Should we sell SG?

[Shaggy]

Maybe not, and I agree entirely with what you're saying there. Crouch should never have been dropped after his midweek brace, but Rafa seems to have been trying to make some kind of point to him after his exploits with England, IMO.

[Guest]

We shouldn't sell at any price.

[kop-al-74]

Maybe not, and I agree entirely with what you're saying there. Crouch should never have been dropped after his midweek brace, but Rafa seems to have been trying to make some kind of point to him after his exploits with England, IMO.

I can see the logic in what your saying,but a player like crouch doesn't need to be brought down as he always seems level headed and tries his best.Some other players really do believe all the hype about themselves, and it really shows in their attitude on the pitch!

[Sir Bob]

Not playing Crouch yesterday as a strange selection indeed. He was brilliant in midweek & deserved to keep his place. I can only assume Crouch has blotted his copybook with Rafa in some way after Rafa's comments after the last international break. If Crouch has been out of order then he needs to brought down a peg or 2. But on purely footballing terms I cant see for the life of me why he didn't start yesterday.

[joyno]

how many miles as it done mate, oh sorry i thought you meant MG, the other alternative is unthinkable

[CharlieMansonsSquint]

Now before I start, I wouldn't dream of selling him. I'm 40 now & he's the best player I've seen at LFC. Better than Kenny, Barnes & Rush. I never thought I'd see a better player than Kenny at LFC but i have.

however, a mate of mine reckons we should sell him. not because he doesn't rate but because he feels Rafa doesn't. Its pretty obvious that Rafa doesn't want to play SG in the middle of midfield. Alonso & Momo are now 1st choice there. Even for England, SG appears now to have to play wide right to get a game.

Now when SG plays wide right, he's often very influential but no matter how good you are its very hard to influence the game the same when you play out wide. In essence what we have is a midfield player worth £40m+ whom the manager doesn't want to play in his preferred position. We have a right winger who in the open market would fetch £40m. Now no matter how good you are out wide, no wide player is worth £40m.

Personally, I'd never sell SG, I'd build the team around him. I'd play 3 centre halves, 2 wing backs, & Momo, SG & Xabi in the middle. This would allow SG a free role, to wander where he liked to cause maximum damage. But Rafa is very unlikely to do this, so we are left with a player worth £40m who will play most of his games either wide right or wide left. surely we'd be better off with £40m for Rafa to spend on players like say alves, who Rafa really wanted.

So given the fact SG won't play much in the middle, should we sell him for say £40m & give Rafa the funds for players he really wants.

I say no but what do you think?

Good to see you here H.

Lets say hypothetically for a minute that Stevie played for Arsenal, the scum or the Chavs. He'd play in the middle at everyone of those clubs. End of, no arguement. So why on earth he's been marooned, rendered ineffective even on the left recently with us makes no sense to me, I can just about accept him playing wide right because he's good in that position.

Bottom line; he's our best player, why he should have to pay for the deficiencies of our other players defeats me. But what I will say is that Rafa has to stop moving him around, either play him wide right or in the middle, and nowhere else.

As for selling him, well it would be a massive mistake. Rafa's made some good signings for this club, but after spending £14m on Bellamy and Pennant this summer, I'd fell decidely uneasy about losing Gerrard and Rafa being able to use that money to build a winning side without Gerrard's influence. I mean how many times has Stevie come up cltuch and saved our bacon in recent times. He must NEVER leave, ever.

[WILF]

No don't sell him
He is not as good as Souey though imo

[grrrr]

Personally, I'd never sell SG, I'd build the team around him. I'd play 3 centre halves, 2 wing backs, & Momo, SG & Xabi in the middle. This would allow SG a free role, to wander where he liked to cause maximum damage.

I agree. Hope Rafa gives it a try.

[Fan65]

The possibility of Rafa selling Steven Gerrard is ludicrous

Therefore I take it that this thread is a critic of Rafa's tactics in the way he uses Gerrard. In his defence I would like to point out that we are continually outplaying opponents and creating more chances that our rivals. This week we were away to a team that has proved to be very difficult to beat by anyone and yet on their own ground they employed tactics to stop us playing. I cant stand to watch such an approach but thats the measure of respect they gave us.

Away from home we had 13 attempts to their 3 !! and one of those was a gift.

Far from Gerrard being the problem, as the chances are being created Stevie is doing his job, I would think that Rafa needs to work the back four into a bit more consistency. There is no doubt we do look suspect at crosses, Also the missed chances need to be addressed although I think alot of it is down to bad luck at the moment. Seen some great saves against us already and Bellamy seems to be trying too hard to get that first goal. I convinced the flood gates will open soon.

I don't think it matters where Rafa plays Gerrard he does the job wherever he's played as he's a great team player. Sell him ? never !!!!

[brikkis]

My heart says never sell SG but i'm beginning to think if Rafa doesn't rate him 100% in the middle we maybe should sell him.

I would say no to your initial question, but if Rafa is in any way feeling like you, then he will sell him. Of course it would be a very delicate situation for Rafa imo as if it all went wrong if/when he did sell, then the fans could very well turn on Rafa.

These are not nice things to be thinking about, just into work on a miserable Monday morning.

[bazza76]

Sell Steven Gerrard?
Absolutely no chance, the lad has the chance of becoming the biggest playing legend ever at the club, and I mean ever. Heis a local lad and he is our Captain.
Sell him? surely you have to be kidding.

[CAD]

Good post Bob!

To play Gerrard O.O.P. to accommodate lesser players simply makes no sense. Rafa needs to rethink his position on the Gerrard issue and play him at CM every God damn time! Very simple.

The Momo diehards has to realise that even though we look solid with Alonso/Momo when we are defending, they offer too little going forward on the ball. That line-up will never win us the EPL. They will never score enough either. Momo is not the solution in a 4-4-2. He never will be!

Play Alonso/Gerrard or a 3-5-2 at home and a 4-5-1 away.

That's my position.

PS:We should never sell Gerrard but build on him.
PPs: King Kenny is the best LFC player I have ever seen.

[redlancer]

Think problem is Stevie aint no Right midfield player, he doesn't track back to help the RB out.

Rafa wanted him to play the free or Aimar role but that has dissapeared as we've gone for 4-4-2

Rafa rates Momo and Alonso pairing, prob had this in mind when he was at Valencia.

Stevie doesn't seem to gel with Alonso in the middle and likewise Momo.

Stevie needs more of a man manger and someone to "father" him.

Stevie last game in CM wasn't exactly awe inspiring.

MAybe Rafa's best postion of Stevie isn't Stevie's, Hence he doesn't play it to its full potential.

I could only see a 4-4-1-1 or 3-5-2 formation accomondating Stevie unless Rafa drops or one of the 2 CM get injured and that doesn't seem on the cards.

So we have 40M pounds playing in 10M roles

Logic say's sell.

[Liver_Andy77]

Never, no chance! He is the heart of our team and despite his relative young age he is already probably the greatest Liverpool player ever behind King Kenny. One day he will be the greatest...
It's rubbish when people are saying Rafa doesn't rate him. I'm sure Rafa knows exactly what Stevie means for the team, for the club and the fans.