Is Gerrard a footballing genius?

[simey85]

He is not a genius but he is an inspirational footballer on his day and i think he is world class...though at times he does go missing. I would really love to see him at his best and dominating united and chelsea in the games this season!

[Fubar]

He is not a genius but he is an inspirational footballer on his day and i think he is world class...though at times he does go missing. I would really love to see him at his best and dominating united and chelsea in the games this season!

i got the impression that he has spent a lot of his time during games and therefore a lot of his energy chasing the game as he has felt the need to be everywhere. Surely this was down to the fact that a lot of players couldnt be trusted with the ball and he felt like he had to cover them to a certain extent.

Bring on the new season where pretty much every position has a quality player in which should allow him to concentrate solely on his job and not everyone elses

[paulcooper4]

Rush left remember?
As for the Chelsea thing, put yourself in his shoes.
Tells the world on tv he wants to stay, but gets pulled along like a bad puppy. Parry and Rafa were to blame for the Chelsea thing.

SG is one our greatest - period.

Rush never even wanted to go. It was done because of heysel.

How the **** were parry and rafa to blame for gerrard wanting to go to chelsea? He had loads of time left on his contract, so, quite rightly the club were sorting out the lads whose contracts where due to expire.

Mourinho, Terry and Lampard were in his ear promising him the world if he went to chelsea thats why he nearly went.

[paulcooper4]

He is not a genius but he is an inspirational footballer on his day and i think he is world class...though at times he does go missing. I would really love to see him at his best and dominating united and chelsea in the games this season!

My opinion on Gerrard to the letter.

Outstanding on his day, unplayable even, but goes missing far too often to be considered anything other than a very good footballer by me.

[JRC]

Gerrard is a great athlete, top quality - world class - footballer and truly inspirational, and I love him to bits. Not being as good as the King is no criticism. Kenny's greatness was that he definitely had the vision, originality, skill and game intelligence that is the pre-requisite of genune footballing genius - but it was combined with the inspirational and competitive abilities of someone like Gerrard. There have been other 'geniuses' who had the skill but lacked the competiive/inspirational dimension.

And if you think Stevie moans and bitches at his colleagues - you should have seen Kenny. He could moan for Scotland. But a visionary, once-in-a-lifetime, jaw-droppingly awesome genius all the same.

[Joe Le Toff]

Gerrard isnt a genius of a player, hes a very very good one who potentially could be one of the greatest at what he does.
He's a typical modern midfielder, great engine, box-to-box, scores, creates, works hard, gets his foot in, he doesnt have an outstanding weakness, but then he doesnt have an outstanding strength to his game either, hes just exceptionally strong in all departments.
A genius for me is someone like Kenny obviously, or Glen Hoddle, someone who can see the pass or the run before anyone else does, and pull it off.

Gerrard is a leader purely by example when he gets a game by the scruff of the neck and runs it from the centre, some of his performances over the years have been outstanding, especially the West Ham cup final, but IMO i wouldnt have him as captain, he doesnt possess the characteristics to do it, too many times his head goes down when things arent going well and he seems to bitch and moan a lot on the field.
We have a tailor made captain in Carragher and i never understood why he didnt get it.

Gerrard is a player straight out the top drawer but a genius, not IMO.

[paulcooper4]

Gerrard isnt a genius of a player, hes a very very good one who potentially could be one of the greatest at what he does.
He's a typical modern midfielder, great engine, box-to-box, scores, creates, works hard, gets his foot in, he doesnt have an outstanding weakness, but then he doesnt have an outstanding strength to his game either, hes just exceptionally strong in all departments.
A genius for me is someone like Kenny obviously, or Glen Hoddle, someone who can see the pass or the run before anyone else does, and pull it off.

Gerrard is a leader purely by example when he gets a game by the scruff of the neck and runs it from the centre, some of his performances over the years have been outstanding, especially the West Ham cup final, but IMO i wouldnt have him as captain, he doesnt possess the characteristics to do it, too many times his head goes down when things arent going well and he seems to bitch and moan a lot on the field.
We have a tailor made captain in Carragher and i never understood why he didnt get it.

Gerrard is a player straight out the top drawer but a genius, not IMO.

Correct (apart from the glen hoddle bit)

[redstaralex]

it's a bit unfair to compare him to Robbie, Robbie had the thing that most footballers don't ... charisma

[BillobShaisley]

Gerrard is a great player, but genius is entirely the wrong adjective. He's not a clever player, he's not a particularly visionary player. He's a straight forward brilliant player, but he's a bit of a thicky.

[bobbyfallon]

it's a bit unfair to compare him to Robbie, Robbie had the thing that most footballers don't ... charisma

now there is a football genius... GOD

[badpiggy]

Yeah he can be a super captain but also goes missing alot of times which is a pity,

Every single match you watch of Liverpool on TV you can ALWAYS hear Carra shouting at the back four and organising them etc.......he must go through a packed of Soothers after every match.....you never hear Stevie shouting much through your TV though.....

[Skillz]

I would not call Gerrard a "footballing genius" simply because it does not do him justice for the footballer he is. "genius" is Maradona, Pele etc, Gerrard is a different animal and the best i can come up with (and have heard before) is that he is a "footballing Tour De Force". This seems to suit him more because it is unique and sums up his style of play in one.

[Woobus]

It depends on what you take as a footballing genius. If you take it as a person with a great footballing brain then maybe not. If you take it as someone with an amazing talent (eg one of the best if not best players in his position) at the sport they play then he is.

[sherby57]

The word genius is entirely subjective so I have no problems if anyone disagrees with the original poster. However many of the other posts seem to suggest SG is an inconsistent technically competent player who works hard and that seems crazy.

Gerrard is one of the few players in England (English or otherwise) that is widely accepted as world class (another highly subjective phrase). Although he might not hit the creative heights of some of the others mentioned this doesn't mean he isn't supremely talented. Perhaps part of the problem is that he makes the game look so effortless that it's easier to take him for granted.

Over the years he has played right-back, left-mid, centre-mid, right-mid and up front and has never looked anything other than quality in any of them (my opinion of course). How many other players in the world could do that?

I'm not saying that I think he is a genius - in footballing terms I wouldn't even like to guess how many there have ever been, if any. However I think some people have overlooked some of his obvious talents.

[Manofthebog]

Steven Gerrard is boss.

He's the best midfielder in the world.

Why?

Cos he's ****ing ours.