from football 365.com.....
pouring more fuel into the Lucas debate....
"Seeing Xabi Alonso in the stands yesterday broke my heart. Inevitably, I started comparing every Lucas move to what Xabi would have done last season. A couple of observations:
1. Alonso almost never attempted to regain possession by rushing forward to close in on an opponent higher up the pitch. Exerting psychological pressure he did, but he rarely went in physically unless he was very sure of clinching it. More often, he just read movements and narrowed the opponents' options, waiting for them to make a mistake. The hustling and bustling was left to Masch, and in this way they complemented each other really well. As a result the opponent found little space to probe. Lucas on the other hand thinks of himself as an even more all-action superhero than Masch. He lunges forward, attempting to rob his man of the ball. Once in a while he succeeds, but mostly he gets outmuscled, and more importantly, out-thought. If you close in on an opponent's left or right, you are making his decision-making process that much easier. Space-aware opponents with a decent amount of technique will simply turn the other way and voila! A hole in the midfield suddenly opens up! I've lost count of the number of times Lucas did exactly this last night, allowing Arsenal (with all their low centres of gravity) to twist to his other side and gallop away.
2. Alonso had an instinct for switching the direction of the play with a dropped shoulder or a cutback. He was constantly relieving the team of the stress of congested play. This provided a semblance of control, which was crucial for building confidence as a game wore on. Lucas however has none of this tactical nous. When he has the ball, his vision reduces to about 10-15 metres. The longer he weighs his options, the higher the chances that (i) he would be robbed, or (ii) he would give the ball away to an opponent in an increasingly crowded part of the pitch.
All in all, Lucas has to go. Every game, he starts off brightly, makes a couple of terrible decisions, slips and falls, gets caught out of position, and by the end of the game he's soft, panting and easy meat. Can't shoot, can't head, can barely pass, lacks height, lacks pace, not physical enough. Has heart I admit, but heart just makes it easier for fans to forgive you, heart alone does not win you games."
This post has been edited by nando: Dec 15 2009, 12:46 PM