Molby: We'll miss Lucas

Losing Lucas to injury for the remainder of the season will obviously be a big blow for Liverpool FC, writes Jan Molby in the Echo.

In all my time I've never known a Liverpool player who had endured such a difficult start to his career at Anfield yet enjoy a turnaround in his fortunes and recover.

You could always see that there was a good player there with Lucas but it must have been a very difficult transition for him coming from Brazil and he was very young when he first arrived.

Personally, I thought that he might have to develop elsewhere to prove his worth in a similar vein that Diego Forlan did when he moved to Spain after failing to impress at Manchester United.

I remember how difficult it was for me when I first came to Anfield from Ajax to replace Graeme Souness in the Liverpool midfield.

I don't look back on my first season with the Reds with any great pride. I just got through the games and gained experience but produced nothing spectacular.

You need time in these situations but don't always get it.

To be fair to Lucas he stuck at it and the manager has stuck with him and they've both been rewarded.

He's shown great mental strength and has played very effectively in recent months, striking up a blossoming partnership in the middle with Charlie Adam.

He keeps his shape well and that's just what Liverpool needed in the games against Manchester City and Chelsea.

Roberto Mancini's men came to Anfield on Sunday as a free-scoring unit and you know that it's in that area just in front of your back four where they can hurt you with the likes of Yaya Toure but Lucas stood firm.

Liverpool knew that they had to work hard to stop them but they remained composed and you could see towards the end of the game at Anfield that it was the visitors who were running out of legs.

Source: Liverpool Echo

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