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Lucas Moura

Sometimes football is about small moments that lead up to a larger moment. Lethal counterattack where Son scored all started with Moura's flick-on straight into Bergwijn's path. Quick plays like this do opposition defenders no favors as Ake was out of position when squaring up to Son before he took the shot.
 
Badger said:
This was his kind of game - wide open spaces available to counter-attack in. Moura's problem is when he is faced with two banks of four because he tries to do the same thing...
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He played very well again, has been playing well for almost a year now. I notice a lot of talk on tactics. Yesterday's game obviously suited him really nicely, but I have always believed Moura is just the right player to play in the middle when we face packed defences (so unlike yesterday). He is more unpredictable than any other attacking midfielder in the squad, I think he might blossom this year to such an extent that he will be a certain starter regardless of whom we play.


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Wonder of the lack of Kane helps Moura. Kane comes deep leaving less space for Moura to drive into while Sonny stretches the defence when playing CF. Some of Moura's best games, city and of course Ajax has been played without Kane leading the line.
 
Hotspur75 said:
He played very well again, has been playing well for almost a year now. I notice a lot of talk on tactics. Yesterday's game obviously suited him really nicely, but I have always believed Moura is just the right player to play in the middle when we face packed defences (so unlike yesterday). He is more unpredictable than any other attacking midfielder in the squad, I think he might blossom this year to such an extent that he will be a certain starter regardless of whom we play.


Sitting on my porcelain throne using glory-glory.co.uk mobile app
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Lucas suffers a bit from what Sonny used to

- A lot of people judged Son on his first season, and formed an opinion, he got better and better and people still saw that guy from the first season.
- Lucas had a decent start, then his second real season coincided with our spiral and he had a less effective spell
- For a lot of last season he was a very good player for us, it's continued.

People should judge him on what he does right now, not what they remember from two years ago.
 
Raziel said:
Lucas suffers a bit from what Sonny used to

- A lot of people judged Son on his first season, and formed an opinion, he got better and better and people still saw that guy from the first season.
- Lucas had a decent start, then his second real season coincided with our spiral and he had a less effective spell
- For a lot of last season he was a very good player for us, it's continued.

People should judge him on what he does right now, not what they remember from two years ago.
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Moura does now what he always has done - run in to space at speed and jink round defenders that are on the back foot. His future as a starter (much like Bergwijn) will depend on his end product over a season, how he performs vs teams that nullify our counter attacking game and how he links with team mates as part of an attacking unit rather than on an individual level.

He played well on Sunday - but as with his performances last season it doesn't tell us anything we don't already know and the question marks to the above are still there.
 
billyiddo said:
Moura does now what he always has done - run in to space at speed and jink round defenders that are on the back foot. His future as a starter (much like Bergwijn) will depend on his end product over a season and how he performs vs teams that nullify our counter attacking game. This is also possibly true of the manager and his tactics too.

He played well on Sunday
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I think a few things have changed
- He is better at pressing, stealing a ball (his acceleration catches players who sit on the ball), I don't recall that being part of his game
- His passing has improved, awareness of where (usually Son) other players are
- To above point, he doesn't hold on to the ball as much as he used to (just the act of sometimes releasing the ball quickly vs. always running with it makes him less predictable, more effective).

To me the choice of playing him is simple
- In cups and against lower level opposition, his directness is devastating, it just works
- He has to either play in middle or be allowed to drift inside, if we want someone to play out wide, he tends to be less effective there (out of game)
 
Pressing is a team tactic/something a unit does - players on an individual level close down and Moura has always done that in our colours iirc and it's up to Nuno to build the pressing tactic, should he choose to play that way with the players available.

Moura is what I'd call a playground footballer, always chasing the ball and being direct with it once he has it - needs to show more as a team player on the ball to be a starter, he does seem quicker to play the pass over preseason and Sundays game so maybe a corner turned there?
 
billyiddo said:
Pressing is a team tactic/something a unit does - players on an individual level close down and Moura has always done that in our colours iirc and it's up to Nuno to build the pressing tactic, should he choose to play that way with the players available.

Moura is what I'd call a playground footballer, always chasing the ball and being direct with it once he has it - needs to show more as a team player on the ball to be a starter, he does seem quicker to play the pass over preseason and Sundays game so maybe a corner turned there?
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He plays to instruction IMO and he has been told to do exactly that
Same with son
They are both players who excel at doing what they are told
 
Bedfordspurs said:
He plays to instruction IMO and he has been told to do exactly that
Same with son
They are both players who excel at doing what they are told
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I don't agree on Moura being a player who excels at doing what he is told, maybe you have phrased that badly but he's only going to excell when playing a style that suits his game (like most players) so it's down to whether the managers tactics allow for a direct runner to be an effective cog or not
 
billyiddo said:
I don't agree on Moura being a player who excels at doing what he is told, maybe you have phrased that badly but he's only going to excell when playing a style that suits his game (like most players) so it's down to whether the managers tactics allow for a direct runner to be an effective cog or not
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no I meant exactly what I said
Players like him and son are instinctive but within a set pattern of play and rules
Moura pre season has passed early and with very few touches. That’s not how he normally plays. Yesterday he ran at their midfield and did it centrally, rather than his normally favoured playing down the right. That was a plan and a tactic for him to do
Son always worked well when given a task and a plan. When he was given free reign he (IMO) looked lost. He is instinctive with his finishing but needs the plan for how to play up to that point.
 
Bedfordspurs said:
no I meant exactly what I said
Players like him and son are instinctive but within a set pattern of play and rules
Moura pre season has passed early and with very few touches. That’s not how he normally plays. Yesterday he ran at their midfield and did it centrally, rather than his normally favoured playing down the right. That was a plan and a tactic for him to do
Son always worked well when given a task and a plan. When he was given free reign he (IMO) looked lost. He is instinctive with his finishing but needs the plan for how to play up to that point.
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How do you know what's to a set plan and when it's a free reign?

I mean Son is a very patchy player, long spells off form then prolonged purple patch - that doesn't scream excelling on instruction to me
 
Bedfordspurs said:
no I meant exactly what I said
Players like him and son are instinctive but within a set pattern of play and rules
Moura pre season has passed early and with very few touches. That’s not how he normally plays. Yesterday he ran at their midfield and did it centrally, rather than his normally favoured playing down the right. That was a plan and a tactic for him to do
Son always worked well when given a task and a plan. When he was given free reign he (IMO) looked lost. He is instinctive with his finishing but needs the plan for how to play up to that point.
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Plan and tactics, but made possible because of the game conditions. In most games there won't be the space for him to do that.

The big question for me is if we can find tactics/instructions that make him more effective when playing in different conditions, different phases of play. I'm not holding my breath. But his hard work, intensity, ability to beat a man and multiple men when I'm the right situation makes him a useful player either way. Good enough to start every week? Not so sure.

A more narrow 4-3-3 might suit him well, the problem is that if the plan is to play a more defensive right back we need that right sided attacker to provide width. He can do that, but he's not very effective there when teams sit deeper.

I struggle to see the tactical fix for it.
 
Raziel said:
I think a few things have changed
- He is better at pressing, stealing a ball (his acceleration catches players who sit on the ball), I don't recall that being part of his game
- His passing has improved, awareness of where (usually Son) other players are
- To above point, he doesn't hold on to the ball as much as he used to (just the act of sometimes releasing the ball quickly vs. always running with it makes him less predictable, more effective).

To me the choice of playing him is simple
- In cups and against lower level opposition, his directness is devastating, it just works
- He has to either play in middle or be allowed to drift inside, if we want someone to play out wide, he tends to be less effective there (out of game)
Click to expand...
I was about to make this exact point. It is very noticeable that he's moving the ball on quicker than he used to, and doing it more frequently. Nuno has been his ear about that I imagine and he's definitely taken that coaching on board.
 
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