Liking some of the comments on here pro and c.on reminds me of the good old days.
Now to play devils advocate: If and when we have a fully fit squad would Stevie play in the middle three or the top three?
Players in the middle are Gerrard, Sahin, Henderson, Lucas, Adams, Allen and Shelvey
Players up top are Suarez, Carroll, J Cole, Assaidi, Downing, Borini and Sterling
This is before anymore players come in or youth players making progress
Stevie can play in the middle or up top, ie, there are 6 places to take. The only people that could give him some challenge are Allen (from what I saw last Sunday, does not mean it will be same every week) and Suarez up front. I watched the Sunday game again and for me Stevie was one of our best performers, of course, it is not the box to box Stevie we knew in 2005 and it's never going to be anymore, but a big percentage of balls were transiting through him and he was the only one being able to make proper long passes. The other player playing the link play was Allen and his passes were usually shorter while Stevie did both. Allen was more energetic and quicker than Stevie which is normal given the age. I don't know how Sahin is going to play (If I am not mistaken he played 4 times last year for Madrid) so I cannot say he will be better than Stevie. In addition, if we qualify for the Europa league, we might have above 50 games in the season, and it will be impossible to always have the same players. So, if we have a fully fit squad (meaning Stevie is fit as well) he will be one of the first names on the list, I am sure of this, he will be dropped out only if he is not fit/getting old or injured. In addition, it impossible to have everybody fit for the whole season.