KopTalk.com Forums Football Liverpool FC Forum Gerrard question.

was just reading a jamie redknapp article about dalglish being given more time which im not going to discuss because im sick to death of the same thing being discussed on this forum. anyway, i was reading through the comments underneath and someone said something in passing which struck a chord that i had been thinking about for a while, and i think others might be considering it too.

first off, love stevie G, think he is a liverpool legend. but the fire in his belly went out just a smidge a few years back between outside problems at home and through persistent injury etc, he never looked right since that spell. now i will say that we have lacked leadership and he has been doing his level best to step up to the plate recently. but the comment i read on the article basically said that at the start of the year we had been playing some of the best football we had played in years (with which i fully agree, some of our passing and movement has blown me away at times), but when gerrard came back, adams nose went out of joint and things started to unravel.

now before i get massacred for suggesting adam play in place of gerrard, im not..... really. but what i will suggest is perhaps with gerrard there as our fall back (much like the carragher situation), i it stopping us from putting a more ambitious driven young player in there, even if he is not of the same ability that gerrard used to be or is today.

should we be just cutting the chord a bit more and playing hendo, adam or shelvey in the middle to sink or swim and maybe pop gerrard out on the right if needs be?

( if you dont like the three players above fine, dont bang on about it, )

excuses excuses excuses. Oh Liverpool!!! Is it a case of men losing their reasoning? Is it what happens when man is faced with near crisis??? Just asking because I am shocked about all these filmsy reasons when the root cause is so simple!!!!

Giving that this topic was discussed with my lot since the start of the season, definitely agree with your 2nd paragraph there flames regarding gerrard coming back from injury and going straight back into a team that was doing well when he was out.

Really don't think we can afford Gerrard to be out at the moment. Any midfield without Gerrard we need Lucas in there - he's sorely missed

In saying that, at the moment we've been sh*te even with him in it!

dare i say it I have heard this before with a certain Mr Lieva, his best games those when he was most dominant occured when Stevie was out of the team. I didn't think so at the time but have checked and generally yes this is the case. No doubt Henderson looks half the player when he is with Stevie, problem though is Hendersons not Gerrards - no time to stand in awe. Alonso was the master at making other players play better. Gerrards highlights tend to be when he has completed the job himself through individual brilliance and not necessarily got others playing better.
he was woeful against Wigan and lucky not be brought off.

Try,and I mean try,which will probably be a struggle for you,but read what the post contains.

Our midfield is sg, fit or not fit.

Some good points there flames.

The thing that struck me earlier in the season (or maybe it was more towards the end of last season) was that we were no longer a one-man team. We had impressive interplay between Maxi, Suarez, Kuyt, Flanagan (I was really impressed with him last season, and not just for his defence), and Lucas (and occasionally Meireles, but he tailed off badly towards the end of the season) - everyone looked good!

Now that Gerrard is back we're back to being a one-man team again, except that that one man tends to lie deeper and influence play less, and that's certainly had an impact on our results. Now some of the problem is obviously the injury to Lucas, and some of the problem is that Adam started well but seems to get worse week after week. Henderson hasn't stepped up to the plate, but a lot of the time he seems to be playing as though he's the junior guy and would rather not make a mistake (which leads to him making mistakes), and I think if he gets over that hurdle (and Kenny stops picking him on the right) then he can start to improve the way Downing and Carroll have over the course of the last few months despite results going against us.

But when all is said and done, without Lucas and Agger and with an ageing Carra in the starting line-up preventing Skrtel from playing in his favoured position, it's probably too easy to read the wrong things into the status quo.

Good posts lads, enjoyed reading them. and all valid points (with the exception of the vegetable)

I just get this feeling we are tapping our toes and looking at our watches waiting for him to retire. Holding that midlfield position and the captains armband when you are not inspiring those around you maybe isnt what we need, but no one will say it. there is some politics afoot. It is difficult to strip him of the captaincy when he has an apparent upstairs role waiting for him when he is done. but he just aint having the impact he used to to warrant such club reverence when he plays.

lastly, doesnt it seem like when he is playing, there is an unwritten rule on the part of all players to give him the ball, like everyone loses their initiative.?

I think (and other posts seems to reflect this) that the problem wasn't Gerrard coming back, but Lucas getting injured. Remember that Stevie has had 2 major returns from injury this season: one of which was when Lucas was healthy and one of which when Lucas was injured. I think he played a lot better when Lucas was with him in the midfield, as did Adam and even Henderson.

The thing is, Gerrard is a fantastic footballer, but the one-man-team thing not quite accurate. Like any fine-tuned instrument, he needs to be used in a very specific way. He puts in stunning individual performances, but he only seems to do them when he has the correct defensive mid support behind him (Hamman, Lucas, Masch). He is a free-roaming box-to-box, one not short of creativity, flair, drive, or determination, but only when he has that freedom to go forward that a player like Lucas provides. Otherwise, he is forced to play much deeper and less, well, Gerrard-like. Torres is having a similar problem at Chelsea now. Torres needs a Gerrard type player to partner with, or he will simply not produce at a high level. With a proper support, he will be the Gerrard we remember for a few more years.

In terms of leadership, I don't really think anyone can fault him. He perhaps has made one or two mistakes in the past (the Torres sub incident perhaps), but he is an absolute inspiration to every player on the pitch, and I can think of no one who cares more about the club. How many times has he saved us, how many games has kept us in by sheer force of will? He is a leader, one that leads by example and inspiration. He has always carried himself with a dignity on and off the pitch that is such a rarity in the profession nowadays. Look at the leaders from other top clubs in recent years and see how they compare (Terry, Tevez, Fabregas, etc). Lack of loyalty, lack of discipline, lack of character abound. Kompany, Vidic, and RVP are decent captains, but none have them have served as long or as well as Stevie.

Were u lot saying this abt sg, wen lfc won.the cl final or the sg Fa cup final ????

A hell fcuking no.

U bunch of xxxxX???