"I'm expecting a difficult game. Both teams are set up for counter-attacking play. I'd go with johnson-coates-agger-enrique,spearing-adam-gerard,maxi-carroll-bellamy.suarez, henderson,kuyt,downing or jamie can come on for the last half hour if needed."
"We shouldn't miss him. Personally I'm still not a fan of this guy I think there are others that can do his job and offer more. There are a lot of you that really rate him and I've kept an open mind but he gets caught for pace and makes silly challenges and cannot hit the target. Sorry for being negative but Henderson or Spearing should replace him."
"I would expect us to beat Norwich , but being the new Liverpool and a thousand miles away from the old one who knows what will happen. Having watched Champions league last night and seeing two ex liverpool players banging them in for Chelsea was hard to take , players used to bust a gut to play for liverpool now they are leaving to go to more successful teams."
"I don't know why Lucas has this praise from KD, he is less than average player, Liverpool has many players better than him?
Im starting to lose confidence with KD, what is the quality that Lucas is adding?"
"I think the impact of no european football is beginning to hit home , we cannot and must not miss out again and Norwich city should not be causing us any problems if we are serious about top four. Top four ! when will we again be real contenders?"
""Our families have been tremendously dignified in their approach..." - King Kenny Dalglish. This is what I love about the man.. He speaks for all of the fans like a true king. Long live the King!
Always backs Liverpool FC, does King Kenny.. unlike fans in some of the comments above. YNWA!"
"I think that a midfield of 3 players with Stevie G, Adam and Hendo can result really productive and quite covered. Furthermore we have Jay Spearing who starting from the bench can be very useful. So, with or without Lucas, we shouldn't make mistakes and grab the 3 points. Come on you Reds!!!"
"I'm a massive fan of Lucas, have been for ages. He doesn't get the credit he deserves. He's the player with the most successful tackles in the whole of the premier league. I'm just glad it's only Norwich that he misses because to be honest he plays a big part in our defensive set up. "
"When is Downing going to shine/get some goals, shots on goals decent crosses etc. Andy Carroll needs to be more hungry with Torres hitting form the media will be looking back at him soon, just want him to be hungry and determine to get to things, his movement needs to improve also. "
"Hope Kenny is telling him these things cos right now he looks like a championship player like Chopra and no1 would pay 35m for chops. ynwa. plz improve Andy and Stuart"
"cant believe some of the comments by some people on this page, im off to anfield this w/e and i for one is gutted Lucas isn't playing. An unsung hero, obviously KK recognises this hence the comment."
"I used to be like all the other people who would look at him and say not good enough. But that was well over 2 years ago. Now I rate him as one of our best performers in the big games. We should be able to cope without him with Gerrard back "
"Lucas is so average. He should`nt be in the team at all. I for one is glad he is not playing. We can do without him no problem. The only thing he is good at is getting yellow cards, thats proven now. He just does not do it for me, maybe he has improved, but not enough to be in the liverpool team."
"If there is a good game for Lucas to miss this is it, or one of them. Not massively strong in midfield and coming across the front, I would go for Stevie in place of Lucas though and use Henderson in place of Adam for a quicker CM. Give Carroll a run out with Bellamy and rest Suarez!!!!"
"There must be a lot of blind fans judging by derogatory comments on Lucas. Watch the Man U game after he went off and look at the 15 yards we dropped off afterwards because no-one picked up across the front of the back 4. We were wide open in that area and we badly need him to do that job and he is the best in the Premiership at it."
"ITS SICKENING THAT MANY IN MIDDLE ENGLAND THINK "THE SCOUSERS MURDERED THEIR OWN AT HILLSSBOROUGH" THIS IS W AN EXAMPLE OF WHY MANY FEEL "SCOUSE NOT ENGLISH".
DONT BUY THE SUN OR ANY NEWS INTERNATIONAL PAPER"
"lucas provides the platform for our attacking players to shine,in modern day football every team needs a player to do the dirty work. he`s consistent and commited!!!!"
"I think Lucas needs the rest as well, since we should beat Norwich easily. 9 points is a MUST for the next 3 games against Norwich,WBA and Swansea if we going to be TOP four contender. If not, GOD help us. YNWA"
"in 1994 after Brasil won the world cup, Romario said our team was going to achieve nothing without Dunga. Dunga was the world's best DM in the hall nighnties, he've never scored or even never made an assist though.
Lucas is the new Dunga."
"THe lack of respect by SOME here towards NCFC is not echoed by KD!!!
Be ready on Sat coz we are going to give you a game!!!
By way of a reminder for some of the ill informed here: we beat you the last time we played here on the last day of the KOP!
Carra will be well exploited and may even get sent off after being run ragged. Pool 0 NCFC 2
Morison and Pilkington!"
"look suarez is the best we got he is not british , we want guys with proper talent and good with the ball look at man city they are doing well because they didn't buy barclays premier league players not english players please look at carrol that 35 mill we could have bought someone like aguero , hazard mata "
"look suarez is the best we got he is not british , we want guys with proper talent and good with the ball look at man city they are doing well because they didn't buy barclays premier league players not english players please look at carrol that 35 mill we could have bought someone like aguero , hazard mata "
"Frankly, if Lucas took 4 years to only improve to this level, then Henderson now at 20 is better than what Lucas was when he came. I'd rather let Henderson replace Lucas and improve. Henderson has more potential."
"This player is so overated i dont know where to start. comparing him to dunga is an insult. Im lfc through & through, & while i appreciate he tries his best, he doesn't belong in the same sentence as mascherano.. who i now detest! he would have no chance of getting in any of the other top sides, we need top quality players just to catch up with the mancs!!!"
"This could be a good time to play Maxi and Bellamy. Carroll too if he needs some playing time. Norwich is not MU quality but Kenny always has wisdom and wit in his speech and is always considering others first. Good qualities. I'm measuring Reds by being 2-0 at HT. If late winner and drab match, I'll be disappointed."
"In fact these next 3 matches will be great opportunities to give his new signings playing time like Hendo, Downing, Carroll and might I also add Maxi. All players should use these 3 matches as opportunities to gel further."
"Lucas- what is his position. He is not a complete midfielder. He is neither a threat nor a threat to opposition's attack. He's just a passenger, 1 in 10 games he shows up. The rest 9 games he is lost in the field. Rafa played him coz we had no other choice, that is why he wanted Barry as back up. The best solution would be play SG in the holding role as well as a box to box MF. "
"Against manU their was no support in midfield which was evident SG was left alone without any able assistance from the midfield. Only after Lucas left we started playing better."
"Against manU their was no support in midfield which was evident SG was left alone without any able assistance from the midfield. Only after Lucas left we started playing better."
"For me KD is losing the plot. We are not able to defend, and no real threat going to attack. 35mn wasted in Carroll. raul n AA left with Lucas still here. Hope Maxi and Bellamy will start along side suarez."
"everyone who says what does lucas contribute, look at opta stats and it shows he's made 12 more tackles than anyone else in the league, winning 75% of them. he stops them scoring. ye no nothing about football if you dont no what lucas contributes"
"Lets not lose sight that he consistently passes to the opposition under no pressure. He gets caught out by the opposition whilst in possesion. Consistently fouls in dangerous areas, can't shoot, can't score! If he's that good then why haven't any big clubs shown any interest in him? I always support us but we have to be realistic, this guy shouldn't even be in reserves. YNWA"
"can we just attack from the 1st whistle? i mean play all our forwards & just go all guns blazing!!! I mean Kuyt/Bellamy/Downing/Maxi can all play on the wing & in the middle so ... total football it is"
"The one thing about Lucas is I admire him as a person. He had all of anfield against him Me included & yet he buckled down & improved. He is now a lot better than he was back in the day when I called him the worst player to ever put on a red shirt. Having said that he is not world class. Barca/Real/Inter would rather sign a 31 year old Gerrard than him."
"Lucas is important in our team in that he is the only person willing to play the DM role. Without one we open up a hole in front of the back 4 like against ManUre. However I'd rather we get someone better for this position to challenge him or better attcking players so that we won't need a DM"
"Another thing I have noticed is LFC fans quickly rush to believe our players are better than they really are hence the surprise when we fail to win trophies/finish in the top 4. To me Lucas just like Kuyt & Downing is at best a squad player not a world beater. We need more Marquee signings to win the Prem"
"I'm surprised at Kenny's spending. I'm not downplaying what he has achieved but it was 20 yrs bk. I think he is not the answer for our le draught. For me rafa was doing a much better job with less resources. But I would like to see both of them here at Anfield. "
"TRaymond007 you're spot on. I too think the only reason Lucas gets games is because playing another other player at DM position now will be a waste. To minimise the waste, we play someone who can't attack, can't pass and can't run there just to take the ball away from opponents. Hence also the high tackling rate."
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20th Oct 2011 16:15