Liverpool"s Lucas Leiva has told club youngsters to use his experiences as a learning excercise in how young players can come back from low moments in their career.
Lucas told the Liverpool Echo: “I can tell them what I have been through myself. At some point, young players will play bad, that is normal. You have to respect that.
“Instead of putting them down, try to gee them up and give them confidence, because confidence is 50 or 60% of the game."
Lucas himself struggled to establish himself in the Liverpool team after his £5m move from Grêmio in 2007 and it only in 2010 that he became Liverpool"s Player of the Season.
“I look at Jonjo [Shelvey] who was playing well before he made a bad tackle and got sent off. I remeber being sent off against Everton and it cost us the FA Cup tie.
“These things can happen, and as you get older, and more experienced, you learn. Every players will have bad moments. I just hope they can cope well with the pressure, and as a team we have to try to protect these players and give them confidence."
Lucas is currently sidelined for a few months with a thigh injury that has ruled him out of much of Liverpool"s opening games.
