Lucas Silenced His Critics Again

Liverpool’s Lucas Leiva has had more than his fair share of critics over the years, but the more criticism he gets, the more he seems to enjoy silencing his critics.

His early years at Anfield were tough for Lucas, with many Liverpool supporters deciding that he was not good enough to wear the red shirt, but over the years he won over many of his critics before suffering a serious injury in December 2011 in the 2-0 win over Chelsea in the League Cup quarter-final.

The Brazilian suffered an injury to his anterior cruciate ligament after colliding with Juan Mata resulting in Lucas missing the rest of the season and the League Cup win over Cardiff City later that season.

It has been noticeable that Lucas has lost a yard of pace since recovering from his serious injury, but his professionalism and commitment to Liverpool is unequalled amongst the squad.

In recent seasons Lucas has struggled to feature regularly in Liverpool’s first team and on numerous occasions has looked to be on his way out of the Anfield door.

But Lucas is still at Anfield and once again he showed his importance to Liverpool by producing another impressive performance in an unorthodox defensive position alongside Joel Matip in the centre of Liverpool’s defence due to concerns over Lovren and Klavan.

Jurgen Klopp has selected Lucas to play in defence on numerous occasions despite his natural position being in midfield, but his superb reading of the game makes him an ideal option to play in defence.

Despite Lucas not being the tallest or the quickest he has played well when called upon to help out Liverpool’s defence.

Saturday’s 2-0 win over Tottenham was a tough test, not just for Lucas but for the whole team after recording a poor run of results since the turn of the year.

Liverpool badly needed a positive result quickly to end their poor run, and to end it against one of the Premier League’s best teams was impressive, and their performance deservedly earned them a much needed win.

Lucas was outstanding in the heart of Liverpool’s defence and many supporters feared the worst when he was selected to play in defence against one of the league’s best attacking teams.

Lucas was criticised in Liverpool’s 2-0 defeat at Hull City the previous week, but once again he silenced his critics in typical fashion against Spurs.

When will we ever learn, never write off Lucas.