Seventy one minutes. It’s not really an awful lot is it?

You could watch The Godfather for 71 minutes and you wouldn’t long be past the day of his daughter’s wedding. The horse’s head would still be placed squarely on the horse.

Seventy one minutes is the entire amount of Premier League football that Lucas Leiva has played in the past year. Michael Corleone hasn’t even entered the restaurant yet never mind planted the gun in the toilets.

Those 71 minutes of Lucas action are made up of just over an hour in the defeat at West Brom on the opening day of this season and four uncomfortable minutes in the 2-2 draw at home to Manchester City after he’d picked up an injury in the warm-up.

The knee problem sustained in the League Cup win at Chelsea exactly a year ago on Thursday has – given his subsequent problems – forced Lucas to sit on the sidelines for all but those 71 minutes of league action, depriving Liverpool of the club’s 2010/11 player of the season and leaving Brendan Rodgers without one of the most vital cogs in the Reds machine whilst he’s still piecing together the parts and reading the manual.

When Rodgers arrived in the summer it was impossible not to openly debate just who and just who would not fit into the new manager’s now famed style of football. Some players instantly didn’t seem suited to it – with Rodgers seemingly sharing that view – whilst others were going to adapt to this new way of playing seamlessly. Lucas was in the latter category.

Once he was over that Stamford Bridge injury he was going to be this team’s Sergio Busquets, with the initial lowering of expectations perhaps meaning that he’d have to settle for being the team’s Leon Britton at first.

It might be a little too far-fetched to claim that his is the most important position in this style of play, but it surely can’t be far off.

In Lucas’s absence Joe Allen has been forced to play further back; forced to be the Welsh Busquets as opposed to the Welsh Xavi. The team’s Britton and not the team’s Allen.

He’s done admirably of course, but as Rodgers hinted earlier on in the season the 22-year-old is better suited to a more advanced midfield role, whilst the same can surely be said of Steven Gerrard, Jonjo Shelvey and Nuri Sahin given their potential for attacking prowess. In addition, Jordan Henderson has recently spoken of his ongoing determination to plug any holes in the Reds midfield and you won’t find many more willing to do just that than him.

His is a strength of character which is shared by Lucas too. After all you have to be strong when you are restricted to just 71 minutes of league football in a year.

The Brazilian’s return to action in last Friday’s under-21 match against Middlesbrough has already got supporters thinking ahead to his long-awaited comeback into the first-team, with Saturday’s match against Southampton pencilled in by many.

The structure of Rodgers’ team is likely to change with Lucas in it, but just as Kenny Dalglish experienced for the majority of last season that team suffers without the Brazilian’s presence, and it’s not too outlandish to believe that he’ll be one of the first names on the teamsheet once he rediscovers his full fitness and sharpness. It’s also quite exciting too.

There are few better players in Liverpool’s or indeed anyone’s squad who are capable of providing the platform for those ahead of them to go and win matches, and with winning proving to be the most difficult of habits for the Reds to get into this season then Lucas’s return should be celebrated by all of a Red persuasion.

And for a lot more than 71 minutes too.

@Mark_Jones86

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