KopTalk.com Forums Football Liverpool FC Forum Who should we play instead of Lucas

aurelio!? if he is alive..

or maybe try agger there...

adam sitting in front of the back 4, hendo attacking center mid, supporting the strikers.

-----Hendersen

Maxi----------Kuyt

-------Adam

or

-----Hendersen

Maxi----------Kuyt

--Spearing--Adam

Not Henderson. He's an attacking central midfielder who we bought in order to create chances for his team mates (eg the through-ball to Bellamy for Maxi's goal on Tuesday). Though he can defend and is young enough to handle a lot of running, I don't think he imposes himself enough.

Not Adam (maybe). Supposedly someone more in the Alonso mold, he's our midfield playmaker. Sticking him as a dedicated DM will reduce what creativity we have in midfield. It could still work that he runs the show as he did for Holloway as the anchor of a 3-man midfield, but never forget that Blackpool were relegated, which implies that they lost a lot of games with Adam in this position.

Not Shelvey. Rather like Henderson for me - only good going forward, which is not a DM's task.

Not Aquilani. Why put a player who excels in the hole behind the striker as your DM? Stupid suggestion.

Not Gerrard. Lacks the discipline necessary for the role, regardless of whether he played there for LFC and England 10 years ago (where he had several howlers). He's 31 and is often out of position, though he does have a good tackle on him. I'd be prepared to let him play part of a "double pivot", but only if he had a proper DM as his partner (eg Lucas, Spearing). The point is that if we're playing 4-5-1, Gerrard cannot be the midfield anchor by himself (ie 4-1-2-3 = no Gerrard at DM).

Spearing. Can stand in for Lucas, though has never started a game without Lucas as his partner. I believe that now is the right time for him to make that role his own. Lucas was terrible until he had the role all to himself (no Alonso, no Mascherano as partners). I'm hoping that Spearing can become the same kind of player as a result of being thrown in the deep end. He definitely gets forward more than Lucas (having almost as many shots as Henderson in a similar number of games despite being more defensive), so I'd pick him in a "double pivot" midfield without a second thought. He had Adam for company vs Chelsea, but we were under the cosh the whole time, so it's clear there's room for improvement. But it's also clear that maybe Adam isn't the right partner for Spearing. I'm sure Kenny will have some ideas too.

The rest are too young.

Exactly! And it wasn't his defending skills that stood out last year - it was the roars forward we learned to love, wasn't it?

Don't forget that Blackpool conceded most goals in PL last season - 78! That equals 2 per game. West Brom and West Ham were almost as awful conceding 71 and 70 respectively!

Hendo - Adam against weaker sides add spearing to 5 man mid in tougher games...I'm purposely leaving out SG because unfortunately I don't think he'll be consistently injury free for any significant period again ( love to see him up top with with suarez)

maybe we should try pepe reina there....he has some great passing ability..!

Spearing is really the only one that can do a similar job to lucas. The rest are just going to push up too much and leave our defence open. When was the last time lucas had a shot on goal or ventured over the half way line. He just stuck to his task giving the rest of the team the option to attack without worrying.

The only trouble with Spearing is his defencive qualities mainly rely on his spirit and enthusiasim to run down everything. Lucas spends quite a bit of time just walking around when he doesn't need to do anything giving him more energy to go into takles. His reading of the game and timing of tackles has vastly improved as well his time on the ball, shot passes and forward passing, which used to be lacking. Its made him much better than macha in my opinion.

Spearing has his own qualities though he will just need time, which he should get now.

Spearing is the only one in my eyes. Spearing can prove that he is up for the challenge. This is he big chance.

Henderson is a attacking midfielder. Not good enough to get stuck in and tackle the opponent, he is not a tackler. I belive Henderson will develop into a very good player, but not a defensive midfielder.