I think Whitey makes a salient point. If we're marking for effort, then Lucas is right up there. If we're marking for quality however, he's an also ran.
The fact is that our star performers have been a long way off their best this season, which obviously makes them stand out less. In particular, Gerrard has been horrific for large parts of the season. However, that doesn't alter the fact that even in his most baron of spells, Gerrard has looked infinitely more likely to make something happen than Lucas. Granted, Lucas 'does a job' and 'makes an effort', and during times when it looks like the whole team can't be arsed, such application is likely to be rewarded. The fact remains though, that the vast majority of (sane) Liverpool fans would take a severely underperforming Gerrard over Lucas any day of the week. That's because when you consider quality alone, he is far superior, even on a bad day. That's without even mentioning Torres, who despite injuries and patchy form has still managed 12 goals in the league this season - a contribution which far outweighs that of Lucas (I realise they play very different roles, but I don't think anyone can realistically argue that occasionally breaking up the play and making safe short passes is of equal significance).
I don't dislike Lucas, or believe him to be as bad as some people make out. He tries his guts out and is a consummate professional. Any criticism should really be directed at the manager for assuming that he'd in any way be capable of compensating for the loss of Xabi Alonso. However, it pains me that this debate is even taking place, because it just serves to remind us of how far we've fallen since the dizzy heights of last season. And that such a plodder with no redeeming features other than a solid work ethic could even be considered Liverpool's best player of the season.
