Liverpool FC Forum

[maguskwt]

I've been racking my brains, thinking who Gerrard 'as a striker' reminds me of.

watch this  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j2XbYOtX1Ss

Am i the only one who can see it??

Don't see it...

Rivaldo is abit more of a striker than Gerrard, deadlier in front of goal... Gerrard is the more complete player among the two... he is just so talented and technically sound that he is playing very well as Torres partner up front... in reality Gerrard is still a midfielder...

[aCe']

rivaldo ? hahaha

and no we shouldnt move Gerrard back unless we find someone to play higher up who would contribute (along with Torres) as much as Gerrard does ... Midfielders who arent given alot of freedom usually dont score many goals... im not sure Gerrard would contribute half as much as he does now in terms of goals and assists if he played as a CM.. sure he'll score some from penalties and maybe a couple of freecicks but from open play his contribution would go down significantly... there arent many who would play his position and contribute anywhere near as much as he does. BUT, atleast in terms of direct contribution (goals & assists), i think the difference between a Gerrard in the middle of the park and say a Sneijder wouldnt be that great. heres some numbers i put together FROM LAST SEASON, make of them what you will..

Steven Gerrard

games started : 40 (2 sub appearances)
goals scored   : 24 (0.57 goal/game)
assists           : 11 (0.275 assist/game)

OVERALL        : 0.85 (goal or assist/ game)   

----------------------------------------------------------


Kaka

games started : 31 (4 sub appearances)
goals scored   : 16 (0.46 goal/game)
assists           : 10 (0.285 assist/game)

OVERALL        : 0.745 (goal or assist/ game)   

----------------------------------------------------------


Iniesta

games started : 36 (5 sub appearances)
goals scored   : 5 (0.122 goal/game)
assists           : 10 (0.24 assist/game)

OVERALL        : 0.366 (goal or assist/ game)   

----------------------------------------------------------


Xabi Alonso

games started : 38  (7 sub appearances)
goals scored   :  4   (0.09 goal/game)
assists           :  5   (0.11 assist/game)

OVERALL      : 0.2 (goal or assist/ game)   

Mascherano, who scored ZERO goals but managed 2 assists, amounting a massive 0.05 g&a/game over 38 games makes Xabis numbers look a little better mind you... but we'll leave him out of this one...
----------------------------------------------------------

Now, to put things in perspective... we have

central midfielders like Carrick (12 in 43 or 0.279) , Pirlo (4 in 29 or 0.138) , Essien (3 in 19 or 0.158)
and attacking midfielders like Lampard ( 39 in 57 or 0.684), Ronaldo ( 33 in 51 or 0.647)
etc etc...

Point is, no matter how good the central midfielder is, they wouldnt be expected to hit high figures in terms of goals and assits.. Exception being FABREGAS , who managed 16 in 32 or a 0.5 goal or assist/game ... and some say they dont rate him
I dont think theres many if any who would do anywhere as good as Gerrard is doing in the position he plays.. His ratio is absolutely phenomenal compared to the best players in the world, and i wouldnt want to change that quite yet...
If we bring in a world class forward then maybe it would be worth considering the idea but for now i wouldnt even think about it... 


oh by the way i did Kuyt's just for the sake of it and he got a very respectable 0.489 g&a/game..

[aCe']

I know many arent going to like this but im not sure Gerrard is as good a central midfielder as we (me included) seem to think he is...
For starters, the amount of passes he'd misplace would be excessive to say the least.
Also, his movement off the ball (while being a huge a huge advantage to his game in the position he plays now) lacks the commitment needed from a player playing in a central midfield role... Even with Mascherano (assuming he stays) there to cover, we’ll still be left exposed yet and again because of Gerrard’s attacking runs. We might not suffer from this against some of the smaller sides, especially if its a home game, but in the big games and in the latter stages of the champions league i’m not sure it would be such a charming idea to contemplate...

Anyways Gerrard is a great player and wherever he plays (yes even as a CM), he’d be world class in my books... one of the best all round players ive ever seen and if moving him around is for the benefit of the team as a whole then i wouldn’t have any problems with, except i don’t think it is...

[Reg]

Easier to say that his game has evolved since he last played CM full time - hence successive England managers dont know what to do with him.

[Festy]

There's no way I'd like us to break Torres-Gerrard partnership once again. We can definitely find like for like replacement for Xabi with the money from his sell. I haven't seen Aquilani though (apart from his youtube video), has anyone else seen him play ?

[Ace Ventura]

Ideally we should be looking to keep the system more or less as it is - it's a winner. A replacement for Xabi would therefore be preferrable, and I'd probably go for the more attacking option in someone like Sneijder - it would loosen the midfield somewhat but we'd gain an attacking dynamo able to create, link play and score. Our defence with Masch shielding is usually strong enough to cope against most, but whether this would be at the expense of ball retention or fluidity from the centre of the park, I'm not sure and for me that's the real risk (he's quite a small guy, Sneijder). The other - safer - option is to plump for someone more in the Alonso mould, like Cambiasso or Parker (so I read). Keep it as it is and see if the experience of last season, along with the addition of Johnson can push us all the way.

Totally agree on the Sneijder idea.

If we signed him and played him in the middle with Mascherano we would have a far greater attacking threat.
Yes you would lose some of the defensive cover that Alonso brings but how many games do we dominate anyway and have Alonso sitting in front of the back four far too deep ?

[whylongball?]

Ideally we should be looking to keep the system more or less as it is - it's a winner. A replacement for Xabi would therefore be preferrable, and I'd probably go for the more attacking option in someone like Sneijder - it would loosen the midfield somewhat but we'd gain an attacking dynamo able to create, link play and score. Our defence with Masch shielding is usually strong enough to cope against most, but whether this would be at the expense of ball retention or fluidity from the centre of the park, I'm not sure and for me that's the real risk (he's quite a small guy, Sneijder). The other - safer - option is to plump for someone more in the Alonso mould, like Cambiasso or Parker (so I read). Keep it as it is and see if the experience of last season, along with the addition of Johnson can push us all the way.

My thought exactly. We are too strong defensively. we can afford to be more offensive yet the balance shouldnt be affected that much. That means higher chances to win against the lesser teams. Against stronger teams we can always revert back to 2 DM or even pull S.Gerrard back to CM role.
We already have a good AM in Yossi. But i would mind extra competition from Sneijder, Vander Vart or whoever can score more goals

[sixbuster]

There is no way you can break up gerrard_ torres partnership. Papers in Ireland say we have made strong enquiries about Aquiliani from Roma. I haven't seen him. Parker is not good enough. Silva is preferred option

[ken_job]

totally depends who's available. either option can work......

[ElNino9]

-------------------Reina-------------------

Johnson-------Carra----Skrtel--------Aurelio

-------------------Masch------------------

Kuyt-----------------------------------Silva

-------------Gerrard----Sneijder------------

-------------------Torres-------------------

Subs: Cava, Agger, Arbeloa, Benny, Lucas, Babel, Voronin.

Johnson would get past Kuyt down the right and Kuyt would get in the middle as pretty much a striker. Aurelio would get crosses in aswell as Silva. Sneijder and Gerrard would make the great passes through for Torres to latch onto and score. Masch would continue to put in great tackles and we would win the league.

[Reg]

I'm happy with that.

[ElNino9]

I doubt it would happen, too attacking for Rafa's likings.

[tubby]

And yet we scored more goals than all our rivals last season.

[Ace Ventura]

And yet we scored more goals than all our rivals last season.

Just a stat that though bav, we also drew far too many games last season imo due to the way we set up.

[tubby]

True but no one can deny that after that Utd game we approached most if not all of our games with a more attacking purpose. But yeah those home draws from before that cost us. In the end it was too late but I hope we start the season like we ended it, only not conceding as many.