Yes it was, look up comment 317, you just joined this debate late and made something completely else about. You even quoted this comment and said "no he isnt". Then I asked you if we are actually debating the fact that both are competing for a nationalteam spot, and I said multiple times that Costa edges this competition. I don't know how many times I should repeat this now, it's really a little annoying. Of course the fact that Lucas played 39 minutes in 2 years for the nationalteam IS underlining his status there, what are we even arguing about?
No he isn't, as in, "no Costa isn't playing in Lucas spot". Because beyond not sharing the same preferred side, Costa doesn't have a fixed position anymore than Lucas does. You keep bringing up the latters time with the team apparently unaware that Costa didn't debut with Selecao until the fall of 2014, at 24, and had never played more than 45 minutes in a match prior to September's friendlies against the USA & Costa Rica. The only reason he saw 90 minutes in the World Cup qualifiers was because Neymar wasn't in the team for the first two matches, while our final match was against Peru. When Neymar returned against Argentina, Costa only played 33 minutes.
As for Lucas, he was called up in the fall of 2014 when Costa first debuted but had to be replaced by Talisca because he was injured. He then missed our friendlies in March and June, and therefore Copa America because he was recovering from groin surgery. In August he was called up again once he recovered fitness, and has since been included in the squad in 4 of our last 6 matches. He hasn't played a lot mostly due to injury, but it's clear he's in contention for a spot on the team going into the 2018 WC.
You were basically throwing "Ligue Un defenses are the one or two best defenses in europe" into this, without any piece of backing that up. They're european record is poor, hwhen was the last time they had 3 teams in a CL knockout-tage? How often dot hey even have 2 teams there in recent years? The "half ass illustration" is basically displaying exactly what I'm talking about.
UEFA coefficients aren't measures of defensive competency. We have more apt means to determine this such as goals, interceptions, dribbles, etc.
Good, because I never said "tougher teams in tougher groups", I said "has better CL matches against better opponents". Taking all opponents into account (as a group consists of 4 teams, and not just 1) and basically rating their performances against those. Putting this into a half ass illustration:
Real Madrid > Arsenal
39min invisible vs Real < 180min explosion vs Arsenal
As far as I know they've played in more UCL matches than those against Arsenal and Real respectively. For the most part, their performances have been comparable.
Going from "Starter" to "has taken Cavani's spot as a holder in PSG's rotation." is a nice way of saying He got demoted.
Perhaps I used the wrong words but Lucas is now starting over Cavani.
Paulinho has 32 caps for brazil. Overall caps don't say shit over your current status when those lay back to 2-3 years ago. It isnt relevant if he is called up, when he isnt playing anyway. For gods sake, he has less minutes for Brazil these days than Podolski has for germany.
Paulinho is 27, playing in China, and hasn't been called up since the WC. Hardly the same.
Robben has been injurie-prone his whole career and not just in his thirties. His speed and agility however, hasn't changed a lot. He broke speed records just last world cup with 30.
That was nearly 2 years ago. Since then, he's done almost nothing.
Costa will be more than fine if he stays fit. Players loose a bit of physicality, but they don't get sudden arthritis for christ sake.
He will experience declines in his athleticism same as everyone. At which point it will be important for him to alter his dribbling style to accomdate for his physical losses.
