"Could Lucas be the temporary solution to defensive problems?" by Owen Morris

Over the past year of two, I - along with many Liverpool fans - have criticised Lucas Leiva and questioned his place in our squad. Some say he simply isn't good enough, or that injuries have robbed him of that yard of pace which can be vital to a defensive midfielder. After our performance against West Brom though, the Brazilian midfielder's role is a something that has had me deep in thought. Now before you all race to the comments section and tell me how deluded I am, please give me to the end of this article to show my reasoning.

When Lucas came on in the second half he slotted into the holding role with Gerrard pushing up behind Balotelli and Henderson occupying a box to box role. Lucas did well I thought, he certainly did what was asked of him, but what interested me most is that he got two shots off as well. Both somewhat predictably sailed high into the upper echelons of the Kop, but those shots did tell me something. We rarely see Gerrard getting that close to the goal from his 'quarterback role' and to do it such a short space of time did surprise me.

It got me thinking whether the problem with Lucas is tactical, or down to personnel. There is no way that Lucas and Gerrard can play together in a midfield two. You simply cannot have two immobile midfielders in this day and age, simple as. I can't say that Gerrard is better than Lucas simply because Lucas has lost a yard of pace, because in my opinion so has Gerrard. So for me it comes down to who has a more positive effect on the team.

Of course you would look to Gerrard; one of our best ever players, our Captain, our icon, but does he actually help in a defensive aspect? I won't go too much into this as I have another article about Gerrard in the next issue of the fanzine, but I think Rodgers has him at the base of his midfield solely for his passing. He isn't a defensive minded player, and his tackling is not suited to a defensive midfielder.

Lucas can tackle. Sure, he cannot spread a ball as well as Gerrard but in terms of doing the main job of a defensive midfielder - ie defend - I think he could probably do it better than Gerrard. Which makes me question whether Rodgers should sacrifice defensive quality for the sake of good ball control and passing?

Another example would be Glen Johnson; who probably will come back into the starting XI, but the only reason I can come up with is his ball control, as he certainly isn't any better than Manquillo in a defensive sense, but this is another topic for another day.

To add to this, think about when Lucas plays and Gerrard doesn't. Last season during December when Gerrard was out we played 4-3-3 with a trio of Henderson, Allen and Lucas for the games against City and Spurs, and in both we played very well. We did seem to have more balance in the squad and only conceded a whopping two goals! When Lucas plays in a midfield with Henderson, it works. He played in a midfield with Allen too at the start of the 2012/13 campaign and it also worked, but when Gerrard and Lucas play together it simply does not work.

I do not think Lucas is the permanent answer at all, I think we can do a lot better now that we are a champions league team again. I would love to see Emre Can given a go in there with Allen and Henderson because I think he would be perfect with his strength and ability to move with the ball. But he is returning from injury, he's still inexperienced and he is adapting to the premier league, so the only alternative to Gerrard until January (or until Can adapts and can play consistently on a regular basis) is Lucas.

Of course Gerrard will not be dropped, not for a while anyway, but it is just an interesting thought, could Lucas be a quick, temporary fix to a leaky defence?

Owen Morris

@LFCOpinion1