Liverpool FC Forum

[Yari7]

Gerrard should have been more of a leader ont he pitch yesterday witht he Mascherano situation. He should have spotted the issue and and told Mascherano to calm down.

Gerrard has proven int he past that he is the right man for the captincy.

[Sabre]

Wrong thread.

[god_bless_john_houlding]

If Gerrard had gone up to Bennett over the Mascheranho incident and got himself booked for "disent" then went and picked up another yellow for a stupid tackle the exact same people on here would have been saying..."why did Gerrard get involved with the Mascheranho incident, he's cost us the game now" the fella can't win in situations like this.

[hello_red]

We lose to United and people want Gerrard stripped of the captaincy - fu.ck me some knoib heads on here have VERY short memories.

Agreed!

Was gonna say something very similar.

[Bad Bob]

Gerrard should have been more of a leader ont he pitch yesterday witht he Mascherano situation. He should have spotted the issue and and told Mascherano to calm down.

Gerrard has proven int he past that he is the right man for the captincy.

Not sure if you are referring to the actual sending off moment but I've just watched it again on Youtube.  When the whistle went for the free kick on Torres, Gerrard (who was already a good 20 feet away from Torres) turned and moved upfield.  Thus, he was nowhere near the ref when Mascherano jogged over.  He would have had to sprint over at full pelt to intercept Mascherano--hardly something you can expect him to do.

Check this LINK at about the 2 minute mark (while it is still up).

[whatahitson]

it wasnt just Stevie G who didnt turn up yesterday it was practically the whole team, Reina had probably his worst game in a liverpool shirt so far, Carragher was giving away balls like it was christmas, Alonso, Babel and Kuyt were almost non existant, and because Gerrard played poor, Torres wasnt able to show us what he does best. The only player who was up for it got sent off.

Every one who calls for Stevie G to have the captaincy removed needs their heads removed. He is a great leader who WILL lift the premiership crown for LFC.

[Yari7]

Gerrard should have been more of a leader ont he pitch yesterday witht he Mascherano situation. He should have spotted the issue and and told Mascherano to calm down.

Gerrard has proven int he past that he is the right man for the captincy.

Not sure if you are referring to the actual sending off moment but I've just watched it again on Youtube.  When the whistle went for the free kick on Torres, Gerrard (who was already a good 20 feet away from Torres) turned and moved upfield.  Thus, he was nowhere near the ref when Mascherano jogged over.  He would have had to sprint over at full pelt to intercept Mascherano--hardly something you can expect him to do.

Check this LINK at about the 2 minute mark (while it is still up).

I am reffering to the third time Mascherano seemed to mouth off the the ref. AFter every descision which went against us, Mascherano seemed to be hounding the ref. I just think as captain that maybe he should have spotted the issue earlier and had a talk to Mascherano. I spotted that there wa s adanger of maybe Masherano beign sent off due to dissent before the actual sending off.

But eitherway, Gerrard has been a magnificent captin for us in years gone by and is the right man. But he is not superman who can drag us out of the mud everytime.

[stmichael]

People get quite upset when Gerrard and Carra get stick after a game where the whole (or atleast most of the) team is cr@p. But there's a reason they get the stick and its the same as the Issues earlier with the Ownership/Manager Debacle.

People expect them to lead the team by example in these big games and be hyped and show some "excess" passion to get the rest of the team going. Not to faff around in the tunnel with your mates or stroll around the pitch with your hands in your pockets. We want to see, that you mean business. Lets have an early 50MPH tackle to set the mood, Clap your hands, G-up your team mates, I don't know. Maybe Rafa expects them to be calm, and maybe those are their orders but It doesn't benefit a game like this.

The same was true for the Owners/Manager thing. We all expected them to back the Manager publically because they're the players that the supporters relate to most, and we certainly don't expect them to allegedly moan to the press.

Maybe the expectations on them is unfair, but it's slightly annoying to see them not perform to the standards they should be in these big games.

[KennyisGod....still]

I kinda get the impression Stevie G had his managers words in his ear from the derby at Goodison, and chose to play with his head not his heart. Perhaps that way doesn't suit him! Whatever, he's been one of the outstandin captains of this team in post-war times, usually there when needed, usually draggin what has been of late a team in need of a kick back screamin into games.

No one can be there every time, impossible. He made mistakes in the derby, and Benitez didnt stand for it. As the 'big' man of the side, he sometimes cant do rite can he?

[god_bless_john_houlding]

How Mascheranho being sent off can be blamed on Gerrard or anybody else is beyond me. The fella's 23 years old, he knows right from wrong. He comes from Argentina he must know what local derby games mean and he hindered our chances of getting back into the game. I won't say he cost us the game because the entire side was poor from start to finish, but Mascheranho certainly didn't help the situation by being sent off.

As for Gerrard being captain, of course he should be. Nobody else in that side loves the club as much as he does. He's dragged us out of trouble so often and nobody else in the world could do what he's done. He's the right man for captain.

[KennyisGod....still]

As for Gerrard being captain, of course he should be. Nobody else in that side loves the club as much as he does. He's dragged us out of trouble so often and nobody else in the world could do what he's done. He's the right man for captain.

Agree with most of that post GBJH, but wud u honestly tell Carra to his face that Stevie loves LFC more than he does? Stevie's captain cuz he's normally a damn fine leader, and I'm sure Carra will agree, a more talented player, but I'd hav to question ur judgement on that one. I'v never heard that Carra ever considered goin elsewhere......

Sayin all that, I know he's 'deputy captain' when Stevie aint about, but u know where u stand with Carra, maybe not quite
so with SG. Not for one minute sayin SG dont deserve to be skipper, catch my post from earlier, but that WAS a rather sweepin statement mate.

[god_bless_john_houlding]

As for Gerrard being captain, of course he should be. Nobody else in that side loves the club as much as he does. He's dragged us out of trouble so often and nobody else in the world could do what he's done. He's the right man for captain.

Agree with most of that post GBJH, but wud u honestly tell Carra to his face that Stevie loves LFC more than he does? Stevie's captain cuz he's normally a damn fine leader, and I'm sure Carra will agree, a more talented player, but I'd hav to question ur judgement on that one. I'v never heard that Carra ever considered goin elsewhere......

Sayin all that, I know he's 'deputy captain' when Stevie aint about, but u know where u stand with Carra, maybe not quite
so with SG. Not for one minute sayin SG dont deserve to be skipper, catch my post from earlier, but that WAS a rather sweepin statement mate.

Carra is MORE LOYAL than Gerrard. That's not in question, but doesn't love the club as much because Gerrard grew up as a fan like you and me. Carra grew up a blue, he may now love the club but not as much as Gerrard IMO. I don't think you can love any club like we love Liverpool unless you're brought up on it.

If for some reason Carra left and joined United, he'd play with as much passion because that's the kinda player he is, but he wouldn't love the club the way Gary Neville does.

That's why I believe Gerrard loves the club more than Carra, because Gerrard was brought up on love for the club.

[dawson99]

who cares who loves the club more? its who would make a betetr captain, and the two arent exclusive to each other.

it all depends what kind of captain we are best suited to. a vocal captain or someone who leads by example. carra is obviously more vocal and stevie leads more by example. but carra is ALWAYS vocal and ALWAYS will be. Stevie will have off games, thats just a fact

[god_bless_john_houlding]

Carra will have off games as well, so while he's got the armband and is mouthing off at the other players for not performing, who's going to be moaning at him when he plays badly?

This is why I've repeated a famous phrase "there are 11 captains on the pitch" an armband doesn't stop you being vocal or leading by example.

[JC_81]

I think it was fair enough for St Mike to bump this thread.  He has been advocating for years that Gerrard shouldn't be captain and I think it's a decent time to discuss it given Gerrard's performance yesterday.

You can't blame Gerrard for Mascherano's red card, only Mascherano is to blame.  However, Gerrard showed no leadership yesterday when we needed him most.  He didn't try to speak to Bennet after the Mascherano red card, even at half time when the other players were - that is part of the captain's job and he didn't do it.  He didn't do very much in the game to be honest.

I know Gerrard is predominantly an attacking rather than a defensive player these days, but in all honesty can any of you remember the last time he put in a crunching tackle to win the ball?  A few years ago he was doing it all the time.  I'm not saying he has to do this to be a good captain, but his style of play has so dramatically changed over the last few years that he is no longer the tigerish midfield battler who would win the ball for us and start attacks.  He is now the playmaker of the team and one of the main goalscorers playing in a more advanced role.  I genuinely think it's harder for him to influence those around him where he has been deployed recently, especially against stronger sides when he won't see that much of the ball.

Can we do anything about it though?  I don't think so.  It would not sit well with Gerrard to take the captaincy off him and to be honest I don't think we have any better candidates.  Forget Carra - to be honest he needs to concentrate on his own form, because he's not been playing as well this season as he did last imo, he has not been as consistent.