Lucas Moura

[Bedfordspurs]

Moura - wouldn't say he played as a CF as per your post.

Played clam and often found himself furthest forward as had licence to do so, hence the comparison to the second striker role

ok
I certainly would say he played as striker
Kane 10 ish
And son and bale wide
That’s how it looked to me when we had the ball
I’ll see if there are any what maps and shot stats
Felt to me like one dropped deep and caused them the problems by doing so which left space for the others

 

[K.D.D.D.D.Soc]

I think it suit him playing centrally, it let's him the chance to run directly at the defence, no defenders like having players running at them. He may not create a lot but it gives our opponents problems and creates space for others.

 

[billyiddo]

ok
I certainly would say he played as striker
Kane 10 ish
And son and bale wide
That’s how it looked to me when we had the ball
I’ll see if there are any what maps and shot stats
Felt to me like one dropped deep and caused them the problems by doing so which left space for the others

Disagree but hey ho

Heat and touch maps are up Whoscored.com - Kane had more touches further forward but also deeper too, but that's just a reflection of his all action game.

Edit as per your post below - I'd expect a second striker running on beyond the forward to get shots away in the box throughout the game - that doesn't make them a CF.

 

[Bedfordspurs]

Disagree but hey ho

Yeah
I can tell you that Moura had 3 shots and they were all in the area
Kane had 5 and they were mainly outside
That doesn’t really say much though
What today does show is that the players are flexible when fit and able
And that’s only a good thing going forward

 

[Jurgen the German]

Shouldn’t be starting regularly but knows where the goal is and for that reason, it’s a no brainer as to who should start between Moura, Lamela and Bergwijn as he scores more frequently.

 

[Raziel]

Hilarious ..

https://twitter.com/x/status/1366099638848278531

 

[Gilzeantoscore]

Can't get the hate for Lucas. He always tries, you can see it in the urgency of his play. Also, he tries things, yep, they may not always pay off, but it adds unpredictability to our play that is often missing. True, often he runs into a wall when dribbling, but sometimes he sneaks through and there is nothing defenses hate more than a forward running at them. Lastly, he is very, very good in the air, for a man of his size.

 

[Raziel]

Can't get the hate for Lucas. He always tries, you can see it in the urgency of his play. Also, he tries things, yep, they may not always pay off, but it adds unpredictability to our play that is often missing. tTrue, often he runs into a wall when dribbling, but sometimes he sneaks through and there is nothing defenses hate more than a forward running at them. Lastly, he is very, very good in the air, for a man of his size.

Rules of the board, there has always got to a spacegoat

 

[Mosquito_Coasting]

The touch before he hit the shot straight at the keeper was absolutely brilliant. The quickness of thought and technique.

 

[afsoc4life]

Can't get the hate for Lucas. He always tries, you can see it in the urgency of his play. Also, he tries things, yep, they may not always pay off, but it adds unpredictability to our play that is often missing. True, often he runs into a wall when dribbling, but sometimes he sneaks through and there is nothing defenses hate more than a forward running at them. Lastly, he is very, very good in the air, for a man of his size.

He is also a model professional off the pitch.

 

[thfcsteff]

Rules of the board, there has always got to a spacegoat

He had a fine game today. Kane, Son and Bale all firing in all cylinders helps that, add a rested Kane dropping way deep and dragging CBs out of position leaving space for Lucas to exploit and it helps further. I thought it was his best game for months, and that was another great finish. But we shouldn't pretend that when we are relying heavily on him to have Kane/Son/Bale like influence without them all around, it does not usually happen.

 

[braineclipse]

Quite a decision for Mourinho to play him and play him in that role. Had it not worked out the obvious questions would have been asked about why he didn't start Alli.

Why do you think Moura got the nod over both Alli and Lamela against Burnley? Quite a few of the usual reasons I see for starting Moura weren't really likely to be there against Burnley.

 

[Raziel]

Quite a decision for Mourinho to play him and play him in that role. Had it not worked out the obvious questions would have been asked about why he didn't start Alli.

Why do you think Moura got the nod over both Alli and Lamela against Burnley? Quite a few of the usual reasons I see for starting Moura weren't really likely to be there against Burnley.

I think it's the current evolution of the team

- While the front four are all quite fluid, the starting positions if you like are Son left, Kane up front, Bale right
- With Reguilon in the side, it's clear we plan to use Reguilon/Son +center AM to create pressure on that side of the pitch (like against West Ham, opponent needs to double up on that side to avoid being destroyed), this leaves the right sided player open (against West Ham it was often Tanganga), against Burnley it was often Bale who used his passing (see Kane goal)
- Burnley despite their reputation as bus parkers do press, sometimes surprisingly high.

Lucas is the most direct/quickest of the three, hence if we broke their press high or countered he would be most likely to have an impact.

These are the decisions managers get paid for, if Lucas had an off game, the bitching of why not Dele would have been OTT

Lots of games to come, so expect to still see rotation and who knows what having Lo Celso available does to the setup.

 

[Diamond Lights]

The touch before he hit the shot straight at the keeper was absolutely brilliant. The quickness of thought and technique.

always at his best when he doesn't have to think. The moment he has time is where it goes wrong for him, an instincts player.

 

[Bedfordspurs]

always at his best when he doesn't have to think. The moment he has time is where it goes wrong for him, an instincts player.

Yep
100%

 

[Bedfordspurs]

I think it's the current evolution of the team

- While the front four are all quite fluid, the starting positions if you like are Son left, Kane up front, Bale right
- With Reguilon in the side, it's clear we plan to use Reguilon/Son +center AM to create pressure on that side of the pitch (like against West Ham, opponent needs to double up on that side to avoid being destroyed), this leaves the right sided player open (against West Ham it was often Tanganga), against Burnley it was often Bale who used his passing (see Kane goal)
- Burnley despite their reputation as bus parkers do press, sometimes surprisingly high.

Lucas is the most direct/quickest of the three, hence if we broke their press high or countered he would be most likely to have an impact.

These are the decisions managers get paid for, if Lucas had an off game, the bitching of why not Dele would have been OTT

Lots of games to come, so expect to still see rotation and who knows what having Lo Celso available does to the setup.

What i thought was interesting was that when Dele was on for him he was literally all over the pitch and we played on the counter (not a style that I thought suited dele), and we created several good chances which should have lead to another goal.

 

[Raziel]

What i thought was interesting was that when Dele was on for him he was non-figuratively all over the pitch and we played on the counter (not a style that I thought suited dele), and we created several good chances which should have lead to another goal.

I think all three have their pros

- Lucas -> direct, adds pace, goal threat at different ranges (can hit it pretty hard)
- Dele -> more runs, can make the assist, can score mostly in box
- Lamela -> probably best of the three at possession, tempo management and obviously brings bite to midfield.
+Gio soon

Very interested in the rotation over next few games.

Argument could be made to start the same team in next game, and only rotate when players need it.

 

[Bullet]

Can't get the hate for Lucas. He always tries, you can see it in the urgency of his play. Also, he tries things, yep, they may not always pay off, but it adds unpredictability to our play that is often missing. True, often he runs into a wall when dribbling, but sometimes he sneaks through and there is nothing defenses hate more than a forward running at them. Lastly, he is very, very good in the air, for a man of his size.

He did well yesterday; but disagree on the above points... you say he runs directly into a gaggle of players and they hate that and it adds unpredictability, I would say it is way too predictable that he will run into a gaggle of players, and that gaggles of players love it when he does that!

He just isn't a smart footballer. He is instinctively good, but makes bad decisions any time he has time to think.

He seems to think that in the Prem one can dribble past 4 players; that happens about 1 in 1,000 times. It might work in the Europa league or against Marine, but not in the Prem (except once in a generation solo runs).

 

[StephenH]

Lucas is just far too frustrating to watch and enjoy.

 

[Dicko]

Lucas is just far too frustrating to watch and enjoy.

I like to pretend he is just a dribbling machine and sit back and enjoy the mystery of which direction he will go each time he gets the ball.

Never be annoyed if/when he misplaces a pass. Just assume that no one has ever taught him about passing and that he has only just recently discovered it. It makes watching him more enjoyable.

He's far, far from a complete footballer but he seems like a decent fella and I like watching his mazy runs instead of the sideways passing of modern football.