Gerrard as a team player?

[keniget]

I've got sympathy with the poster tbh. I can never understand why Gerrard takes our set plays. He can't even take a penalty properly so why is he taking free-kicks and corners?

How many penalties has Gerrard failed to convert this season?

As for whether he is a team player, use tonights game for example - he was always tracking back to help out A.Cole and defend, combined well with Rooney, generally dictated play for the team to good effect etc. etc.

Unfortunately, people often let their opinions of Gerrard as a person get in the way of their opinions of Gerrard as a player. Is he the egotistical, arrogant and selfish guy he's made out to be? Perhaps... perhaps to some degree, but he's a good captain and a ****ing great player.

I wish we had more players that showed more arrogance and selfishness. We're too nice as a team anyways.

[Montana]

21 Assists this season says it all. Fantastic team player. Played in so many positions for us over years. The guy who started this thread is a knob.

[Darth Marty]

How many penalties has Gerrard failed to convert this season?

As for whether he is a team player, use tonights game for example - he was always tracking back to help out A.Cole and defend, combined well with Rooney, generally dictated play for the team to good effect etc. etc.

Unfortunately, people often let their opinions of Gerrard as a person get in the way of their opinions of Gerrard as a player. Is he the egotistical, arrogant and selfish guy he's made out to be? Perhaps... perhaps to some degree, but he's a good captain and a ****ing great player.

I wish we had more players that showed more arrogance and selfishness. We're too nice as a team anyways.

Agree with that wholeheartedly. However I think he should be pulled from corners and the majority of free kicks.

[-V-]

Gerrard is a wonderful player and a fantastic team-player. Infact you could say he tries to do much for the team

I also don't think he should be on corners but he likes to provide for the team. I think he is a tall lad and has good heading ability so he should be in the box being a threat the same way Ronaldo is

[Shaggy]

Ferrrrnando has to be a WUM.

[Reece]

When he first appeared the other day, I had a sneaky feeling it was DJS......

[Pablo]

Nah DJS got on my tits at times but he wouldnt post nonsense like that, nailed on wum.

[friedk]

this is an amusing thread.

Besides the fact that he scores and sets up goals, what else does he do for the team, I mean has he even tried to play in goal?

[Slim]

How many penalties has Gerrard failed to convert this season?

As for whether he is a team player, use tonights game for example - he was always tracking back to help out A.Cole and defend, combined well with Rooney, generally dictated play for the team to good effect etc. etc.

Unfortunately, people often let their opinions of Gerrard as a person get in the way of their opinions of Gerrard as a player. Is he the egotistical, arrogant and selfish guy he's made out to be? Perhaps... perhaps to some degree, but he's a good captain and a ****ing great player.

I wish we had more players that showed more arrogance and selfishness. We're too nice as a team anyways.

[Slim]

this is an amusing thread.

Besides the fact that he scores and sets up goals, what else does he do for the team, I mean has he even tried to play in goal?

Every so often one of these Gerrard bashing threads starts and it's ridiculous. Yes by all means criticise him when it's legitimate as no player is perfect, but this is just plain silly.

[Henno]

Gerrard is a wonderful player and a fantastic team-player. Infact you could say he tries to do much for the team

I also don't think he should be on corners but he likes to provide for the team. I think he is a tall lad and has good heading ability so he should be in the box being a threat the same way Ronaldo is

im not a fan of him taking frees and corners but who else is there in the team that can deliver

[dww]

I think the criticism of Gerrard for the free kicks/corner thing is unfair. For some reason he seems to believe that Pennant is good at corners and hence when he plays he tends to take them, Aurelio also gets a fair share when he plays. Clearly Gerrard takes many of them but I think it is because he believes he is the best option and no one has done anything to change his mind. If someone stepped up and was great at it in training and when given a chance in matches I think he would defer based on his behaviour in the above two cases.

As to him not being a team player - I have a limited amount of sympathy for that point of view. In general I think he lacks the intelligence to his game to fully get the best out of a lot of players he plays alongside. That said it is rarely for want of effort and when he strikes up a relationship with a player like he has with Torres, Owen (and Xabi) in the past he is very unselfish.

[shanks59]

I've got sympathy with the poster tbh. I can never understand why Gerrard takes our set plays. He can't even take a penalty properly so why is he taking free-kicks and corners?

A lot of what he does is about self-aggrandisement and not for the team, although admittedly if any player we have is going to do that, I would rather it was him, and of course it often comes off.

The thing is, whereas when he is utterly determined it sometimes comes off, when he is less than determined it is wasteful. I know people will simply slag me off by mentioning how many times he has pulled us out of the mire in big games, which is fair point, but there are many occassions where an appropriate delivery would be better than the attempted killer touch, which seems to be ignored by him and his bigger fans.

I love him by the way, I just think that he is often more mindful of himself than the team. Sometimes it works for us, and sometimes it doesn't. He's an intelligent captain, and ought to be able to tell the difference better than we/I can.

The decider in the last few minutes against Arsenal to get to the semi-final of the Champions League, where there was no pressure at all, was an awful pen

He didn't bottle it

[bobbyfallon]

The decider in the last few minutes against Arsenal to get to the semi-final of the Champions League, where there was no pressure at all, was an awful pen

He didn't bottle it

was thinking the exact same - no pressure like.

no keeper in the world was getting to it

[Chrono]

Rooney was as ****e last night as he was in the CL Final where as Gerrard was clearly orchestrating most of what went on. As a team player.