Why Lucas Leiva's Liverpool Position Is Under Most Threat from James Milner
"He is a winner, he has won leagues," Gary McAllister, Liverpool's first-team coach, told the club's official website in praise of James Milner. The arrival of Liverpool's new No. 7 is a significant one for Brendan Rodgers' side, and in particular for an increasingly marginalised Lucas Leiva.
Milner, who joined on a free transfer from Manchester City this summer, is set to take up a key role in Rodgers' first team.
The 29-year-old signed a deal worth around £150,000 a week with the Reds, according to the Guardian's Andy Hunter. A figure that likely makes him Liverpool's highest-paid player, following the summer departures of Steven Gerrard and Glen Johnson.
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Named vice-captain at the beginning of August, too, Milner can be expected to play as many games as possible for the Reds in 2015/16.
What this spells for Brazilian midfielder Lucas is far from favourable.
James Milner
As McAllister attests, Milner brings considerable experience to Merseyside, having spent five seasons in and around the starting lineup at City.
He made 147 Premier League appearances during that time, helping the Citizens to five major honours—including two league titles, in 2011/12 and 2013/14. Like McAllister during his time at Anfield between 2000 and 2002, Milner possesses an innate winning mentality.
This makes Milner a rare commodity within Rodgers' squad, with very few of his players boasting experience of top-flight success—fourth-choice centre-back Kolo Toure is the only other player likely to remain in Rodgers' squad this season who has won the Premier League title.
This experience, paired with top-level ability, is what makes him so important.
He can pass; he can tackle; he can shoot. He has supreme tactical intelligence and is extremely versatile—although his assertion, in conversation with the club's official website, that "you will see the best of me now I am in the central role" suggests he won't settle for a utility role at Anfield.
His performance in Liverpool's 1-0 opening-weekend win over Stoke City, though understated, highlighted his qualities. When released from his confusing, reserved midfield role on the introduction of Emre Can on 62 minutes, Milner created with aplomb on the edge of the area, combining well with the likes of Jordan Henderson and Christian Benteke.
What was most intriguing about his Britannia Stadium showing, however, was his tough-tackling presence in the middle of the park. Making a late challenge on former Reds midfielder Charlie Adam toward the end of the first half, Milner offered retribution to the Scot, who had previously—and rather needlessly—shunted him to the ground.
In the absence of Gerrard, Milner can be one of the players Rodgers needs to drag his side through in difficult encounters, and he can be crucial to his tactical setup, too.
Brendan Rodgers' Tactical Setup
Against Stoke, Rodgers utilised two different systems: 4-3-3 and 4-1-4-1.
This largely revolved around two triangles in the midfield—firstly with Milner and Henderson as a deep-lying pivot behind Philippe Coutinho and secondly with Can introduced in defensive midfield, allowing Milner and Henderson to probe further forward.
"What Liverpool do have this season, more than any other, is tactical flexibility; and not the type of tactical flexibility that is forced upon you due to scarcity of player profile variability, but tactical flexibility that allows for you to answer an array of tactical problems," detailed tactical analyst Jed Davies after Sunday's clash, writing for This is Anfield.
Davies continues to outline how Milner is crucial within this flexibility, whether this be bursting from the midfield pivot to aid Liverpool's pressing game in the final third or dragging wide into a near-right-back position when Nathaniel Clyne forges forward.
As Davies asserts, Milner's flexibility, mobility and tactical intelligence allow Rodgers to implement a variety of systems.
He is an invaluable player, and his level-headed mentality matches his on-field competence, as his post-match summary highlights, via Hunter for the Guardian:
"Ultimately, it is about getting that win whether it is a game where we can move the ball about or whether it is a game where it is a battle and we have to grind it out. You have to assess the situation and be able to adapt and play in different formations against different sides. It is a top team that can adapt and win games when things maybe aren’t playing to your strengths.
"
Milner is a selfless character assuming a key role in a squad led by a manager who is synonymous with the term—it is rare to experience a briefing in which Rodgers does not use the word "character."
He, along with Henderson, Can and Sunday's match-winner Coutinho, will form a hugely important part of Rodgers' first team, with each a key midfield player.
But where does this leave Lucas?
Lucas Leiva's "Fallout"
Conspicuous in his absence at the Britannia was the 28-year-old Brazilian, though given the competitive nature of a Liverpool squad that also saw £20 million Serbian forward Lazar Markovic left out of the matchday squad, this wasn't out of the ordinary.
However, the aftermath of this precious victory has seen Lucas become a wantaway figure on Merseyside.
"Lucas was not in the squad to face Stoke City on Sunday, and his eight-year career at Anfield is expected to end before the end of the month," Chris Bascombe of the Telegraph revealed on Monday evening. This came after the midfielder "was informed he is a back-up player this season."
Paul Joyce of the Express elaborated further by suggesting in his post-match report that "Lucas [was] left out of the squad entirely following a fall-out which presumably now promotes the prospect of a parting."
The likelihood of a summer departure was increased by speculation from David Maddock of the Mirror, who suggested that both Inter Milan and Napoli were interested in signing the long-serving anchorman following his Stoke omission. Maddock cites a "frank exchange" between player and manager.
As victory, and a clean sheet, on Sunday showed, Lucas is a reasonably dispensable figure within Rodgers' squad at this juncture—although the manager will be without a specialist defensive midfielder if he is sold this summer—and a large factor in this is the arrival of Milner.
Milner's addition to the exceptional group of Can, Henderson and Coutinho sees Rodgers complete what Davies hints as his ideal midfield—"a vision finally obtainable."
The new Reds vice-captain builds upon the functional diligence and morale-boosting character of Lucas—who offers little more than a rudimentary, yellow-card-swallowing shield for Liverpool's back four—with genuine pedigree and true quality.
He is not a like-for-like replacement, but Milner's arrival—and the subsequent shift in Rodgers' tactical blueprint—has likely signalled the end of an eight-year reign on Merseyside for Lucas.
Losing a loyal servant such as Lucas will be a blow for Liverpool supporters, but the arrival of Milner has atoned for that forfeit.
Statistics via Soccerbase.com.
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