Liverpool FC Forum

[jacdaniel]

Reminds me of Bruce Wayne at the start of the latest Batman film.

Old, unfit, not right physically or mentally and in much need of some motivation.

perhaps a week or two on the bench would help.

[Thommo's perm]

he can't play in midfield and also he should be relieved of the captaincy becuase its plain to see that he just can't motivate himself let alone the team. I'd give the captaincy to Agger.
He could however work in the striker position, we have enough quality in midfield to compensate for his loss and at the moment I really like the look of Shelvey, he's still learning but he's getting better all the time.

He will be captain until HE chooses to give the armband up

What an idiotic statement from you, are you saying that Stevie is bigger than the team, does he run the show or the manager?

Irony alert!
ANY manager would have to have balls like King Kong to demote Captain Fantastic...

[maypaxvobiscum]

Was taken off at half-time in the game last night. Injured?

[The Hustler]

Reminds me of Bruce Wayne at the start of the latest Batman film.

Old, unfit, not right physically or mentally and in much need of some motivation.

perhaps a week or two on the bench would help.

Charming !

[Boxscarf]

Gerrard is past it and that's a fact that people are going to have to accept.

He was terrible against Arsenal and he's been terrible all season long. The fact is the fella is 32 years old, he's played less football than Van Persie over the last few years and he cannot adapt to Rodgers's style of play. He tries to thread through balls through the eye of the needle and this is often ineffective and led to Podolski scoring for Arsenal last weekend. We need to plan a future without Gerrard and the sooner the better as far as I'm concerned.

[The Hustler]

Gerrard is past it and that's a fact that people are going to have to accept.

He was terrible against Arsenal and he's been terrible all season long. The fact is the fella is 32 years old, he's played less football than Van Persie over the last few years and he cannot adapt to Rodgers's style of play. He tries to thread through balls through the eye of the needle and this is often ineffective and led to Podolski scoring for Arsenal last weekend. We need to plan a future without Gerrard and the sooner the better as far as I'm concerned.

You dont know what your talking about...

He is still the club captain, and captain of England.

Sort your head out lad. 

[JC_81]

To say he 'isn't past it' depends what you mean by being 'past it'.  It's a term thrown around and it seems to mean different things depending on what point people are trying to prove.

If you mean he isn't past his best, I'd disagree.  At his best he dragged this team back from the death at times by himself and was unbelievably consistent.  He was always a goal threat and would deliver on the biggest of occasions.  But in that respect he peaked between 2005-2010.  The last couple of seasons he hasn't been at his devastating best, partly due to injuries I'll accept, but even now he's supposedly fully fit he seems a bit leggy and drifts in and out of games.  He doesn't seem as much of a threat in the final third either, but I'll also accept that he played a deeper role under Dalglish at times and now under Rodgers.

A few seasons ago if I asked when was the last time Steven Gerrard put in a match winning performance no one would struggle to come up with recent examples.  If I ask that question now myself I can think of his treble in the derby last season but before that you're probably going back to the time under Rafa when Torres and Gerrard were flyingas a partnership.  I'm sure I've missed a few that people will no doubt remind me of, but the point is that he does it much less frequently.

If you mean he 'isn't past it' as in he's still a top player and still warrants a place in Liverpool's and England's side then I completely agree.  He's still a great passer and a good tackler, and when he's got the opportunity to get forward he can be a danger.  But in my mind he's no longer as effective as a box to box midfielder.

I see his best position now for us as either the defensive midfielder (where Allen is currently playing, and move Allen forward into the midfield two ahead of him) or even as the central striker where others could play off him.  I think he'd do well in that role as he's such an all round good footballer, but it'd be an experiment as he's never really played there as the main striker.  His days of being a marauding attacking central mid or even as a wide midfielder (which he did so well for Rafa one season scoring a hatful),I fear are over.  I don't think the 'second striker' role would suit him either.  People will point to how good at it he was with Torres, but facts were that he was brilliant at hitting the ball into space for Torres down the channels (we have nobody who can run the channels like Torres could, nor do we play that way under Rodgers) and he was brilliant at running beyond the striker (but I don't think he has the pace or the stamina to do that as effectively as he once did), he's not one of those second strikers who is clever and tricky and who will get better with age like a Zola or a Bergkamp.  Too much of his game was based around power, pace and stamina.

Bottom line is that he's not finished, but we have to utilise his abilities a bit better, find the best place in this team for him and stop expecting miracles from him.  He's no longer the player we should be building the team around.

[devaney]

Gerrard is past it and that's a fact that people are going to have to accept.

He was terrible against Arsenal and he's been terrible all season long. The fact is the fella is 32 years old, he's played less football than Van Persie over the last few years and he cannot adapt to Rodgers's style of play. He tries to thread through balls through the eye of the needle and this is often ineffective and led to Podolski scoring for Arsenal last weekend. We need to plan a future without Gerrard and the sooner the better as far as I'm concerned.

I agree that SG was awful against Arsenal but so was the entire team apart from Sterling and Allen. Ironically SG played very well in the EURO's if memory serves. I accept that some of the opposition was poor but he really took on the captain's roll and looked impressive. He just looks about as fed up as Nando did before he was sold for £50m. Needs a kick up the àre.se !!! 

[Boxscarf]

Gerrard is the captain of England and he was the best performer for England in the Euro's. Pardon me, but big deal? I don't care what Gerrard does for England, I care what Gerrard does for Liverpool and he's just not putting in the performances which made him an integral component in our team anymore. That's not his fault though, that's what age and that's what injuries do to a player, but we cannot afford to have an expensive passenger in the team at the moment. Gerrard against Arsenal didn't just misplace one pass, he misplaced several passes, we cannot win football matches if we are surrending possession so cheaply. Statistic also show that we win more matches without Gerrard than we do with him, so what does that show? Gerrard is set in stone to start a majority of our matches because of his legendary status, not because of his recent form and that's wrong as well. If Gerrard was in Shankly or Paisley's team, he would have been shipped out or would be close to being shipped out. They knew that players get older and their ability decreases and they knew that sentiment couldn't cloud their judgement, it should be the same here. Gerrard has had his time, now it's time to replace him. When your television is on the brink, you don't just perserve with it, hoping it will fix itself, you replace it with a new one, that's the same with footballers.

[redalltheway36]

i agree he needs to be an impact sub twenty minutes to go would be far more effective. Its the same problem with england no-one actually knows what his best position is. I would put him on the right wing as he still has the best delivery of anyone so why not use it.

[Boxscarf]

I think Gerrard should have to fight for his place in the side. He should start on merit, not his reputation, but I would like to see him pushed up into the front three and if that fails then I think he should start on the bench and come into the fold later on in games. However I do think it's time for Gerrard to be phased out and for someone else in the team to take his mantle and step up to the plate. I'd like to see Suarez fulfill that, but I'm unsure whether or not he'll be able to because the fella couldn't hit a barn door with a sub-machine gun at the moment.

[The Hustler]

Gerrard should play off Suarez up front, not too much running box to box etc.

Then a midfield of downing allen hendo lucas (when fit)

[redalltheway36]

Gerrard should play off Suarez up front, not too much running box to box etc.

Then a midfield of downing allen hendo lucas (when fit)

Ru having a laugh downing and hendo? Anyway Downing is 3rd choice leftback now.

[The Hustler]

Instead of shelvey

[maypaxvobiscum]

Gerrard is past it and that's a fact that people are going to have to accept.

He was terrible against Arsenal and he's been terrible all season long. The fact is the fella is 32 years old, he's played less football than Van Persie over the last few years and he cannot adapt to Rodgers's style of play. He tries to thread through balls through the eye of the needle and this is often ineffective and led to Podolski scoring for Arsenal last weekend. We need to plan a future without Gerrard and the sooner the better as far as I'm concerned.

You dont know what your talking about...

He is still the club captain, and captain of England.

Sort your head out lad. 

Anyone who thinks Spearing is better than Shelvey is the one that needs sorting.