Lucas - more tackles than any OTHER PL player

[lucozade]

According to 'Opta Sally'

 

NGog has more tackle than any OTHER PL player

 

Discuss.

[James Dean]

[theghost]

He shows up when we really need him. What more can we ask for.

[king7]

We'll never win back to back trebles with players like Lucas in our team...

[Unrighteous]

We'll never win back to back trebles with players like Lucas in our team...

 

Err... starting XI? Unlikely, but squad? Every squad needs a Lucas (or Spearing for that matter)

[Hades]

Not only is his 2nd touch often a tackle, he lacks the physical strength to shield the ball, resulting in many more tackles than necessary.

[Dracco]

He also must be in top 3 in giving away fouls

[myrlas]

I am overwhelmed by the counter arguments produced by those in this thread who don't like Lucas.

 

Class.

[aws]

We could do better but the same could be said for almost the whole squad. The least of our problems.

[RedinSweden]

Good squad player, but we can do better. CM is an area we need to strengthen, not because of him, mainly because sometimes we have to use Poulsen. If we get someone in to CM, they should be better than him, but he should still stay. I think he has had a good season and i like his attitude.

[Biscao]

We could do better but the same could be said for almost the whole squad. The least of our problems.

I'd say we have a lot better cover on a few other positions. Right back, GK, midfielders going forward, strikers - those are the least of our problems. Not Lucas. He's more of a problem that isn't quite as urgent as our squad depth, wingers and Jovanovic on 80k/week.

[Hermes]

The Premier Leagues 40th best midfielder:

 

FULL CASTROL RANKINGS | Castrol Football | Official Sponsor UEFA EURO 2012™

[redsoxs]

I love Lucas, great player very underratted by are owns fans; he makes want to sing the.....

 

Hokey cokey

 

Put your pass to the side

your pass to the back

 

side

back

side

back

mix it all about.

 

Do the Lucas Leiva and you turn around

That's what it's all about.

 

Oooh the Lucas Leiva

Oooh the Lucas Leiva

Oooh the Lucas Leiva

 

Side Pass

Back Pass

 

rah

rah

rah

[silverlining]

The Premier Leagues 40th best midfielder:

 

FULL CASTROL RANKINGS | Castrol Football | Official Sponsor UEFA EURO 2012™

 

The Castrol rankings?! Wow.

 

Anyway, I don't think anyone thinks we can't improve on Lucas. Most teams in the Premiership have one or more better CM players.

 

I hope and pray Kenny replaces him next season, but the biggest debate is what *type* of player we should be after.

 

Ideally, I'd buy a Top Quality Destroyer, who can also pass a bit better than, say, Masher. Then we could play TQD, Ming and Gerrard in a midfield three behind Carroll, Suarez and TQW.

 

Lucas can play in the Carling Cup or another team. I don't really give a fuck.

[Gym Beglin]

In 36% of those tackles, the opposition walk away with the ball.

 

It's all a bit misleading really, you always find centre backs with massive pass completion %'s because they tend to choose the soft option of a 10 yard pass. Now, does Lucas resemble Alonso's distribution, or does he more mirror that of a centre back?

 

-Lots of attempted tackles, lots of times he's come off second best.

-Passing is basic, it doesn't advance us or 'set the tempo'.

-No goal threat or assists.

-No height

 

He actually doesn't tick any of the boxes. As much as you want him to, and as nice a fella as he is, he's not quite good enough to be running the midfield of a team with genuine title and CL aspirations.

Put it this way, Lucas has as many assists for us this season as Mascherano, Spearing, Skrtel and Konchesky do, a solitary assist.

Essien, 3 assists

Parker, 3 assists

By way of example. Not to mention a couple of goals.

Come on, it's not much of a fucking stretch. Remember the Hamann goal of the season comp he ran on his own?

[Code]

According to 'Opta Joe'

 

Opta Sports (OptaJoe) on Twitter

 

Discuss.

 

The question I would ask is why does a player need to tackle?

 

Is it poor positioning combined with lack of pace or are there other reasons?

[silverlining]

The question I would ask is why does a player need to tackle?

 

Is it poor positioning combined with lack of pace or are there other reasons?

 

Sadly, I have no idea if this is supposed to be serious, whether you genuinely don't understand tackling, or if there is a point hidden in this dung-heap of a post that you expect us to scrabble about trying to uncover.

 

Well, fuck that.

[Hermes]

Don't forget he was actually an attacking midfielder before he came here. He'd scored 4 (yes 4!!) goals in Brazilian league games.

[silverlining]

Don't forget he was actually an attacking midfielder before he came here. He'd scored 4 (yes 4!!) goals in Brazilian league games.

 

But according to some spasticles, Benitez "ruined" him.

 

Although now, according to some of the same spasticles, he's "ruined" him into the best DM in the world. When he isn't even the best DM in Merseyside.

[JohnnyH]

The question I would ask is why does a player need to tackle?

 

Is it poor positioning combined with lack of pace or are there other reasons?

 

Or because the other team have the ball and have passed it to a player in midfield.....

[silverlining]

Or because the other team have the ball and have passed it to a player in midfield.....

 

"None of the great Liverpool teams/ great sides/ Barcelona had a player who was good at tackling, because they didn't need to tackle, because they kept the ball all the time".

 

If he says this, or anything like this, I am going to hunt Code down and beat him to death with a studded baseball bat.

[Code]

A rather mediocre 64%. To place that in context, Parker with 112 tackles has a 77% success rate. Stats from link below:-

 

Premier League stats | Football Features, Music, Team of the Week, Twitter, Fantasy | Sky Sports

 

Paul Tomkins made an enormous and never-ending fuss one year about the stat that Jermaine Pennant had made the most crosses in the PL in the year before we signed him in order to claim that he was the league's best winger. Until it was pointed out that only one of those 90+ crosses led to a goal.

 

Stats eh?

 

It was 2 assists from 230+ crosses.

[myrlas]

There are two types of tackles.

 

One current player discussed in this thread is a prime example of how to just go in and steal the ball from the opponent without needing to get down on the ground.

 

One former CL-winning left back is the prime example of the other type. Where his positioning most of the time made him put his long legs out for a recovery tackle.

[silverlining]

There are two types of tackles.

 

One current player discussed in this thread is a prime example of how to just go in and steal the ball from the opponent without needing to get down on the ground.

 

One former CL-winning left back is the prime example of the other type. Where his positioning most of the time made him put his long legs out for a recovery tackle.

 

The type of tackle that Djimi Traore, or any other LB might require to do being faced by quick, tricky wingers knocking the ball past him

is quite different to the type of tackle that a CM player might do.

[Einch]

I like the lad and agree that we can do better but it's the "better" bit and the context that surrounds it which is never quite clear. Take for example the Busquets vs Lucas thread. It was bizarre since having Busquets in out team would be pointless - we don't keep the ball or move the ball fast enough to make use of a player like him and thats without the lack of width coming into the equation. I had a quick look at the Castrol rankings thing and it's comedy gold. Code's question of positioning and tackling is crazy as well since it's almost suggestive of us going man for man all over the pitch. I think the proof of how good/bad he is will come when we get proper width in who will offer the passing options and not come inside to offer the support as often as in our current set up. It will show if he has the ability to cover and make the play when we stretch the game to force the initiative. I'm fairly sure that we will be going back to what Kenny had with the 87 - 88 side or as close to it as we can get in midfield so that means a two man central pairing. I'm not sure he will succeed in this but then I'm not sure he will fail in this either.