Hearts were in mouths and joy was on hold. In the 70th minute of Liverpool’s 2-0 Carling Cup win over Chelsea, Lucas Leiva was stretchered from the field, having tried in vain to hobble on, and the fans began to fear the worst. It was a sour end to an enjoyable night, the second time in nine days they had come to Stamford Bridge and tasted victory, but the news was to get worse. Within 48 hours it was confirmed that Lucas had suffered an injury to the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee which would require surgery to correct, ruling him out for the rest of the season.

The wailing and gnashing of teeth that followed from Liverpool fans seemed incongruous over the fortunes of a player who was booed by the Anfield crowd in late 2008. When Rafael Benítez chose to replace Xabi Alonso and not Lucas in a game against Fulham, the supporters responded vocally, and drove Benítez to once again defend his £5M acquisition, saying, “people just don’t know how good Lucas is.” It may have taken them some time, but the Lucas who left the Stamford Bridge pitch in agony did so to near universal acclaim. If people didn’t get Lucas then, they do now.

The perceived wisdom is that is has been during this campaign that Lucas has finally stepped into the light and become the player that Benítez was adamant he could be. He has made more tackles per game (5.7) than any of his Premier League rivals, and is also in the top ten for interceptions per game (2.8), another crucial statistic for the defensive midfielder. While undoubtedly the what the 2011/12 season saw of Lucas was the Brazilian at his best, he has been showing what he is capable of since Benítez’s final year in charge.

In 2009/10, with Xabi Alonso proudly sporting the white of Real Madrid, Lucas became a regular alongside Javier Mascherano in the Liverpool midfield. It may not have been a vintage season for the club, but Lucas was one of the few to impress, as he was under the short reign of Roy Hodgson. Between the sale of Alonso and his own untimely injury, Lucas started 76 of Liverpool’s 89 Premier League games (coming on as a substitute in another four), and in doing so grew into the role he was given, becoming a bigger and bigger influence in the centre of the pitch and far from the awkward kid who arrived on Merseyside, a player people assumed would be the next Kaká.

It was perhaps that perception which most clouded his early days in Liverpool. It quickly became clear that he was no midfield magician, but took far longer to realise that he had all the tools necessary to become the epitome of the modern defensive midfielder. Strong, energetic, with a brilliant reading of the game and good passing skills, Lucas has become the metronome at the base of Liverpool’s midfield. He wins the ball and gives it, wins the ball and gives it, the sort of player that opposition fans quickly come to dislike as he once again breaks down their attacks and sets his own team on their way.

As such, his disappearance from the heart of Liverpool’s game presents Kenny Dalglish with a sizeable problem. They have no like-for-like replacement. Jay Spearing came in for the Fulham match, but he is much more a terrier, an ankle-biter, snapping at opponents heals and into tackles in a fashion not dissimilar from the way Javier Mascherano played in red. Spearing, although 23 years old, also lacks experience, having played just 16 league games in his Liverpool career, and the lack of positional sense that comes with such inexperience was evident at Craven Cottage as Clint Dempsey and Moussa Dembélé were given far too much room in front of the Liverpool back four.

Had Spearing not thundered into a challenge on Dembélé and earned himself a red card from Kevin Friend, and the subsequent three match ban, he would undoubtedly have kept his place for the visit of Queens Park Rangers. In his absence, however, Liverpool stumbled upon a potential solution. With no defensive midfielders left in the squad other than the untried 18 year old Conor Coady, Dalglish partnered Jordan Henderson and Charlie Adam in the centre of midfield, with Maxi Rodríguez asked to play a narrow role on the left hand side, often creating a central three.

While Adam has impressed since his summer move, Henderson has had more critics than supporters, and at times struggled to impose himself on games. Against QPR, however, there was a level of passing, movement and understanding between the three that saw Liverpool play some of the best football of their season, a crisp, one-touch game which left Neil Warnock’s men chasing shadows for much of the afternoon.

It may not be the ideal solution for facing a Manchester City or Arsenal, where a defensive screen is necessary to stop players of the ilk that pull on those shirts from controlling the game. But against the ‘smaller’ teams, the ones that Liverpool have had so many problems in recent years, they may just have found an answer to their problems.

Whether they have or not remains to be seen, a 1-0 win against QPR is hardly enough to be definitive, but one thing is certain; Liverpool cannot let one player, no matter how good he has become, define their season. They must learn and adapt, deal with the lack of Lucas and move on. If they don’t, then any remaining hope that they can challenge for a place in the top four will go the same way as their Brazilian midfielder.

Photo courtesy of johnrobjones.

As well as writing regularly for The Football Project, Simon is editor of world football blog Lovely Left Foot.