Is Gerrard a footballing genius?

[nbryan1764]

Balls. 'Leaders' give out constructive criticism. That job needs doing ala Roy Keane at Utd.

Not whinging when he himself has fcuked up a pass or whatever.

Keane constructive? Are you sure?

[stringy]

World Class Yes. Genius, no.

King Kenny and Robbie Fowler and perhaps Jan Molby. All geniuses.

Jan Molby pure class.

We really are a lucky bunch us Liverpool fans.

I certainly believe Gerrard can be put in the same class as the above.

Maybe not a genius but what a player.

Of our current team we will still talk about JC,Gerrard,Agger and Torres in years to come imo.

[zimbo]

Although I'm generally of the opinion that Gerrard isn't instinctive enough to warrant the 'genius' label (however it may be defined), that goal he scored yesterday could have been Kenny at his best. I lost count of the times Dalglish would cut in and curl it into the top corner, leaving an embarrassed keeper clutching thin air.

It'd be nice to think Gerrard could incorporate a bit more of that into his game, then this discussion would be academic anyway.

[checkpoint]

Yes

[WILF]

We expect him to score 20+ goals a season
We expect him to play sublime passes, both long and short.
We expect him to burst through defences with power and pace.
We expect him to get stuck in and tackle everywhere on the pitch
We expect him to consistently hit the target from 25/30 yds out
We expect him to turn big games our way when we are down
We expect him to be ready to play ANYWHERE on the pitch (not in goal?) when injuries require.

These are the standards he has set

King Kenny, God, Barnes etc could never do this.

I don't know if Gerrard is a genius or not but he is the most complete player we have ever had (hello Steve Nichol) and he is just coming into his prime.

He is unique, he would walk into any team in the world, he is a force of nature, and he is ours.

All hail StevieG

[smither]

Although I'm generally of the opinion that Gerrard isn't instinctive enough to warrant the 'genius' label (however it may be defined), that goal he scored yesterday could have been Kenny at his best. I lost count of the times Dalglish would cut in and curl it into the top corner, leaving an embarrassed keeper clutching thin air.

It'd be nice to think Gerrard could incorporate a bit more of that into his game, then this discussion would be academic anyway.

there was a goal gerrard scored last season, against one of the lower teams, cant remember who, where he just toepoked it in over the keeper into the corner from standing. i think that shows that he can have 'genius' moments, but on a game to game basis it's not always there.

thinking of this though even jason mcateer had genius moments every now and again.

[smither]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sJSkNTe9_So

this was the goal i was talking about, granted, nostalgia means that its not quite as good a goal as i remember it being, but still....

[Dhav]

I am amazed by some of the responses. Gerrard is a god of a footballer and we would have won pretty much **** all in the last 5 years without him. He has dragged us from the dust and mentions of league titles are nothing short of disrespectful. He has performed in a mediocre team year on year playing above the teams standard and has always stood up to be counted.

We are stupidly lucky to have him and should be very grateful. Carra I am sure would make a great captain and he is a better character but Gerrard is proper captain material. Had he left for Man U or Chelsea they would have owned the league for a long time. In a nut shell we are very ****ing lucky to have such a great player, maybe some will only realise this when he is gone.

Yep, pretty muich sums it up for me. He has made the difference for us on many occasions. Under Houllier, and his last two seasons in particular, he was immense. Gerrard in 2003-4, performed as well over the course of a season as any of our players have since Barnes in 87-88. I have no doubts about that, he basically carried a mediocre team on his shoulders, single-handedly dragged us into the CL, then when we were in it did more than anyone to get us to the knockouts and to bring us back from the dead in the final. Not to mention his match winning performance in the FA Cup Final. That's two trophies we would no doubt not have won without him.

My only hope is now that we get the best out of him in the next couple of years and put up a real fight in the title race, because it will a damn sight harder to win it when Gerrard is gone or no longer capable of turnign a game single-handedly.

I think a more pertinent topic of discussion is not wether Gerrard is a football genius, it's how he compares with his peers and his contemporaries, and I think in that reckoning, he is up there with the best.

[Farside]

Without him Benitiz may not be in a job now!

[Fivex]

We expect him to score 20+ goals a season
We expect him to play sublime passes, both long and short.
We expect him to burst through defences with power and pace.
We expect him to get stuck in and tackle everywhere on the pitch
We expect him to consistently hit the target from 25/30 yds out
We expect him to turn big games our way when we are down
We expect him to be ready to play ANYWHERE on the pitch (not in goal?) when injuries require.

These are the standards he has set

King Kenny, God, Barnes etc could never do this.

I don't know if Gerrard is a genius or not but he is the most complete player we have ever had (hello Steve Nichol) and he is just coming into his prime.

He is unique, he would walk into any team in the world, he is a force of nature, and he is ours.

All hail StevieG

Good post WILF, nice analysis - agree with everything.

IMO Gerrard is always going to be the outstanding player in our team. The guy will play even better with quality footballers around him especially with Torres & Mascher being top notch. Stevie will raise his bar even further, it's pretty scary thinking about just how good our future greatest ever player might get.

[WILF]

IMO Gerrard is always going to be the outstanding player in our team. The guy will play even better with quality footballers around him especially with Torres & Mascher being top notch. Stevie will raise his bar even further, it's pretty scary thinking about just how good our future greatest ever player might get.

Exactly, just how good will he become in the future????

[Skillz]

Without him Benitiz may not be in a job now!

You may see it that way but it would be easy to turn that around and say without Benitez, Stevie would not have played in a CL final, let alone held the cup aloft.

Stevie may have dragged us back in the final, but it was Rafa's genius that allowed us to get past Chelsea (x2), Juventus, Barcelona etc. Rafa also made key changes (read Hamann) at half time to allow SG to go about his business.

[Dhav]

You may see it that way but it would be easy to turn that around and say without Benitez, Stevie would not have played in a CL final, let alone held the cup aloft.

Stevie may have dragged us back in the final, but it was Rafa's genius that allowed us to get past Chelsea (x2), Juventus, Barcelona etc. Rafa also made key changes (read Hamann) at half time to allow SG to go about his business.

Oh there's no doubt about that mate. I very much doubt if any other manager in the world could have won the Champions League with that team that Rafa did. Let's not forget that Stevie was also absent from some key games along the way , crucial ones in which we got the results we needed regardless (Deportivo away, Leverkusen home, Juve away).

Having said that, there's no way that Stevie's contribution to our 5th CL win can be underestimated either.

[sherby57]

Having just made a comment on the "Lucas??" thread, I thought I'd go and check out the only other thread I contributed to!

Just curious what people think of this premise now, especially following SG's goal on Tuesday. If a genius is someone who can do something that others can't, then I'd certainly nominate that goal as evidence (and he clearly meant to do it!).

P.s.
I'm not entirely sure why I am writing this as I'm not entirely convinced a footballing genius can actually exist!

[kop-al-74]

I started this thread.I have not changed my opinion on him either.Footballing genius,someone any team in the world would have.And i mean any.

Best footballer in the world.