing how to move together with the defense line. f.e.
Bottom line. You won´t find too many players who can do the job Lucas is doing in his position. Yes, there are better ones, but only a few. And yes, there have been some outstanding players in this position like Marcel Dessailly or Makele who were adding an outstanding flavour to their job.
But stating Lucas did nothing particular good is just so wrong in any respect of what football is about.
