Resting Steven Gerrard

[El Jefecito]

As well as resting players we need to give them a little time off when they have a run of bad form. Gerrard certainly should of had some downtime last year, he ran into a bad spell but didn't get any time to rest up and take stock of his performances. I think we have enough depth to do that this year and I hope Rafa takes advantage of it.

[Catrin]

I reckon Stevie could be rested by using him as an impact player from the bench in games against some lesser teams. He's quite tactically minded so a dynamic 20 minute burst from him could either turn a game that isn't quite going our way or help kill off the opposition. What I'm not keen on is taking him off when the game has been "won" as it gives the opposition a lift.

[dww]

You were actually the one most voluble in criticism of him last year. You only need to look at the NBA. Often a team will play 2 consecutive nights - if the team they play the second night has had a day or two off that team almost always wins. We want to keep our top players as fresh as we can if we are to get the best out of the squad. A tired Gerrard may be better than certain other players who've rested, but as the manager, I'm sure Rafa will be looking to get the best of Stevie.

I'm of the opinion that the best way to do this is to come out early in each game all guns blazing. this was what United did last season and as a result had the luxury of being able to make substitutions in the second half to rest people much more frequently.

[Joe King]

Against **** teams, if we are winning, I wouldn't mind it if Gerrard went off with like 20-25 mins to go.

[Nic83]

Considering Rafa's stated intention to play Stevie more in the centre this year, the improved options on the right and the 4-way class in the middle, I can see Stevie getting a lighter workload this season. Gone are the days when we could be called a 1-man team.
I'm not knocking Stevie and I'm not advocating rotation at the start of the season when I believe we need to play a settled team to chase a good start .... but there were games when Stevie appeared stale last season, and I can see us trying to manage his time on the field a little more.
When would you rest him? Certain cup games of course. We'd also take him off during comfortable wins last season. Are there league games when it would be reasonable to start without him?

He must play in every away game. Rest him at Anfield against some of the lesser teams.

[mersey86]

What I'm not keen on is taking him off when the game has been "won" as it gives the opposition a lift.

I disagree. It wouldn't give me a lift to know the opposition didn't think they needed their best player any more. And for the game to be "won" we're at least two goals up fairly late in the game - with our defence, that's "won".

[Diego]

He doesn't need resting ffs.

that right marky stick it to da man...

didn't stevie complain last season about a burn out, played two seasons with a world cup in between and hardly had a rest for well over 19 months, your right, super stevie can handle anything...

lets make him play every game, possibly 62-4 games, let's see how fresh he will be come the fa cup final, champ league final, or even a tight title race...

in the wise words of Pako:

“Everyone needs to accept there are too many games in England but everyone says every competition is important, but I don’t agree with that.

“If we expect the same players to start in every competition, we can not be successful. We would be able to get more from all the players in the most important games if it was recognised a club of Liverpool’s size should not see all these competitions as important.

“Also, in English football too much is made of starting with the same 11 each week.

“It would be fantastic for the board if this was possible. We could use just 11 players every season and not have tospend money to have a 23 man squad.

“Some players have had too much pressure on them for too long. When we arrived, people were saying how in the years before Stevie (Gerrard) had to carry too much responsibility for the team on and off the park. This was not fair on him or his team mates.

“To be successful, you can’t be looking to the same individuals all the time. It has to be group effort.”

[Catrin]

I disagree. It wouldn't give me a lift to know the opposition didn't think they needed their best player any more. And for the game to be "won" we're at least two goals up fairly late in the game - with our defence, that's "won".

If it didn't give you a lift it would at least make you think "the cheeky f***ers think they've won, well we'll f****ing show 'em." If the extra impetus gets you a goal, then your tails are up and you're looking to push on, save the game and nick a point. Our defence then knows that one mistake can cost us 2 points and the closing minutes can be a lot less comfortable than they should have been.