How broke are we? I hope we are just managing rival clubs expectations. Surely this is rubbish considering we stumped up money without hassle for Borini, Allen and Sturridge.

I've heard that we have cooled outr interest in Eriksen as Couthino will play that role and that we are now in for Clément Grenier from Lyon.

Where have you heard it kash?

Mailny on twitter which I know is very unreliable, but it may make sense that we won't go for Eriksen if we can already play couthino in that role, also Suarez can play there and we do need more competition for the 2 deeper midfielders.

We've got Lucas, Gerrard, Henderson, Allen, Shelvey all competing for 2 spots in the midfield! Henderson has done very well in adapting to playing out wide but ideally he's going to go into the middle. Grenier can play wide right or attacking mid which is alright, that would be downing out the door!

We've got Lucas, Gerrard, Henderson, Allen, Shelvey all competing for 2 spots in the midfield! 


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It's not quite that simple IMO. Lucas is the only one who can really play as DM. Gerrard and Allen will compete for the CM berth beside him, Henderson will continue being a bit of a utility man, filling in at CM, out wide and AM. Shelvey will be strictly backup if he stays.

I actually think we need another DM - I don't want another season of us kissing points goodbye whenever Lucas isn't fit because nobody else can defend the back four well. Eriksen would be a great addition if we could get him cheap, but with Coutinho playing so well it's not as pressing a concern as our CB, DM and RW problems.

I agree DR about another DM but you can't just keep adding to the central mid area. If we were to get another DM to provide some competition to Lucas then Shelvey is going to either go on loan be sold!

Im starting to lose faith in lucas.

If rumours are to be believed then Rodgers says that Lucas & Allen are his CDMs and he doesnt need another one.

Doesnt fill me with hope, his tackling has been poor this year %wise

Lucas made more tackles than most (2nd to only Diame) but in terms of actually WINNING the tackles, he ranks 30th in the PL. that includes all players who made 75 tackles or more during the season. including players who made 50 tackles or more, Lucas doesn't rank in the top 50.

MFs with better tackle win % than Lucas: Jack Colback. Bradley Johnson. Stephane Mbia. Gareth Barry. Chris Brunt. Alex Tettey. Steve Nzonzi.

Hopefully he gets back to his best next year

Yeah Lucas tackle % has never been high as well.

He's not on par with the worldclass DMs whose % are 82% and above.

He's always been that bracket below at about 76% and above which isnt exactly a bad thing but can be improved upon.

He puts himself about though so you cant blame his effort.

I still think he's a very good player

Agree that Shelvey could be sold, I don't think there's any doubt we could improve on him. If Eriksen is cheap enough, it's actually not inconceivable that we could get a good fee for Shelvey and only have to add another 4 or 5 million to compete for Eriksen, which is absolutely insane. Can't see us beating out Dortmund, though.

Also agree that if Brendan thinks Allen is the answer when Lucas is injured then we're in trouble. His distribution was excellent from DM when he filled in for Lucas, but we were so loose in midfield.

Lucas is never going to be quite as solid as someone like Mascherano who steadfastly sits in front of the central defenders, but he's a good tackler, is generally responsible with his positioning, has excellent passing ability along the ground and is a great presser (a trait that also means he'll never be quite as positionally solid as someone like Masch).

He hasn't been the same since his injury, though. Hopefully he'll be better after pre-season, but I still think we should add someone who'll really compete with him for the position.

I wouldnt call his passing great imo

I would, in terms of his job in our team at least.

He's not going to be pinging 50 yard passes like Alonso or carving defences open like Coutinho, but he's great at passing the ball along the floor to those in more advanced positions. Not just easy passes out to the full-backs; he's got the confidence to take the ball off the centre-backs and pass it through the midfield into the feet of our striker, our number 10 or a wide player.

In our team, the DM needs to be able to pass progressively and reliably, and Lucas fits the bill down to a tee IMO, the only question is whether he'll regain his mobility. I remember his comeback against Southampton at Anfield, he didn't even play the whole game but completed more forward passes than any midfielder in the league had in a single game up to that point.

Allen is a better passer, lucas' passing is good though.

Yeah I'd agree, Allen (on form!) looks great on the ball.

I just think Lucas gives away to many fouls!