Lets be honest - there's no way on this earth that Lucas is worth 12m; I don't think he's even worth what we paid for him at this point.
He had a great game at St James and has in fact played pretty well for a few games on the trot. All those who marked him with a 6 or didn't mark him higher than Yossi, Mascher or Babel etc are just embarassingly blinkered. Smicer had seasons of absolute dross packed in his kit bag when he left Anfield but anyone who gave him less than 7.5 or even 8 for his final game needs treatment.
I've said for quite a while that Lucas is a lot better than plenty on here give him credit for; he doesn't have the dynamic presence and performance of Stevie so will always disappoint on that level. He was far from the finished article that Xabi was on his arrival so was obviously going to come up short in that comparison. Mascher - he's a unique player who has made his name through the simple philosophy of hassling, harrying and tackling anything that moves. Lucas is nothing like him - never will be and doesn't want to be. What he does have is a very good first touch, lovely passing - particularly first time passing, great awareness and a quite severe shot. There were patches of it on display but never consistently and always seemingly drowned by his crude tackling, the ease with which he was shrugged from the ball and a penchant for sitting back and going for the ride.
The fact is that those positive aspects of his game have been to the fore in recent weeks which has certainly pleased me and given me confidence that what I saw in his game is real. It doesn't mean that other side of his game, the far less appealing side, has disappeared. He will have the cross of being very young in a foreign country with the subsequent performance levels to carry for some time. Only with consistently strong displays will he be able to convince the doubters that he has what it takes - and rightly so. The last few weeks have marked a start - an excellent start - but whether its a turning point in his career or just a mirage will take months to determine.
He had a great game at St James and has in fact played pretty well for a few games on the trot. All those who marked him with a 6 or didn't mark him higher than Yossi, Mascher or Babel etc are just embarassingly blinkered. Smicer had seasons of absolute dross packed in his kit bag when he left Anfield but anyone who gave him less than 7.5 or even 8 for his final game needs treatment.
I've said for quite a while that Lucas is a lot better than plenty on here give him credit for; he doesn't have the dynamic presence and performance of Stevie so will always disappoint on that level. He was far from the finished article that Xabi was on his arrival so was obviously going to come up short in that comparison. Mascher - he's a unique player who has made his name through the simple philosophy of hassling, harrying and tackling anything that moves. Lucas is nothing like him - never will be and doesn't want to be. What he does have is a very good first touch, lovely passing - particularly first time passing, great awareness and a quite severe shot. There were patches of it on display but never consistently and always seemingly drowned by his crude tackling, the ease with which he was shrugged from the ball and a penchant for sitting back and going for the ride.
The fact is that those positive aspects of his game have been to the fore in recent weeks which has certainly pleased me and given me confidence that what I saw in his game is real. It doesn't mean that other side of his game, the far less appealing side, has disappeared. He will have the cross of being very young in a foreign country with the subsequent performance levels to carry for some time. Only with consistently strong displays will he be able to convince the doubters that he has what it takes - and rightly so. The last few weeks have marked a start - an excellent start - but whether its a turning point in his career or just a mirage will take months to determine.
