Steven Gerrard

[the rev leeroy brown]

gerrard for me can still hold his own at this level and we need some experienced heads in our line up given the young average age and inexperience we currently have in the final third of the pitch.

[danperkins]

And here in lies the problem because IF you can execute it properly this strategy is the most effective imo. But as we have all seen there have been sides who have tried to copy Barca in this way and just cannot do it well enough.

A pressing strategy executed poorly is actually worse than not pressing at all because those players who do it in isolated incidents actually make it easier for the opposition to bypass them and catch them out of position.

I don't think its often stressed enough that only a handful of teams in the top tier of European football actually have the quality, team work and collective intelligence to play this way successfully on a consistent basis. e.g Dortmund, Barca, Arsenal etc.

good post

[G]

No need to drop him against the likes of Fulham, definitely need to do it against teams who press us all over the pitch like Southampton or a mobile fluid midfield like Arsenal.

We should be picking and choosing what games he plays and in no way should he be automatically playing every minute of every game. Still think we don't really have good enough alternatives to him though so we really need to be looking at that in January.

[Mostar]

Who would win possession in that midfield 3??

Coutinho is pretty good in intercepting plays, Hendo improved greatly in terms of pressing and defensive tracking and Allen, given what he showed in the early part of the last season, can do the same.

We have a chance to get into CL this season but to do that we have to straighten our squad this January and pick up 1 or 2 players that we short ,if anybody decent is available (M'Villa would be good), and use existing squad options effectively.

No player should be guaranteed the spot based simply on past achievements and squad shortcomings and that applies to Stevie, Lucas and everyone else.

[meffin]

Mancs on Facebook kicking off because they think this is real. ****ing numpties!

[RichC]

He's having a shocker this season

Joking aside I think we must have the most ridiculously high standards for him and even when he doesn't appear to be playing to those levels he's still a bloody important player for us

[Exiled_red]

I think Gerrard has had a good season so far, he hasn't been as spectacular as he has been previously but he has played well in a different way. I don't think any of our other midfielders are capable of offering what he does.

[rodo]

think a lot of us myself included take stevie for granted and its only when you really look at stuff like that you realise how he still makes us tick

[kubrickscube]

Good to see him bouncing back from his poor performance against Arsenal (although he wasn't alone) and having a great game against Fulham. Still think he'd benefit from being rested from time to time, though.

[Alex]

Think this is his best season for us since 2009. He wasn't great last year and the year under Kenny. Seemed to suffer from his age catching up with him. Making adjustments now and he is putting in some great shifts.

Still think he could do with being benched some games. If only to save his legs.

[Vermilion]

Mancs on Facebook kicking off because they think this is real. ****ing numpties!

Did they have to put a racist ad next to it though!

[RichC]

Ruled out of the friendly!

[Vermilion]

Ruled out of the friendly!

[Sarb]

Taking injections so he can make the Germany friendly. Love the guy but that is just idiotic. What is the point

[Shaggy]

He loves playing for England, it's wank for us but you can hardly blame him. He's the captain, wants to keep piling up the caps and it's against Germany. It is **** though.