Lucas Moura

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That’s because he gets swarmed by the opposition. Think he did a good job of winning us fouls up the pitch yesterday, and offered enough to keep them honest at the back so they couldn’t camp fully in our half. He’s frustrating as hell because I don’t rate him one game and then he’s one of our best the next.

I believe he gets swarmed because defenders know they can knick the ball from him easily. He doesn’t shield the ball well. Plus......he always seems to gravitate to the center of the pitch, where of course he‘s going to get swarmed. Rather see him on the wing more in space where his pace would help.
 
I believe he gets swarmed because defenders know they can knick the ball from him easily. He doesn’t shield the ball well. Plus......he always seems to gravitate to the center of the pitch, where of course he‘s going to get swarmed. Rather see him on the wing more in space where his pace would help.
True enough- he certainly does like a sideways run to the middle. Would be really nice if he could look up for a pass at some point. That’s why I can’t decide if he’s great or...er...not great.
 
I love his effort and was my MOTM yesterday, but like a lot of our players, not especially consistent. When he's on it, he is worth a place in any side, maybe as already mentioned, as a wide player rather than a centre forward.
 
We have 5 forward players and Poch played 3 with Moura missing out but Jose played 4 and with Lamela injured it meant the same 4 players played every match. All 4 of them had good and bad matches and play better if they get a rest. Kane is now injured and Lamela not fit to start but if we could rest Moura I think he would play better in the matches he did play but that is not possible at present. Son has had an enforced rest but not played well in the last 2 matches and I wonder if that sending off has scared him. Dele's form is affected by playing every match and is getting a lot of stick on this forum. Overall not a happy situation.
 
Alli won 5/12 ground duels yesterday. Good by his standards.
Moura won 10/18. Now that's what I call work-rate. And he is a fucking midget. So the rest have no excuses.

Winks won 3/5.
Eriksen won 1/3. (Football is a non-contact sport in Denmark, you know).

Son won 3/6.

Aurier won 1/3. Unusually low numbers for him.

Lamela won 4/12. Only played for 25 mins.
GLC won 1/4. Played for 25 mins.
We deliberately sat off them mate, this was the game plan, not to engage. Liverpool made more tackles than us and they had 70% of the ball!!!

All that said Lucas work rate in this game was a pleasure to witness. Just wish we had a more suitable gameplan with our counter-attacks rather than hopefull hoofs upfield. (I've no issue at all with counter-attacking football, it's thrilling to watch when there's an actual plan in place to execute it).
 
We deliberately sat off them mate, this was the game plan, not to engage. Liverpool made more tackles than us and they had 70% of the ball!!!

All that said Lucas work rate in this game was a pleasure to witness. Just wish we had a more suitable gameplan with our counter-attacks rather than hopefull hoofs upfield. (I've no issue at all with counter-attacking football, it's thrilling to watch when there's an actual plan in place to execute it).
We won 45 duels and they won 59.
 
And they had just shy of 70% of the ball!!! As I said these stats reflect how we set up to play rather than on the individuals' doing/not doing something.
I would not go as far as to say that. Numbers like that are typical of Eriksen, for example. Now I am not saying that all of those duels were defensive duels. It seems to me that they are a combination of attacking and defensive duels. We had 60% possession against Southampton but Eriksen was only involved in 3 ground duels, of which he won 2. We had 59% possession against Norwich and he contested 3 ground duels, of which he only won 1. Very low figures for a CM.

Depending on the phase of play, yes, we didn't get in Liverpool's faces a lot of the time. But that is not to say that it was our intention not to press/avoid physical contact for 90 mins.
 
I would not go as far as to say that. Numbers like that are typical of Eriksen, for example. Now I am not saying that all of those duels were defensive duels. It seems to me that they are a combination of attacking and defensive duels. We had 60% possession against Southampton but Eriksen was only involved in 3 ground duels, of which he won 2. We had 59% possession against Norwich and he contested 3 ground duels, of which he only won 1. Very low figures for a CM.

Depending on the phase of play, yes we didn't get in Liverpool's faces a lot of the time. But that is not to say that it was our intention not to press/avoid physical contact for 90 mins.
Sorry, wasn't aware the numbers posted were specifically re Eriksen, I've kinda joined the party late. I agree on your take on his specifics though.

The only real point I was trying to make was on the collective, all the players, these numbers will be distorted given what the game plan was, specifically it wasn't just us sitting in a low block but it was also for us to not even to attempt to engage them.
 
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I appreciate work rate as much as the next guy, but it's got to be more than that. As a forward player, you need to create and finish chances when you have the opportunity (not necessarily speaking about Moura on this one, just our attacking midfielders/forwards in general). You also need to find a way to hold the ball up, or pass backward, when your teammates aren't in position to give you a positive outlet. We turned the ball over too often (especially in the first half) when we were moving into promising positions against Liverpool, because midfielders/forwards were trying to move the ball up the pitch without any support. That's why Liverpool had 70% possession, instead of 60%. Moura was as guilty as any. Lo Celso didn't play badly on Sunday, but you simply can't miss the opportunity he missed...it just can't happen.
 
oh my lord... he worked hard, and I respect him for that, but gosh how inefficient was his performance today. Whenever he had to move ball forward, his brain just ran into error. No vision, no ideas.

We need more than one flash of brilliance in every 5th game (and being absolutely useless in building attacks all other time) from player who is constantly starting matches. His overall contribution is just not good enough. Within last 6 games he has played 465 minutes, scored 0 assisted 0 and as he does not help to create attacks either, his only contribution has been tracking back. Absolutely not good enough.

There are more pressing issues in the squad right now, but I would be happy if we'd sell him in summer. Guess some of the brilliant moments might fool some desperate sides in England (Everton, West Ham, Crystal Palace) and they'd be up to pay like 40 mil or smth. So we could use it to buy someone who is more complete footballer. But coming summer will be last chance, after that he'll get totally found out and we'll have player in our books who has low value and who is not contributing enough.

For those having a pop at Moura, was his hat trick in the CL semi a fluke?

Yes.
I don't think he'll ever hit such heights for us again.
I'll be forever grateful for that, but it was like winning a lottery. Brilliant moment and much joy but can't expect it to become norm.
 
Bewildered you think you can fluke a hat trick in a CL semi final.

It happened, it's a fact.
Leicester won the title. Both of them borderline miracles. I don't think he'll ever score hat trick in CL playoff ever again.

Or what is your point? That it was his regular level? Just in every other game he has played in life he has not managed to reach this level :D ??
 
oh my lord... he worked hard, and I respect him for that, but gosh how inefficient was his performance today. Whenever he had to move ball forward, his brain just ran into error. No vision, no ideas.

We need more than one flash of brilliance in every 5th game (and being absolutely useless in building attacks all other time) from player who is constantly starting matches. His overall contribution is just not good enough. Within last 6 games he has played 465 minutes, scored 0 assisted 0 and as he does not help to create attacks either, his only contribution has been tracking back. Absolutely not good enough.

There are more pressing issues in the squad right now, but I would be happy if we'd sell him in summer. Guess some of the brilliant moments might fool some desperate sides in England (Everton, West Ham, Crystal Palace) and they'd be up to pay like 40 mil or smth. So we could use it to buy someone who is more complete footballer. But coming summer will be last chance, after that he'll get totally found out and we'll have player in our books who has low value and who is not contributing enough.



Yes.
I don't think he'll ever hit such heights for us again.
I'll be forever grateful for that, but it was like winning a lottery. Brilliant moment and much joy but can't expect it to become norm.

I agree... he gets the odd wonder goal here and there and works hard but his football intelligence is sorely lacking in general.

An option off the bench perhaps but he’s not a starter.
 
In my opinion there is no debate needed on Moura unless you believe he should start every game and if we want a team able to challenge for the title.

He ain't good enough to start in more than a third of games in a title winning team unless you have a season like Leicester had. What I mean by that is everyone played to 8.5 to 10 out of 10 every single week and those who stepped in did as well. Even then we had better players than they did.

Moura is a great squad member but he does not do enough of what he needs for us. Son does but is having an average season but has it in him to be a title winning team player.

If our ambition is top 4 then I am still unsure Moura can be a regular but less of an issue.
 
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In my opinion there is no debate needed on Moura unless you believe he should start every game and if we want a team able to challenge for the title.

He ain't good enough to start in more than a third of games in a title winning team unless you have a season like Leicester had. What I mean by that is everyone played to 8.5 to 10 out of 10 every single week and those who stepped in did as well. Even then we had better players than they did.

Moura is a great squad member but he does not do enough of what he needs for us. Son does but is having an average season but has it in him to be a title winning team player.

If our ambition is top 4 then I am still unsure Moura can be a regular but less of an issue.

Totally agree. Moura seems to do well when coming on late, and his pace against a tiring opponent is a real asset in that situation. For me, he's always been more of a substitution player than a starter.
 
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