Steven Gerrard

[captainfog]

FWIW despite all my criticisms of Gerrard I'd still pick him for the game against Everton.

[DannyMan2006]

I don't think there's any question Gerrard starts. It's the formation and role he takes up that should be under debate by the manager and his coaching team.

Steven Naismith is **** in general, but he gets stuck in and chases lost causes. He'll start for Everton in behind Lukaku and he'll harass Gerrard all game long.

[Alex]

Same as last year...

Until he gets going he'll have good key moments but average general play.

I think once he gets going he'll be back up there.

How long do we keep him in the side until he gets going though? We shouldn't carry anyone, even Gerrard.

FWIW despite all my criticisms of Gerrard I'd still pick him for the game against Everton.

Me too, he is vital for big games.

[Pablo]

I agree carrying players is a downright ridiculous idea. I'm all for bending the rules and squeezing 12 players on but I honestly think it would be counter-productive.

[The_weatherman]

http://www.whoscored.com/Articles/d1hzwheffeusc_17fbah1q/Show/Player-Focus-Gerrard-Offering-Liverpool-Defence-Too-Little-Protection

Player Focus: Gerrard Offering Liverpool Defence Too Little Protection
by Jonathan Wilson at Monday, Sep 29 2014 15:18

After Steven Gerrard had bent in the free-kick that gave Liverpool the lead in Saturday’s Merseyside derby, he ran away with one hand cupped to his ear. The message was fairly clear: where’s your criticism now? “I can take constructive criticism, but people go one step further and say you are finished and can't run anymore," he said afterwards. "So it was nice to remind people that, at the age of 34, I can still play, I can still run and I am still around and I can still compete with the best players around.”

Which is true and simultaneously not true. It seems revealing that Gerrard picks out running as the aspect that proves he can still cut it at the highest level. Running has defined Gerrard: throughout his career he’s been busting lungs to get back to make a vital challenge or to get forward to score a vital goal. As a holding midfielder, though, running is not really a priority. It has been the curse of Gerrard throughout his career that he has been self-defined as a box-to-box player, a modern day Bryan Robson, at a time when midfield roles have become more specialised.

Last season, Liverpool conceded 50 goals in 38 league games, only the eighth best record in the division. This season, they’ve already let in nine in six games; also the eighth best record. In part that’s down to an inability to deal with set plays, but there is a more fundamental problem (that may lead them to concede set plays).

Individual defenders have been heavily criticised and understandably so. Mamadou Sakho’s future at the club is in doubt after he left Anfield before Saturday’s derby on finding out he had been left out of the side, but at least by doing so he made sure he wouldn’t needlessly clatter into one of his team-mates following a lack of communication.

But there is also a more fundamental structural problem, one that goes beyond the naïve insistence that Liverpool are an attacking team. The issue could be seen also at the World Cup when England had more possession than Italy and Uruguay and created more chances than either, but were undone by shoddy defending. And that is that the back of midfield is not offering the centre of defence sufficient protection. It’s not a simple issue, and it may be that if Gerrard were part of a more defensive system he could thrive at the back of midfield but he alone does not offer a defence sufficient support.



To a large degree, that is a matter of positioning. It certainly isn’t a matter of running. A hint of that is given by the fact that Liverpool, as a team, have made just 12.3 interceptions per game this season, the fifth lowest figure in the Premier League. That’s a statistic that requires unpacking – it could, of course, simply be that Liverpool haven’t had much defending to do; so it’s telling that of the four teams to have made fewer interceptions, only Everton have conceded more goals than Liverpool.



Is Gerrard to blame for that? It’s startling that he has made only 0.5 interceptions per game this season, which isn’t even in the top 50 for central midfielders in the league. It’s even more startling that he makes only 1.8 tackles per game – the joint-35th best for a player in his position. A pass accuracy of 87.4%, with an average of two key passes per game, is good and he has scored two goals, one of which was a penalty. But those are figures for a more advanced midfielder.



Gerrard may be running as well as ever, he may be playing wonderful passes, but he simply isn’t winning the ball back enough for a holding midfielder. That means either he has to adjust his game, or Brendan Rodgers needs to stop asking him to perform a role for which he doesn’t seem equipped.

[CAD]

Spot on and it's been the case since he was moved down there. The numbers were the same last year. People talking about how he is a slow starter and it got better last year are missing the point. It didn't. Not from a HM or DM point of view.

It's a stillborn proposition though. He can't be dropped. BR is all in with Gerrard. It's a defining moment in BR career and legacy. **** situation regardless. He has to move him forward again and sub him after 60 imo.

[baitman]

i have said it several times before, our midfield is hollow, gerrard drifts too far back, often along side the centre backs. they play the ball to him and its a five yard sideways pass. lovren and to a lesser extent skrtel are quite capable at bringing the ball out ten yards or more.

gerrard needs to occupy the central third if he is to play more like pirlo. keep the ball moving, always available to take a pass and help us retain possession, look for timely interceptions, maybe even the odd tackle too.

its a shame he hasnt got the legs to help in the pressing but the full backs and henderson/lallana have the engine for that.

[The_weatherman]

Spot on and it's been the case since he was moved down there. The numbers were the same last year. People talking about how he is a slow starter and it got better last year are missing the point. It didn't. Not from a HM or DM point of view.

It's a stillborn proposition though. He can't be dropped. BR is all in with Gerrard. It's a defining moment in BR career and legacy. **** situation regardless. He has to move him forward again and sub him after 60 imo.

i have said it several times before, our midfield is hollow, gerrard drifts too far back, often along side the centre backs. they play the ball to him and its a five yard sideways pass. lovren and to a lesser extent skrtel are quite capable at bringing the ball out ten yards or more.

gerrard needs to occupy the central third if he is to play more like pirlo. keep the ball moving, always available to take a pass and help us retain possession, look for timely interceptions, maybe even the odd tackle too.

its a shame he hasnt got the legs to help in the pressing but the full backs and henderson/lallana have the engine for that.

Maybe we should try him out in the hole behind Sturridge and Balotelli when Allen and Can come back. Rodgers needs to look at the big picture here IMO and move him because Gerrard as a HM is to the detriment of the team. Moving Henderson back is not the solution IMO as that reduces the pressing element from the team.

[Doc_Piptorious]

Maybe we should try him out in the hole behind Sturridge and Balotelli when Allen and Can come back. Rodgers needs to look at the big picture here IMO and move him because Gerrard as a HM is to the detriment of the team. Moving Henderson back is not the solution IMO as that reduces the pressing element from the team.

And what happens to Sterling?

If we are sticking with two up front, then I would hate to see Gerrard take the place of Sterling at the tip of the diamond. We would lose more through dropping Sterling from that role than we would gain by putting Gerrard there.

[RichC]

Gerrard is done with playing up the pitch he's playing the same role as he did last season when we finished 2nd the problem is him and most of the other players in the side are not playing to the level that they can.

I'd be interested to know who we'd replace Gerrard with in that position at the moment as there aren't many candidates that are either up to it or are actually fit at the moment.

Also as Jaco has pointed out what do you do with Sterling ? Shift him out wide like Hodgson in the WC to accommodate a player? No thanks.

[Doc_Piptorious]

If Gerrard is to be replaced, then I think we need to be looking to bring in someone of proper quality this January and rotate the new guy and Gerrard until the end of the season.

Then let the new guy start next season, and have Gerrard as one of the back ups if he would be willing to do so.

[captainfog]

I still think Gerrard is too immobile for the centre 1/3 of the pitch. He just isn't dynamic enough any more and would slow us down. Leave him where he is and start phasing him out.

[The_weatherman]

I still think Gerrard is too immobile for the centre 1/3 of the pitch. He just isn't dynamic enough any more and would slow us down. Leave him where he is and start phasing him out.

Probably the best solution.

[CAD]

I still think Gerrard is too immobile for the centre 1/3 of the pitch. He just isn't dynamic enough any more and would slow us down. Leave him where he is and start phasing him out.

Probably the best solution.

Yeah. Even though we are going nowhere until we get a class act at HM...but we probably cant sustain the idea of moving him forward again. Watching him tonight against Basel just hurts the eyes.

Damn, we miss suarez on so many levels.

[Chazza]

Just sack the cunt.