Lucas & Masch

Lucas is already as important to Liverpool as Masch was, although Masch is faster and maybe more tenacous.

Lucas has better distribution and younger, so has the potential to become as good as Masch....who knows, maybe this season he will achieve it!

While Mascha is still a good player I'd rather a Lucas type player who can defend while contributing something attacking to the team.

To be honest i think Lucas adds more to midfield than Mascherano, Mascherano although great at tackling often picked up countless yellow cards, gave away possesion and give cheap freekicks away, most of this seemed to go un-noticed by many Liverpool fans because we took to Mascherano very quickly.

Lucas on the other hand was made a scape-goat for poor team performances, Lucas also sometimes gives cheap freekicks away and picks up yellow cards, however i think he is much better at turning defence into attack than Mascherano was or ever will be, technique wise Lucas is all ready ahead of Mascherano and he is a vital part of our team.

Depends really. Masch is, and always will be, stronger in the tackle and in big games he always delivered (unless he got sent off).

Saying that I've seen Lucas put in some excellent performances against Man U and Chelsea and he is more consistent.

Thing is Lucas is not a DM. Never has been and never will be and as such, if we are talking about this position then I would rather have Masch.

Cmon honest....if you had Lucas and Masch at Liverpool, Masch would be first choice everytime!!

I like Lucas and was always defending him when most (maybe all) were saying he should go, but even i can see masch would get in ahead of him....just!!

Mascherano is the better DM out of the two.

Lucas has improved but lacks the physical presence, tenacity, influence, pace and drive of Mascherano.

The good news is that Lucas still has time on his side and will hopefully improve further.

In a word, no.

Mascherano was the best tackler I have seen since Makelele and while Lucas has made huge strides, he's not at that level and I can't see him ever getting there.
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I'd have to agree with this. Mascherano is a sore miss, he broke up the play so well whether it was throuh interception or through tackling. He broke everything down, Alonso stated everything up again.

I think with Meireles, Aquilani and Adam we have some very good box to box footballers to replace Alonso, and people have pointed to Lucas to be the obvious replacement to Mascherano. If Lucas wants to cement the place in the squad then he is going to have to try and adjust and become a proper DM and less of a box to box player, as we have enough of those now, and better ones.
Lucas needs to learn when to tackle and when to shadow, something that Mascherano instinctively knew, and Makelele was the king at. He is improving but he does still give dangerous freekicks away in dangerous areas. He also doesn't hold the same amount of influence in the team as Mascherano did.

For me this is a big season as I think he's been over-hyped recently simply because he has improved a lot, but lets remember how bad he was to start with. He is now a valuable squad member, but this season could be his chance to prove himself to be a really top DM, if not then I won't be surprised if we go in for Moussa Sissoko or someone next season, who is a proper DM!

Agreed Aquilonso

I also agree that Lucas is far from the finished article. At least now we all know what he can and can't do now. It does my head in when the our fans used to say he would be better to play him as an AM, when he clearly isn't suited to the role. The problem I have is that I don't see him as the perfect DM either.

I love his attitude and willingness to improve and this gives me hope that he can get even better. The fact that he was the fans player of the year last season just illustrates to me how far we fell under the two cowboys. IMO Suarez should have won this honour despite being signed in January.

Signing another DM would be a surprise so it looks like Kenny's trusts Lucas to do the job next season (unless he has other plans), which is good enough for me. But I'm certainly not one of these Liverpool fans who thinks Lucas can be genuinely world class (but he could become a good Liverpool player) or is in anyway the finished article.

Lucas won player of the season. Masch has never even come close to doing that.

@comment by makar - new and exciting ways to spell Mereileiess (U4260)

I don't think that's particularly relevant.

Parker won player of the year last season, that doesn't make him a better player than Essien, Gerrard, Rooney, Tevez etc. does it?

Do you think Barcelona would pay £25m to take Lucas to the Nou Camp?