KopTalk.com Forums Football Liverpool FC Forum The underrated Lucas Leiva

Again, his stats show he is up there with the best. People remember the mistakes bit few remember the crucial tackles or the ones which start a key attack.

Some people on this forum talk utter rubbish. He has had one poor game under Klopp and that was ironically the last one when he played with Allen.

He nearly always plays the forward ball it's the other way round and as you say Ninja his stats for a DM are bang up there in fact in some he is top in Europe.

Until we can find an Essien I am quite happy with poor Lucas.

You know how many players we've bought based on stats and who were shipped away after a season or 2. For instance you can have a very high stats on passing the ball, but you usually do it sideways and to the back without taking any risks. United has one of the highest possession under Van Gaal, but without being offensive.

Maybe you are the one talking shyte, why are you looking at his performance under Klopp only anyway? He might have have one or (wo good seasons with us since he arrived. We'll see how long he lasts with Klopp. Why do you think we didn't get a buyer when Rodgers wanted to sell him? Top of Europe my ass.

It's a team revived Vish. Many of the players prior to Klopp were playing woefully under Rogers. Shall we go through the whole team and say they are all rubbish now and the new manager doesn't matter?

The stats that have him as top in 5 European leagues are there for you to find if you can be bothered and are part of a player. No one is suggesting it's everything or that he is the best merely that he is under rated in where he plays and what he adds, but I've watched him since Klopp came in and he's put in some fantastic performances even though I recognised and stated numerous times that against Newcastle he had a very poor game along with most of the team.

You don't rate him, I do. Fine.

Ninja,

One for you to look at if you haven't seen it.

http://www.theanfieldwrap.com/2015/11/lu...im-we-like-him/

That's the point. His job is to provide cover for the back four and break up opponent's play. Yet much is unfairly said about his lack of attacking instinct, goal scoring prowess and forward passing.
He's a DEFENSIVE holding midfielder. His job is not to be a Gerrard or Lampard.
Granted the ideal player should be able to do both attack and defend but such players are few and far between. Currently in the EPL, only Matic comes to mind but even he's struggling along with the rest of his team.

Thanks bud.

Yes, stats can be deceiving but I feel Lucas is very underrated. As a matter of fact, you mention passing sideways but take a look at his stats and you'll find that he has the highest number of KEY passes per game of all the Premier League defensive mids. That means he isn't only passing the ball sideways and backwards.

Also, he has been quite a bit more attacking under Klopp.

Last but not least, if Rafael Benitez, Kenny Dalglish and Jurgen Klopp feel there is no need to replace him and feel that he is good enough for our starting line up, there has to be a decent player in there.

I just feel he is underrated and was a bargain might I add. Are Schweinsteiger, Schneiderlin, Matic, Mikel, Fernandina really performing any better than Lucas. I don't think so.

I feel the simple fact that when Lucas has a poor game it influences our play so much, says volumes about how important he really is to our overall play. Look at our win/lose rates with and without him in the team.

This link posted by Top4 is absolutely brilliant.


http://www.theanfieldwrap.com/2015/11/lu...im-we-like-him/