It would be nice to think that all Liverpool supporters will eventually come to appreciate what Lucas does for the team but anyone with a sense of history knows this will never happen. Ian Callaghan and Ronnie Whelan always had their detractors, even after 10 years at the club. 'What does he do?' people asked of Cally, 'And when's he gonna score?' 'All those sideways passes', they said of Whelan, 'He just does the simple thing every time'. We can hear echoes of this today.
A couple of posters on here - the obsessive fella was probably one - complained earlier that all that Lucas did was take the ball and find a colleague in space. You have to love that! It's basically the first sentence of the Bill Shankly Bible turned into the first item on the charge sheet! It reveals such a monumental incomprehension about the game that you wonder how anyone holding such a view can derive any enjoyment at all from watching or playing the sport. The obsessive bloke admits to liking Carragher and Kuyt the most. At the risk of alienating a few of my Lucas pals I'd say 'there's a little clue'. If it's the bish-bash-bosh that you like about football then the more controlled and possession-based game practised by Lucas probably won't appeal. It is, however, precisely what the Reds need. Moreover it's what we always had When We Were Kings. On its own it's not sufficient. You need pace, dynamism and trickery in the team as well (especially on the flanks I'd say). But, equally, you won't get anywhere with these qualities unless you have a midfielder like Lucas who speed-reads the game, supports players needing help and finds players requiring space.
El C, mate, I loved your videos of the lad, but they're wasted on the 'know-nothings'. Because such folk lack any sense of how two or three quick, short passes (even backward passes sometimes) can dishevel the opposition and open up a side of the pitch, they will forever gaze on compilations like yours, grunt a bit, choke on their Farleys, and yell for a nice high ball into the box. You saw yourself how the obsessive 'read' the Lucas heading video. Each one of those headers was made under pressure. In very few of them was Lucas a clear favourite to win the ball. But he won all but one, and in the one he didn't win his opponent - big Fellaini as it happened - was so forcefully challenged that he headed straight to a Red. And then there's this. In every single example in the film - even where an Evertonian picked up the 2nd ball - Liverpool were in a better position after Lucas's aerial challenge than they had been before it. And that's the Lucas creed. It's what his game is based on. He hands over solutions, not problems. Repeatedly. Throughout the game.
