Though he’s now widely regarded as one of the best defensive midfielders in world football, it wasn’t so long ago that Lucas was considered a laughing stock. Even Liverpool fans, despite their supportive nature must have had their doubts. Criticism rolled in, the pundits slated him and the general consensus was that he was yet another Rafa Benitez dud.
With the benefit of hindsight, I think we can all agree now that we were dead wrong. Plenty of foreign players take time to adapt to the Premier League and Lucas was no exception. He was officially unveiled as a Liverpool player back in 2007 after the Reds snatched him away from Gremio for just £5m and it hasn’t really been until the last couple of seasons that he started to show what he was really made of.
Indeed, it’s gotten to the stage where Liverpool really miss him when he’s not in the team. Part of the reason why Liverpool are currently languishing down in 7th place in the Premier League must surely be down to his absence. He’s the best in his position in the League (only Alex Song comes close and he spends too much time out of position) he keeps his passing game simple and knows when to cover for other players. He’s the type of player who gives the likes of Steven Gerrard and Charlie Adam a license to get forward.
Given his current stature, it’s easy to forget how long he originally took to settle at Anfield.
Which brings me to the man that Liverpool have relied upon to fill Lucas’ boots. Jay Spearing, beyond a couple of poor performances, has been fairly solid when called upon this season. Like Lucas he favours short but sure passes, isn’t afraid to get stuck in and can put in a tackle or two. This in itself is a big step up from the Spearing of last season.
I think he has picked up an unfair amount of the slack for Liverpool’s poor form in recent times. Sad as it is, it’s usually the sturdy players like Spearing and Lucas who are scapegoated when the Red’s don’t get the results they want. Why Liverpool’s creative talent aren’t held to more account is beyond me.
It strikes me, that like Lucas, Spearing is going to take some time to fully settle into this Liverpool side. Whilst he hasn’t come from foreign climbs like Lucas, he has still had to make a big step up from the Reserves to the Premier League. The adjustment process is something that’s going to take time – but who’s to say that he won’t be viewed as equally important to Liverpool as Lucas is within the next few years.
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As far as I can tell the creative players (i.e. Downing, Adam, Henderson, Carroll) have been the ones getting all the criticism. I think most people recognize the job Spearing has done, I haven’t seen any real criticism of his time filling in for Lucas.
Better than alex song….lol dnt be silly…song is a much better quality defensive mid and also has ability to start attacks and put in killer through balls