by ivor_the_injun » Wed May 05, 2004 1:38 am
In a funny way, Gerrard is so versatile both in an attacking sense and defensively that I'm not 100% sure that he isn't the cause of some of the problems with our system. Time and again when things are shaky you see him back just in front of the back four picking up the pieces, and then our attacking options tend to be limited as he's 60 yards behind the strikers. By the time we've worked the ball a bit in midfield, there's so much distance between where he's started and the other goal that the opposition are reorganised after losing the ball and in a position to close down and try and win it back.
Likewise, when he does go on the charge up front and things break down for us, you look at who's left behind the ball and suddenly you get worried. When Hamann was firing on all cylinders that wasn't the case, but he looks far less formidable than he did in the treble season, and all of the back four have had inconsistent seasons at best.
For me, we need to get the solidity back in the back four - new blood alongside Hyypia, if not a new central defensive pairing altogether. Then we can use Gerrard further up the field in a role not dissimilar to Hamann's "spoiler" role, but far enough up the field that he's in a position to supply the front two or the wide midfield players with more accuracy than the 50 yard hit-and-hopes that he has been guilty of on occasion. If he can boss his opposite number and break down attacks around the halfway line or even higher up the pitch, our counterattacking possibilities are infinitely better as there's far less time for the opposition to get numbers back. If/when Cisse comes, or another prolific goalscorer with some height and serious physical presence, we could feasibly have a system which allows us to start our passing game further up the pitch and give us the weaponry to do some serious damage.