Play SG in the middle or sell him

[Harv]

I think we've reached the point where if we don't play SG in the middle we should sell him.

I wouldn't sell him, I'd build my team around him and play him were he can damage the opposition, in the middle of the park. Now if Rafa thinks he's not good enough defensively to do this then sell him. SG is worth £35m to £40m and as such it far too valuable an asset to play RM. No player worth that much should play in that position. No matter how good you are, you can't influence the game as you can from the middle.

So Rafa, play him in the middle or sell him to the highest bidder. Then use the cash to buy players who can do the job you want them to do. Sg is worth too much to have his talent wasted at RM.

he was good enough last season, winnign PFA player of the year.:whatever:

we are low on condidence, that is all.

[Joe Le Toff]

If he is unable to play to his ability then yes. If he can't motivate himself to play for us wherever he is picked then yes. He has played exceptionally well for us at both right and centre mid before but he has been poor in both positions this season. If it is simply a run of bad form then that has to be accepted, if as people have suggested it is simply because he is in a strop due to being played as a nominal right sided player but with a licence to go where he wants then he has become a liability to the team.

Good post.
I would be seriously pissed off if this was a prima donna strop by Gerrard because he's not in his favoured position.
You would like to think that as captain and most influential player he would put that to one side and try and spur on his under-performing team when the chips are quite clearly down and have been for most of the season form-wise, instead of the pouting and sulking we've seen at Old Toilet and the Emirates.

[wiw]

i'm not sure if this has been said or not, sorry if it has..but i think the main problem is that when Gerrards in the middle, we're still playing 4-4-2. He ends up starting attacks rather than finishing them, as he has to be disciplined and not leave too many gaps, leaving Alonso on his own which is risky.

As a result it is absolutely vital that our fowards hold onto the ball, and we just weren't doing that. We need to sacrifice a striker for Gerrard to play in the middle atm, and we don't seem to be doing that due to there being 4 forwards at the club.

[redlancer]

As a result it is absolutely vital that our fowards hold onto the ball, and we just weren't doing that. We need to sacrifice a striker for Gerrard to play in the middle atm, and we don't seem to be doing that due to there being 4 forwards at the club.

said a while ago would we of signed Bellamy if Kuyt was already here?

Rafa said couple of years ago Stevie was best in the free role.
He's trying to do that from the right but Stevie seems to be in the wrong place at wrong time or lack of motivation.

Stevie's only position under Rafa looks to be the free role and that's dropping a forward.

He has the ability to do the RM role but doesn't look to have the motivation to do it.

Would like to see Kuyt played as the lone striker and give Stevie that free role in away match's

[dww]

I have to admit to having altered my position on where Gerrard should play. I was thinking about the match yesterday and it came to me that when he is nominally playin on the right he often buggers off to the middle/left of the field. Yesterday on several occasions he did this and there was a huge gap down our right where a orthodox right mid would be. This led to two problems 1/ a big fat gap for Clichy to run into and start attacks while under no pressure - with Momo there these gaps are filled, whithout him they leave us exposed. 2/ Our attacks focussed on the left and we could not sprad the play or move the arsenal defence out of position.

The second problem can be resolved in one of three ways as far as I can see. Finnan moves forward - leaving Xabi and Zenden to cover at the back - this also helps with problem 1. Secondly Kuyt can come left - this leaves us short in the box which as all of our midfielders this season seem to get a nosebleed about 20 yards from goal this is a real problem. Thirdly our leftsided player is release to go across and take the position vacated by Stevie. Option three requires an intelligent and multi-skilled left sided player. Our only player capable of doing this is Garcia.

So in effect when Momo is out we have to look to change a whole range of areas of the team to accomodate Stevie on the right. So I suspect we might now be at the point where we would maintain a shape closer to that we successfully played last season if we bought Stevie into the middle.

I would like to point out that I actually think Zenden is decent at CM but reuires that the right and left mids provide options for passes and also cover their wings defensively as his range of passing is limited and he doesn't cover ground like Momo. However when there is movement around him he is good at retaining posession and he is a decent tackler.

[CAD]

Gerrard was born to play at CM. EOD.

[dww]

Gerrard was born to play at CM. EOD.

I think Gerrard was born to play a free role. It is a case of how you accomodate that within your team structure.

If he was more tactically aware (like Alonso) or more of a thinker about the game (like Carragher) then I think he would have adapted to the demands put on being a CM in Rafas system when he was first given the chance. He failed to so currently ideally he should be given a free midfield role from a wing, but we don't currently have the players to accomodate this - so for a brief period I think i might have to start agreeing with all the shouts for Stevie at CM.

[Diego]

Gerrard was born to play at CM. EOD.

right and Lee Harvey Oswald killed JFK with a single bullit

[CAD]

right and Lee Harvey Oswald killed JFK with a single bullit

Dejavu

PS: Have we ever been on the moon?

[Los Rojos]

I have to admit to having altered my position on where Gerrard should play. I was thinking about the match yesterday and it came to me that when he is nominally playin on the right he often buggers off to the middle/left of the field. Yesterday on several occasions he did this and there was a huge gap down our right where a orthodox right mid would be.

I totally agree with you DWW. Although this has been evident for much of the season when Gerrard has been on the right, yesterday it was frar more obvious as we were playing a team which could punish that tactical deficiency.

Moving forward, we have to move to a more rigid 4-4-2 or, as you alude to, use more intelligent players i.e. Garcia, to allow Gerrard to be accomodated on the right. Alonso and Zenden seem incapable of filling the right side on a temporary measure when Stevie moves inside so you would need Garcia to playing LM if SG is on the right.

Certainly, I don't want to see a midfield quartet of Gonzalez - Zenden - Alonso - Gerrard again.

Pennant doesn't look at present to be worthy of a starting place and Riise doesn't have any real competition for the LB spot which would allow him to move into midfield, so I guess my preferred midfield at present, if playing 4-4-2 would be:

Gonzalez - Gerrard - Alonso - Garcia

If Rafa wants to play 4-5-1, then Gerrard would be the ideal choice behind a lone striker (preferably Kuyt) and we could play something like this:

Kuyt

Gerrard

Gonzalez - Zenden - Alonso - Garcia

[Diego]

Dejavu

PS: Have we ever been on the moon?

yes we did

[Los Rojos]

We've got problems in defence and in attack as well.

Defensively, we are shabby at present and I'm particularly worried about the Centre Halves, who are not playing well. Carra is not reading the game as well as he normally does and Sami is starting to frustrate me even more with his terrible distribution. Sami was at fault for the second goal as he gave possession away with a ridiculous pass. He has no patience when on the ball.

Agger has to come in to the team now but I'm not sure who he should replace. Once deficiency in Agger's game looks to be his aerial ability but I may be wrong on this. I've only seen him play 5-6 times and while his tackling, distribution and awareness are excellent, he regularly gets beaten in the air. I'm sure he can stregthen this part of his game though.

Attack wise, we cannot score if we haven't got players in the box. All too frequently this season, we've seen Crouch/Bellamy/ Kuyt on the wing (usually the right side) with no-one to pass the ball to in the box. It's all well and good holding up the play but we need support in the final third.

Shots off target is another problem - we are missing too many chances. Zenden, for example, had two great chances to score yesterday. This is a problem we've had all the way though Rafa's reign.

Sorry this is a negative post - I'm feeling pretty pessimistic at present.

[Graybach]

We've got problems in defence and in attack as well.

Defensively, we are shabby at present and I'm particularly worried about the Centre Halves, who are not playing well. Carra is not reading the game as well as he normally does and Sami is starting to frustrate me even more with his terrible distribution. Sami was at fault for the second goal as he gave possession away with a ridiculous pass. He has no patience when on the ball.

Agger has to come in to the team now but I'm not sure who he should replace. Once deficiency in Agger's game looks to be his aerial ability but I may be wrong on this. I've only seen him play 5-6 times and while his tackling, distribution and awareness are excellent, he regularly gets beaten in the air. I'm sure he can stregthen this part of his game though.

Attack wise, we cannot score if we haven't got players in the box. All too frequently this season, we've seen Crouch/Bellamy/ Kuyt on the wing (usually the right side) with no-one to pass the ball to in the box. It's all well and good holding up the play but we need support in the final third.

Shots off target is another problem - we are missing too many chances. Zenden, for example, had two great chances to score yesterday. This is a problem we've had all the way though Rafa's reign.

Sorry this is a negative post - I'm feeling pretty pessimistic at present.

A bit of sense and logic. Don't be sorry, it's not as negative as usual
Disagree with Carra comments. I think he's feeling the strain playing beside Hyypia now. Agger all the way as far as I'm concerned.

The play up the field is just too negative. Too much going back to the defence and keeper.

Strikers didn't really get a sniff yesterday.

[alunevans]

I think Gerrard was born to play a free role. It is a case of how you accomodate that within your team structure.

If he was more tactically aware (like Alonso) or more of a thinker about the game (like Carragher) then I think he would have adapted to the demands put on being a CM in Rafas system when he was first given the chance. He failed to so currently ideally he should be given a free midfield role from a wing, but we don't currently have the players to accomodate this - so for a brief period I think i might have to start agreeing with all the shouts for Stevie at CM.

he's the best failed central midfielder i've ever seen.

[dww]

I think Keane at his peak was better than Gerrard. I also think there is potentially more to come from Gerrard but he needs to think more tactically. Maybe from the current crisis he can blossom into the fully fledged world beater, we all know he can be on his day, more regularly. I think he is a truly exceptional talent who is yet to find out exactly how to utilise it best.