Is Lucas Leiva the most underrated DM in Europe?

Sepi wrote:I give you an example without using stats. April vs Arsenal. 20 minutes into the game we are left with 2 17 yr old fullbacks away from home against a title chasing team full of attacking talent. See positioning, movement and track backs in that game and how amazingly he made those teenagers look comfy on their 2nd game ever. Not to mention Carragher got injured in 60th minute, n he had to burden extra responsibility for that too. Outstanding DM play That game. And it didn't have many tackles or stats.

I'm not saying Lucas is bad... but what you're describing above, M'Vila had to do it for a full season without much talent around him. That teams scored 38 goals on the season. So it was all on the defense. He also had to prove to Blanc that he belonged on the France NT and basically has kicked Lass off the squad completely and he was 20. I think Rennes gets relegated without him.

You just don't rate him much because you don't see him.

Lucas is a top 10 DM imo. But not one of the greats and M'Vila is better imo.

sportsczy wrote:

My definition of WC is skill to start and then whom i would choose over the player... These players usually are at big clubs, but not always. Playing in a tough league is more important to me. For example, I also rate Hummels as one of the best CBs in the world and he doesn't play for a big club either. Same goes for Cavani.

I would put M'Vila amongst the top 5-7 DMs right now. That to me is WC.

For a guy like Hummels, that dominated the bundesliga by his performances, it's obvious. But he started being brilliant last season.

Even cavani needs to prove a lot, continuity and consistency.

biggiejay wrote:Lucas is improving year by year but his passing isnt that great. He gives the ball away to easily sometimes.

around 85% completion rate

Anyone who doesn't rate Lucas at this stage is either on crack or most likely haven't watched him play on a regular basis in the last 18 months or so.

Lucas was used as a scape goat for our loses/draws by some fans we he first broke into the team. The Lucas of the last 18 months or so is like a different person.

Every game he is putting in motm performances for us especially the season gone by.

His tackling is superb.

His passing range has improved significantly from when he first broke into the team. Instead of the sideways passing we used to see, he's treading ball though the channels and clipping balls over the top.

He reads the game extremely well and can cover a lot of ground in every game.

He is tough as nails and never gets injured.

I honestly think that if you watched every Liverpool game last season there is no way possible that you can't put him up there with the likes of busquets and de jong etc.

Lucas is an absolute BOSS, anyone who says something different is a liar or is thick.

no one doubts so doesnt that make him rated not underrated

theaguia wrote:no one doubts so doesnt that make him rated not underrated

No player has a universal rating so I agree with you that calling someone rated/underrated/overrated is never entirely true.

Which ever one Lucas is, he's one of the best holding midfielders out there.

he is proven himself this season, i hope he keeps it up.

idk how u all rate Lucas now and not Song...Song played exceptionally for the first half of the season and Lucas played exceptionally for the second half

Cause Song regularly gets raped by any decent attacking team.

no,lucas played exceptionally all season

^ and for a large proportion of the previous season.

bhends wrote:mikel

QFT

Gil wrote:Cause Song regularly gets raped by any decent attacking team.

like who...Chelsea? City?

He's come a long way from the guy whose balls got busted game in, game out by the Kop...

I think he's one of the best success stories to come out of the last couple of seasons.

Is he the most underrated DM? For me, he most certainly is.

ali8775 wrote:

Gil wrote:Cause Song regularly gets raped by any decent attacking team.

like who...Chelsea? City?

Stoke, West Brom, Bolton, Barca, Chelsea, United, Spurs etc etc

Gil wrote:

ali8775 wrote:

Gil wrote:Cause Song regularly gets raped by any decent attacking team.

like who...Chelsea? City?

Stoke, West Brom, Bolton, Barca, Chelsea, United, Spurs etc etc

So Song got raped by ALL those teams?

When did Chelsea rape Song, Song manhandled your midfield when we played you

Man, do you watch arsenal? SONG DOES NOT GET RAPED BY THOSE TEAMS. He has the odd game where he decides to be zidane and messes up but thats about it.

Song gives away too many easy fk's on the edge of the area for my liking sure foul away futher up the field, but the Liverpool match still leaves a bit of a sour taste in my mouth. Make no mistake when Song is on the top of his game he's excellent but he's over rated this year he was better 09/10. Would love Vidal. On Lucas he's massively improved bit like Song from being called "The worst player I ever seen" by Paul Merson to a good DM, hes a pretty dynamic player as I always see him running about in the top 10 DM.

ArsenalWenger wrote:Song gives away too many easy fk's on the edge of the area for my liking sure foul away futher up the field, but the Liverpool match still leaves a bit of a sour taste in my mouth. Make no mistake when Song is on the top of his game he's excellent but he's over rated this year he was better 09/10. Would love Vidal. On Lucas he's massively improved bit like Song from being called "The worst player I ever seen" by Paul Merson to a good DM, hes a pretty dynamic player as I always see him running about in the top 10 DM.

A random homeless drunk would talk more sense than Merson.

he's coming along well ... seeing as he went to England as more of a box 2 box / attacking mid, but thats Gerrard's role or at least at that moment it was

just thinkin' about Lucas has me shaking my head over Anderson from the next Dinho to what? Edgar Davids

sportsczy wrote:

Yeah... he's being coveted by Man U, Madrid, Bayern, etc. like M'Vila. Stats only work for goalkeepers and CFs to tell the story... they only tell a very partial story regarding every other position.

The only reason Rennes was even close to the top of the table was that M'Vila was managing the whole defensive side of the field. He was actually holding them at the top, but got burnt out at the end because he was covering everything sideline to sideline.

Liverpool has a tiny bit more talent than Rennes for Lucas to rely on. He can just cover his own area, not the whole darn field.

Ya u would expect United to covet a Liverpool midfielder dont u?

How many of the united Bayern Madrid have actually bid for M'Villa? It means nothing just because agents drum up the rumors he is the better player.Defour is being linked with every big club in europe every season so is he better than Gerrard? What sort of assumption is that?

Lucas has bossed most of the big games last season.Tell me M'Villa is better when he plays a quality opposition and dominates them.Otherwise using ur same logic i could say Izaguirre is better than Marcelo because he single handedly dragged Celtic 2nd in the league in scottish league. As u know Madrid has a tiny bit more talent than Celtic for Marcelo to rely on.Mind u Izaguirre is linked with United and Barcelona unlike Marcelo too.

H eshould go back to brazil for a year to relearn football!he plays like a washed up english DM!

Nope

Fernando reges

Lucas has improved tremendously over the last two seasons. His biggest asset is his consistency. He puts in good performances against almost everyone. And then he goes and plays exceptionally against the big teams.