Lucas: "Win. That's it. That's the mentality"

Talk to Lucas Moura about any subject, and a theme develops.

Ask about how he’s coping with the extra responsibility of playing up front in the absence of Harry Kane and Heung-Min Son, and it’s there. Talk about Wolves, or the week ahead, and it’s there again. Remind him that he scored against Wolves, in the last round of the FA Cup and Burnley, and the good vibes he’ll have for these games, and it’s there once more.

The theme? Winning.

Responsibility

Lucas has started our last 12 matches in all competitions, and 20 of Jose Mourinho’s 22 in charge so far, often leading the line in Harry’s absence since New Year’s Day.

How did he feel about shouldering that responsibility, not least with Sonny also now out? “I feel very good,” he said. “I’m always doing my best to help the team. I know when Harry is out, Sonny is out and when you play like a number nine, there is that extra responsibility, but I feel good, I feel comfortable.

“Look, the best thing is to win games and when I give my best, I’m happy. It’s tough physically, especially here in the Premier League. There are only big games, great teams, high intensity, a lot of tackles but that’s good for me. I prepare for this every day and try to be ready.”

Four games, 10 days

How about the 10 days ahead? We face Wolves on Sunday, host Norwich City in the FA Cup on Wednesday (7.45pm) travel to Burnley next Saturday (7 March, 5.30pm) and then fly out to face RB Leipzig in the second leg of our Champions League, Round of 16 tie on Tuesday week (10 March, 8pm).

“This is a massive week,” stated the Brazilian international. “As I said, here, every game is a big game. We need to be ready and to prepare in the best way, and that’s what we’re doing.

“We did well in the last few games before Chelsea (three wins on the trot had moved us to within a point of fourth). Now, a big game on Sunday against Wolves and we need to win to keep in touch with the top four, our objective. We are ready and we will fight in every game.”

Wolves

What did Lucas think of Wolves? Nuno Espirito Santo’s men are a point behind us in eighth having lost just six of 27 in the Premier League this term. They also moved into the last 16 of the Europa League this week.

He said: “Wolves have great players, a very good team. It’s so hard to play against them, especially at Molineux, so we need to take advantage of playing at home with our fans, our stadium. We need to start strong and stay strong for 90 minutes. If we do that, I’m sure we can win.”

Good vibes...

Lucas scored in our 2-1 win at Molineux back in December. He also found the net in our last FA Cup tie, a 3-2 replay win against Southampton on 5 February and opened the scoring in our 5-0 success against Burnley, also back in December – good vibes for him for the games ahead...

“Yes, good memories,” he agreed. “I’ve scored against these teams and I hope to score again, but these are new games, new stories. I will give my best. The most important thing is to win. We cannot lose more points. Wolves is a massive game and we need to win.”

Win

So, there we go. Win. That’s the message from Lucas.

“That’s it. That’s the mentality,” he added. “We cannot cry, we cannot be sad because Harry’s out, Sonny’s out, Moussa’s out. We need to fight. Every team have these problems, injuries, suspension. I know we’re strong, mentally strong. If we give everything on the pitch and have the mentality of winning, then I know we can do it.”