Liverpool FC Forum

[dawson99]

To gee up the team.
One thing I have noticed lately with Gerrard is that he doesn't applaud the trys.
You know, when a pass is just off usually the players claps, applauds for the try, Gerrard seems a little moody.

(I know it's only a small thing, just something I have noticed that is bugging me, and leading me to wonder if he is like this in other aspects of his game or captaincy)

Can he do more to gee up the team in our final run?

[Sabre]

Quite simply Dawson, if all the team had the same work rate and commitment level in the game as the captain shows regularly, some of our bliiiiips would have been blips.

I don't pay that much attention to the body language tbh, it's not an easy art to interpret it.

But when it comes to  quality and commitment, the only thing I can ask re Gerrard is to cross fingers and hope no more injuries come until the end of the season. It's not only the time in which he's injured, it's the fact that it can break a good form of him and that the inmediate first game after the injury you always play with more precautions.

So to answer the question, I cannot ask him much more.

To the rest of the team, especially the ones that have to substitute key men injured, I'd ask them to have Benayoun as a model of how to fight for a place in the team. I'm talking about the Babels and Dossenas.

[dawson99]

I would never question his quality and/or commitment... also, I'm not asking, and hope this doesn't happen, for a list of people less commited to the cause: what I am asking though is if he does enough for the rest of the team or if sometimes he may seem a little self centered...

(In no way am I anti-Gerrard or anything at all, just trying to find something out)

[Sabre]

I see. I have no answers. I'm cráp at footballers body language and I'm cráp at getting nuances when he speaks, so that's like Chinese to me. In his football I've seen a very good season though. Not sure about his numbers, but I certainly liked what I saw in the pitch.

Where do you see those signs of him SEEMing self centered Dawson?

P.S. Meaning I hadn't noticed the not applauding the tries, and I will look at that in the next matches. But have you or anyone else seen more signs like that?

[account deleted by request]

I think Gerrard is a great player Dawson, not a great captain. I think he can inspire others with his ability rather than with the force of his personality. Yeats, Smith and Souness were great Captains because they could drive the team on even when they were personally having a poor game. Hughes did it through his enthusiasm and drive, and Gerrard while maybe not a great Captain inspires because he is such a great player.

[whylongball?]

I think he shows by examples. Any players around him would get fired up by seeing what he does on the pitch.

[Kharhaz]

I think Gerrard, like many here, is the possibly the best player in the world but as captain he isnt as vocal. You can see him now and again having a word with a team mate but you dont see him having a real go at players for not pulling there weight. He has the attitude of, well there doing sod all its down to me. Thats where Souness was perfect. He had ability and never let anyone put in a half @ssed performance.

[Dundalk]

Against Boro last week he had the look of 'what the hell am I doing on the pitch with this lot'. El Zhar got a mouthful of him at one stage but overall I think he is a good captain who leads by example and lets face it we really have 2 captains in the team because all Carra is short is the armband. The mixture of the 2 is good for the team IMO

[Sir Roger]

I think Gerrard is a great player Dawson, not a great captain. I think he can inspire others with his ability rather than with the force of his personality. Yeats, Smith and Souness were great Captains because they could drive the team on even when they were personally having a poor game. Hughes did it through his enthusiasm and drive, and Gerrard while maybe not a great Captain inspires because he is such a great player.

Good point
I have always thought of him as a weak captain as far as leadership is concerned. I would prefer the souness, in your face if youre not taking responsibility type of captain. Someone who tells you if youre playing and drags you up to play to your potential.
That said there have been many occasions where Gerrard has literally took the game over himself through sheer will power and determination which has inspired others around him.
I cant see anyone there to replace him to be honest because, as far as I can tell, Rafa doesnt like people to have too much control

[boodiddy1]

not all great captains are vocal tough.

Gerrard, like Zidane for france leads by example and thats enough for me. Why should he be vocal? Carra is the vocal one of the team. Beckham for england wasn't vocal (too high pitched granted) he too led by example.

With football being so multi-national i dont think you can have the souness, keane, butcher captain stereotype. Look, Keane was marganilised at Scum because the youngsters coming through didn't like his way. The youngters being the portuguese, brazilians etc.

At Liverpool, alonso probably helps the foreign youngsters more than gerrard. Because culturally they don't understand stevie or carra.

A captain leads in a number of ways, but lets just say; Olympiakos, Milan, Chelsea, West Ham, numerous derbies.

[Owzat]

I think the best captains are CBs, they need to be vocal in organising the defence and rallying the troops. Maybe that's why we can be lacking at corners, Carra might make a better captain and let Gerrard "lead by example" in attack - why does he need to be captain to lead by example? Would Gerrard be less of a player if he weren't wearing the armband? Probably not.

Beckham was a useless captain, not sure Zidane was great as a captain either. It's not nearly as important in football as it is in sports like cricket, but I would never have made Beckham England captain. Did fergie ever make him manc captain? I doubt it, certainly not his first choice.

[Salty Sock]

I would never question his quality and/or commitment... also, I'm not asking, and hope this doesn't happen, for a list of people less commited to the cause: what I am asking though is if he does enough for the rest of the team or if sometimes he may seem a little self centered...

(In no way am I anti-Gerrard or anything at all, just trying to find something out)

I know what you are saying Dawson... he needs to motivate our players more and show them some positive vibe
It is quite easy to become foreshadowed by the greatness of your captain and lose heart, hence it is integral that Gerrard dispel any fears by amplifying our passion!
Great post again Dawson

[taff]

A great player no doubt about that but I have to be honest and say that there are elements to Gerrard that I just dont like.  Looking at Terry and Ferdinand then for me Gerrard is behind them as a captain but he also comes across as the type of guy who wouldnt want anybody else to be captain.

We rely on him too much but he also likes it that way at the same time. 

You look at Ferdinand when a Man Utd player scores he always rushes to them while Ive noticed that SG only really enjoys celebrating with Torres who he obviously rates.  I hate saying this stuff about him as he is immensely important to us but the impression I get of him is nowhere near as good as his playing

[heimdall]

I agree that Gerrard is not a great captain, I'm a bit confused why he is captain to be honest, Carra would be a much better choice in my opinion.
As to Gerrard not applauding failure, like fecked up passes or first touches, I can only say well done. I totally understand his frustrations when he lays up a perfect pass only for some talentless waste of space to mess it up. I'm sure if I was in his place I'd be more vocal but vocal in telling the players to get there heads out of their , actually maybe that is what is needed sometimes, I seem to remember Keane havign a real go at his team mates form time to time.
BTW I hate all this clapping each other and applauding failure which you also see nowadays in tennis, one of the players in a doubles match fecks up an easy shot and the other player gives him a clap on the shoulder whereas he should be giving him a punch in the face

[JoeTerp]

we have a lot of captains in the team. I am not sure how much leading they (should) need.  Mascherano is the Argie captain, Yossi is the Israli captain, Torres was the Atletico captain, Hyypia has been our captain, Carra has been the captain on a number of occasions and is a real vocal leader, Insua was the Argie U20 captain, and even Lucas was the Brazil U20 captain