The demise of Liverpool start Lucas Leiva has been greatly exaggerated ;-) After his injury over the weekend, rumours flying around suggest that Lucas could be out for a couple of months, but the Brazilian has moved to clarify the situation, and the news is good. Or is it...?
Lucas lasted only twenty minutes against Aston Villa on Saturday before being stretchered off with a knee injury.
Given his recent injury, many feared the worst, but it appears that it's merely a comparatively minor niggle.
Last night, the midfielder tweeted:
"I would like to let you know that my injury isn't serious and I will be back in a few weeks. Thanks"
Good news, right? Yes, and no.
* In terms of squad strength and sheer numbers, the sooner Lucas returns the better. He's the club's only dedicated defensive midfielder, and he's clearly better at the job than Steven Gerrard, who struggled against Aston Villa.
* The bad news is that Lucas's swift return may dissuade Brendan Rodgers from signing another defensive midfielder during the January transfer window. This would, IMO, be a mistake. Providing extra cover/competition for Lucas is - and should be - a major priority. What happens if he gets injured again?
Lucas may only be out for a couple of weeks, but he'll lose an element of match-fitness during that period, and it'll take a bit of time for him to get back to speed again. Liverpool don't have time for that; momentum needs to be maintained, and playing square pegs in round holes is not the solution.
Mohamed Salah is reportedly a done deal, but now, Rodgers surely has to concentrate his efforts on signing a defensive midfielder. Liverpool's defence is struggling this season, and a solid, dependable defensive midfield lynchpin is obviously needed.
Ignoring that would be a huge mistake (IMO).
Author: Jaimie K
Lucas lasted only twenty minutes against Aston Villa on Saturday before being stretchered off with a knee injury.
Given his recent injury, many feared the worst, but it appears that it's merely a comparatively minor niggle.
Last night, the midfielder tweeted:
"I would like to let you know that my injury isn't serious and I will be back in a few weeks. Thanks"
Good news, right? Yes, and no.
* In terms of squad strength and sheer numbers, the sooner Lucas returns the better. He's the club's only dedicated defensive midfielder, and he's clearly better at the job than Steven Gerrard, who struggled against Aston Villa.
* The bad news is that Lucas's swift return may dissuade Brendan Rodgers from signing another defensive midfielder during the January transfer window. This would, IMO, be a mistake. Providing extra cover/competition for Lucas is - and should be - a major priority. What happens if he gets injured again?
Lucas may only be out for a couple of weeks, but he'll lose an element of match-fitness during that period, and it'll take a bit of time for him to get back to speed again. Liverpool don't have time for that; momentum needs to be maintained, and playing square pegs in round holes is not the solution.
Mohamed Salah is reportedly a done deal, but now, Rodgers surely has to concentrate his efforts on signing a defensive midfielder. Liverpool's defence is struggling this season, and a solid, dependable defensive midfield lynchpin is obviously needed.
Ignoring that would be a huge mistake (IMO).
Author: Jaimie K
Jaimie, do you have any ideas of a quality defensive midfielder that we can sign right now?
ReplyDeleteAlex Song !!
ReplyDeleteI never know your name was Jaimie?
ReplyDeleteGood luck trying to do business with Barcelona...
Can you think of someone else?
I hope you're trying to be funny...
ReplyDeleteThat was not the answer I was expecting ;-)
ReplyDeleteWhat were you, then?
ReplyDeletemaybe jermaine jones on loan? He'd be good cover and is proven in bundesliga and played at blackburn a couple of years ago.
ReplyDeleteBut we've got Gerrard to cover Lucas so no problems there then right?????
ReplyDeleteI actually think Allen's best position is DM, he is mobile and gets stuck in, also it keeps him away from goal.
If we are to play Coutinho in the middle 3 you cannot play Gerrard, whether it is age or laziness, he is not mobile enough in the middle and it causes us to get overun
Something other than a question.
ReplyDeleteEveryone on here knows questions are your speciality mate
ReplyDeleteDarn, I forgot. Of the thousands of professional footballers in the world, there couldn't possibly be one out there who LFC could sign in January. It's too difficult; and LFC doesn't have a scouting department either, which makes it doubly impossible.
ReplyDeleteOur midfield lynchpin for the last 18 months has been Hendo.
ReplyDeleteIMO, what we need is someone to directly replace Gerrard and then we can leave Lucas and Allen strictly for the DM position. Gerrard should never step into that role for Liverpool ever again.
By not addressing any midfield issues for 18 months now my only hope that Rodgers plans on throwing some academy kids in. I know Rossiter is a DM, highly thought of. There is also Coady.
So obviously you think our scouting department is sitting on their behinds and doing nothing then?
ReplyDeleteRegardless of how good or bad Lucas is he now has a knee problem and therefore needs selling. If we are to get CL the Agger, Kelly, Enrique and Lucas all need to go purely from a fitness perspective they are too injury prone and cannot sustain 60 games a season
ReplyDeleteGerrard cannot handle two games a week anymore either, (also he has a back problem and has spent a lot of time out injured too over he last few years) look at Lampard at Chelsea, he gets used sparingly.
We need a squad of players who do not have a history of injuries .... Even Sturrdige forces us to look at buying another top goal scorer
Mohammed Salah is gone...Chelsea will get him..So Liverpool can now sign a top class mid fielder for that money.
ReplyDeleteNo that's Ian Ayre
ReplyDeleteJust like the millions of question on this site which get directed at LFC, Rodgers, our scouts and FSG etc?
ReplyDeleteThat should make us all specialists then...
Ha! See, another question, I win.
ReplyDelete:)
I look at it more as a fact :-)
ReplyDeleteFernando, M'Vila, Essien, Yacob, De jong among others
ReplyDeleteI reckon Salah will join the Chavs. He seems like he is more interested in soaking up bench time and picking up his cheque than willing to take a "risk" with us sans CL.
ReplyDeletei think he was being sarcastic
ReplyDeleteCompletely agree. The fullbacks can wait til the summer with Flanagan and Enrique coming back, plus the ones we have in Johnson, Cissokho, Kelly...so that should be enough to last til the end...even though all of them have been poor/injured. But DM is a must before January ends. Salah is supposedly around 10M. So if BR does have 25M to spend in January.. that leaves 15M to get a decent DM. No excuses. Anything else happens to Lucas and we are stuffed. Cannot believe what happened against Villa. We were absolutely shocking without him...and i don't even rate Lucas highly. So if BR gets a better DM than Lucas.... we are golden. However, Lucas is still out against Everton (possibly the biggest game in the second half of the season). So I guess Allen has to step up in midfield, and if he gets another open goal opportunity like the first derby...he needs to nail it. I think Sakho and Flanagan are fit to play again now. If so, this would be my team against the bitters. I hope most of these players are rested against Bournemouth.
ReplyDelete4-3-3
Mignolet
Johnson Skrtel Sakho Flano
Henderson Gerrard Allen
Sterling Sturridge Suarez
Subs: Jones, Salah (haha), Coutinho, Toure, Alberto, Kelly
Rodgers could still buy a midfielder, or possibly he was never gonna buy one Lucas injury or not. So it's definitely fantastic news Lucas won't be out for long and good for Lucas himself too as he's been through a lot with injuries and with the world cup year this would've crushed him.
ReplyDeleteHe'd be an idiot not to try and sign another DM. If a fan base full of people who haven't worked at the top tier football can see that, and he can't, then there's a bit of a problem!
ReplyDeleteIf a professional football person cannot see that Joe Allen was born to play the role Lucas plays them he is a overpaid and overated .the problems that Liverpool have are plain and easily put right but a system must be kept ? why change it until you get the players t be able tp play it - we need a commanding centre half, Joe Allen moved back and Gerrard moved forward.
ReplyDeletewe already have the best one on our books Joe Allen who is being played out of position to accommodate Lucas a lesser player and Gerrard to prolong his career. forget the giggs model Brendon - look where utd are now.
ReplyDeleteI think given we wont have a DM for a few weeks still means we need to sign a midfielder. Rodgers isnt stupid he knows that. And even if he is an understudy to Lucas I think thats still good business; because (even though I know I'm in minority) I think Lucas has been class this season and one of our top performers. I personally am still under the impression that Gerrard is currently the weak link in the midfield and that Lucas, Hendo and Allen complement eachother really well. And I actually thought Gerrard played really well against Stoke; in a largely average performance (yes despite scoring 5 ....).
ReplyDeleteOhh well, in other news; anyone else think Borini was awesome last night? I mean he wasnt world class; but not for the lack of trying. He chased down everything, got into decent positions and was probably Sunderlands biggest threat during the time he was on the pitch. Reminded me of Dirk Kuyt a bit. Greatly impressed. Well done lad.
It seems that "the crowd was anxious" translates into they should be more supportive when things go wrong ? easily cured, don't make stupid changes resulting in an unbalanced defence.
ReplyDeleteThe Metro reckons we've put in another bid for Salah of 12mil plus 2mil in add-ons in an attempt to stave off Chelsea's advances. Who knows if this info is accurate.
ReplyDeleteWith regards to Lucas, he really is an underrated player and for me it is excellent news if his injury isn't as bad as feared. He consistently makes more tackles than any almost other player in the league, if I'm not mistaken, and he clearly makes us so much more solid as a unit. We should still be looking to add another DM to the squad though, not only for cover but as competition. This is a position where we've needed strengthening for some time but it just hasn't happened. With Lucas injured, now's the time to do it. Lucas isn't the quickest, so we should be looking for someone who can give us some more options, tactically speaking.
Do we had money to spend ??? And why we dun sell ???
ReplyDeleteI do see some flop step up (raise his value) this season and is time to sell them right?
If Salah signs then we've got three up front and 4-3-3 will be the formation for the season. Coutinho has to be an option in central midfield so Henderson, Gerrard and Allen are three players into 2 spots. Even with Lucas out we've got enough cover. Allen has underwhelmed people, obviously, but he is very capable of playing that role and has done it already plenty of times, we've won games with him playing there. He'll start for us the next few games so in my mind Rodgers would never have planned to sign someone unless they were really top drawer.
ReplyDeleteI personally believe that this won't curtail any plans Rodgers has to buy. I think he's always looking to bring players in.
ReplyDeleteI think where this will negatively affect us is will a player come here without an opportunity to play consistently. If Lucas is out for 2 months, said player would get his opportunity. But if Lucas is out for 2 weeks, well that may turn out to be a whole different situation.
Contrary to what some might believe, not every player wants to come to LFC. Over the past few years it's been due to lack of Champions League mainly, plus our adherence to being more financially stable with wages.
Rodwell on loan anybody
ReplyDeleteReports are now stating Salah to Chelsea is a done deal. Gazumped, yet again.
ReplyDeleteFor me Mohammad Salah will make wrong decision if he still to snub offer from LFC.His carrier will flourish very well soon with LFC.He can keep playing avery week.If sign for Chelsea,believe many people will forget his name soon.Chelsea cannot build up the the stars but they only know how to destroy the stars.
ReplyDeleteMan U's value has dropped by nearly £400m, with this loss to Sunderland, sorry to deliver the bad news,
ReplyDeleteSo what?
ReplyDeleteThe only properly volatile part of their value is the part listed on the stock exchange, which is only about 10% total.
They'll be fine unless they spend a few years out of the Champions League. They'll spend a load of money before that happens.
Dont know what all the fuss is about, Mo Salah has joined Chelsea, CONFIRMED, Sky sports,
ReplyDeleteReally?! But they're happy to let Mata join up with Janazai, Rooney & RVP!!
ReplyDeleteLooks like Man U will be getting in the top 4 after all, which means they'll be able to buy the best in the Summer, and be much more of a threat next season that we could ever be with our penny-pinching owners.
Us missing out on Salah and not even trying to get any new signings for other key areas, combined with Manure getting Mata = top 4 dream over.
ReplyDelete7th it is.
Adios señor Suarez. Please take John W. Henry and Ian Ayre with you.
Rodgers doesn't do the signings. Ian Ayre does. Plus the guys at this end had to wait for John W. Henry to fly into town to sanction any bids. He waited until 3 weeks into the window!!
ReplyDeleteHow on earth do you think it's the manager that does the signings? This isn't 1984.
Rodgers has been publicly stating he wants to strengthen since before the window opened. FSG's committee and penny-pinching are to blame.
I still stand by my comments of last year that there would be no signings during January once BR stated in October that there would be no player buying in January 2014. There has been NO intention to add to this month but maintain a simple cutting of costs overall.
ReplyDeleteSalah going to Chelsea and Mata going to Man United are probably the 2 worst bit of news our club could receive right now:
ReplyDelete1. It looks like we won't be signing anybody in this window (major mistake).
2. Man U will pull back those 6 points and more within a few weeks.
3. We won't get Champions League and the cash it brings.
4. Suarez will jump ship.
5. No decent player in their right mind would join us over the 6 teams that will finish above us, especially with Suarez gone, and seeing the lack of ambition we've shown in this window.
Very bleak times ahead indeed.
FSG have squeezed every penny out of the club that they possibly can. When summer comes and they cash in on Suarez, Reina, Johnson, Agger, Skrtel etc can they please sell up. There'll be nothing left anyway.
Dempsey gate again,
ReplyDeleteYou have to wonder about a players ambition, being a footballer is a short career and I wouldn't be surprised if Salah ends up on loan somewhere next year, at least he will be able to afford to pay somebody to remove the splinters from his arse!!!!!
ReplyDeleteWhen Mr Henry asked "what are they smoking at the Emirates?" I think he forgot to add, "exactly what we here at Anfield do".
ReplyDeleteThey must be on something to continuously take such a laid back approach in acquiring players that can make a difference instantly!
But put a player into the mix "for the future" or indeed someone to loan straight back out, then we seem to be great at getting those deals wrapped up nicely.....
It bothers me intensely that we do so much donkey work then f£££ it all up just to save a few quid. Chelsea apparently outbid us by 1m......What a shame; with the injuries building up I am in depair. How quickly things change when you don't have a squad......
By "nastiness" I meant Maurinho's tendency to snap up a quality player to prevent a team getting him in order to avoid that team damaging Chelsea. He did the same with Tottenham (Willian) at the last moment. Rich teams purchase their success, not win it.
ReplyDeleteGo to google and type mohamed salah, n go to his Wikipedia u'll see It says, he plays for Chelsea. so we already lost him
ReplyDeleteTo mike - we didn't go in for Mata because we have tight fisted owners - we have to dream about a 16 million player as the best we can get - and still miss out on him - what's the chance of getting a 40 million player?? To think we spent 70 million on Carroll, Henderson and Downing and we now can't up any of our bids
ReplyDeleteby even a couple of million at a crucial time is mind boggling - the owners are businessmen not fans
Toure mentioned lfc can challenge title .. U can't even challenge to buy a player lets not even go there. Seriously doubt we can make it to Top 4. BR mentioned no need for defenders .. Another joke.. With Johnson out, cissoko can't perform, we dun need defenders .. Come on.. Who are u kiddin ? Look at our super thin squad.. There is no way to survive both champions league and epl that is even if we qualify. If Fsg just cannot help on financing any deals, just tell us the truth. Pls change owner, Fsg will never be able to bring us back to our glory days with this shoe string budget .. Their pockets just not as deep as Chelsea, Man U, arsenal, spurs, man city ...End game - Suarez will leave end season. We are back to wanting again. Utterly gutted and disappointed! 35 years in supporting Lfc .. I will leave with Suarez end season..definitely!
ReplyDeleteSky Sports have confirmed a Chelsea bid and looks like he's off to Chelski ! Am gutted, espescially with all the obviously crap rumours going around that have no substance at all. Jaime Kanwar clearly has no decent contacts that know any inside info. Won't be reading ur articles anymore son. Up ya bum pal. YNWA
ReplyDeleteSari to all LFC fans daylight robbery just seems to be the order of the day at Anfield concerning last ditch transfer failures e.g Salah's imminent move to Chelsea wen actali he agreed terms at Liverpool,enwe i know Mourinho knows we are a threat so his tryin by all means to dampen our season by selling Mata to Man u
ReplyDeleteI hate to say this but i'll say it out if we dont qualify for top 4 Suarez is definately going,if we continue being so incompetent at thrashing out transfer targets as early as possible and losing out in the end we will never have quality players.as of now we only have 3 quality players were as others have the whole squad.Ian Ayre should pack his bags now and disperse with the transfer committee.
ReplyDeleteDiame from West Ham - big, strong, good feet, passing a bit shit, but all round good player imo
ReplyDeleteAh yes , Rodwell. Last year's Ross Barclay and Next Big Thing....
ReplyDelete