![\"Lucas](\"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/P1000416-533x400.jpg\")
Lucas warming up before the home games against Crystal Palace<\/p><\/div>\n
From being on the verge of leaving Liverpool just four months ago to captaining the club in the Premier League this weekend is one hell of a comeback, even for a man with Lucas\u2019s ability to bounce back from adversity. Ok he was only captain because Henderson and his vice-captain James Milner were both injured, but make no mistake: Lucas has earned that armband.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s easy to put an armband over your kit, of course, but quite another matter to play like a captain. One of Steven Gerrard\u2019s best traits was the ability to grab games by the scruff of their neck and force players around him to up their game as a consequence. Given that he\u2019s a defensive midfielder by trade and isn\u2019t exactly a prolific goalscorer for the Reds, the Brazilian was hardly likely to influence the match quite like Stevie G used to do.<\/p>\n
If he wasn\u2019t a threat going forward, though, he was definitely an influential figure throughout the 90 minutes, tying with Jordan Ibe – another player who has found his fortunes revived under the new manager – for the man of the match award. Lucas was able to control the midfield, whip passes around the pitch, break up play and general be exceedingly influential as the game went on. He is an intelligent player who knows how to be in the right place at the right time in order to stop the opposition from getting too much of a foothold in the game.<\/p>\n
It was telling that when Klopp decided to take off Emre Can and introduce Roberto Firmino he didn\u2019t do too much to help Lucas out in the middle of the park. Instead he seemed to get the team into something like a 4-1-4-1 formation, with Lucas being the sole defensively-minded midfielder on the pitch. Equally as noteworthy is the fact that, despite getting more of the ball in the middle of the park when there was only Lucas there to control it, Palace\u2019s goal came from a set-piece rather than open play.<\/p>\n
Scorelines often taint your opinion of the match when you look back at it and perhaps we\u2019re being unfair when we suggest that Lucas was the only positive to be taken from the game. Liverpool were actually excellent for vast periods of the match, with only their lack of defensive solidity and their inability to be more decisive and accurate in the final third letting them down.<\/p>\n
Yet there can be no question that Lucas\u2019s revival under Jurgen Klopp is one of the standout achievements of the season so far. He simultaneously looks younger and more sprightly than he did last year whilst also using his experience to help others in the team and looking genuinely statesmanlike. Lucas has bounced back many times before, yet here\u2019s hoping this time he doesn\u2019t drop down to a position that he needs to bounce back from.<\/p>\n
Emre Can\u2019t But Allen Key<\/h2>\n
There is plenty to admire about Emre Can, Liverpool\u2019s German midfielder who has started 17 out of the 18 games that the Reds have played in all competitions so far this season. He is a young lad, for starters, with his physique causing some people to forget how youthful he actually is. Born on the 12th of January 1994, at 21 he\u2019s only eighteen months older than Jordan Ibe, a player everyone is quick to demand time for because of his youth.<\/p>\n
Can is capable of doing some sublime things in a game, from controlling the ball perfectly to executing an exquisite sliding tackle, he\u2019s guaranteed to do at least one very impressive thing during every match he plays in. Yet he\u2019s also prone to doing some truly ridiculous things, too. Run the ball out of play when no one is near him? Yep, he\u2019s done that a fair few times. Pass the ball to an opposition player even though he\u2019s under no pressure? He\u2019ll do that at least once a game.<\/p>\n
![\"Emre](\"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Emre-Can-In-The-Centre-Circle-v-Rubin-Kazan-533x400.jpg\")
Emre Can In The Centre Circle v Rubin Kazan<\/p><\/div>\n
The German midfielder has talent and is a promising player, there\u2019s no question about that. But, according to Opta, he\u2019s already made 3 mistakes that have lead to goalscoring opportunities so far this season; the same amount of mistakes that most midfielders make over the course of an entire campaign.<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s not beat around the bush as far as last night is concerned, either. Emre Can was directly responsible for Crystal Palace\u2019s opening goal. He essentially passed the ball straight to Yannick Bolasie, Liverpool\u2019s bogus player in their bogus team. What he was thinking is absolutely anybody\u2019s guess. Most sensible players in that position just put their boot through the ball and see if sail off into the distance, but Emre figured it would be better to gently control it in the hopes that someone else would get rid.<\/p>\n
It was the worst of his misdemeanours, but by no means the only one he committed. Too many times he gave the ball away or was too slow to move it on to someone else, wanting too much time to think through his options before, inevitably, choosing the wrong one. He was sloppy in possession, slow on the counter and well of the pace in tracking back. It was genuinely surprising that he even emerged for the second half given how badly he’d played in the first 45 minutes.<\/p>\n
Joe Allen, meanwhile, sat forlornly on the bench after what must have approached to being a man of the match performance in Russia during the week. Perhaps damned by association to the club\u2019s former manager, the Welshman doesn\u2019t get anywhere near the credit he deserves for his performances. He is not spectacular, of that there can be no doubt. But he is metronomic, keeping things ticking over in the middle of the park and allowing Liverpool to control games that they might otherwise be overrun in.<\/p>\n
The question must be asked, then: why didn\u2019t Allen replace Can when the German was substituted after an hour or so of play? Perhaps Klopp felt that Allen would be too tired after his performance against FC Rubin on Thursday night, though that seems unlikely given how many of the other starters from Russia Klopp kept in his XI. It is more likely that the former Borussia Dortmund manager wanted to go all out for the win and felt that Roberto Firmino would offer more of an attacking threat than the diminutive Allen.<\/p>\n
![\"Togetherness\"](\"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Liverpools-Players-In-A-Pre-Match-Huddle-533x400.jpg\")
Togetherness<\/p><\/div>\n
Unfortunately, as poor as Can was, the removal of the midfielder meant that Lucas was sat in the middle of the park on his own and that Crystal Palace were able to turn us over relatively easily on the counter-attack. Had Klopp opted for Allen over Firmino we might have had a combination of solidity in the middle of the park as well as a good link between attack and defence.<\/p>\n
For some Joe Allen will never be good enough for Liverpool Football Club in the same way that Brendan Rodgers will always be called a \u2018fraud\u2019. People often see what they want to see, whether that be the confirmation bias of Sakho being uncomfortable on the ball or Allen being too lightweight for Liverpool\u2019s midfield.<\/p>\n
Football is not binary, though, no matter how much people might want to make it so. Can is neither a disaster of a footballer nor the second coming. He is a young player learning his trade who, at just 21, has probably played too much football so far this season and could probably do with a rest. Equally Joe Allen is not a lightweight shirker in the same mould as Stewart Downing and nor is he a future captain of Liverpool. Both players can offer a lot moving forward, if only the crowd could see them for the players that they really are rather than seeing them through the prism of pre-judgement.<\/p>\n
Brainless<\/h2>\n
We\u2019ve covered the optimistic side of things with Lucas and the part negative part positive stuff with Allen and Can, so now let\u2019s have a look at the out-right negative side of last night\u2019s match. Too many times last night, in too many parts of the pitch and on too many occasions did Liverpool seem to be absolutely brainless.<\/p>\n
There are plenty of times when it would be great if you could freeze-frame the match and ask the player what they thought the next phase of play would be after they\u2019d played their ball. Christian Benteke is one of the best attackers in the league at holding the ball up and looking for a team-mate to play a pass to. Yet time and again certain players would smash the ball up to him as if that was a catch-all solution to the team\u2019s problems.<\/p>\n
When your sole striker is surrounded by four or five defenders and their aren\u2019t any other members of your team anywhere near him, what good do you think is going to be achieved by hitting the ball long for him to do something with? What do you think is going to be the next phase of play?<\/p>\n
![\"Jurgen](\"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/P1000421-533x400.jpg\")
Jurgen Klopp watches over Christian Benteke in training<\/p><\/div>\n
There were also plenty of times when players tried to play a pass only to see it intercepted. Some might think that\u2019s unlucky, but often it begged the question, if the pass had come off what were you hoping would happen next? There was no one in the place that the pass was going time and time again, so even if it hadn\u2019t have been intercepted nothing good would have come from the movement.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile in goal Simon Mignolet once again excelled himself. There was a moment when the Anfield crowd may well have torn him limb from limb if only they\u2019d been able to get hold of him. He remains one of the best \u2018keepers in the world at making it look like he\u2019s trying to see a quick break whilst he\u2019s actually doing the exact opposite. On three or four occasions there seemed to be a counter-attack on the cards only for the shot stopper to hold on to the ball for far too long and allow the opposition to re-gain their shape.<\/p>\n
\nMigs displayed that world class ability of making it LOOK like he was trying to see a quick break whilst actually doing the opposite loads.<\/p>\n
\u2014 Adam Smith (@Adam_Smith_82) November 8, 2015<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n