by damjan193 » Fri Oct 03, 2014 9:19 pm
Although I want Rodgers to rest Gerrard, I don't think that he will do it. It would be logical to bench him, since he has played a few games in a row and maybe he can't take the tempo at that age, but IMO Rodgers will opt not to because:
1. What if we lose? We're in a mini crisis, and the way Rodgers must see it, this is definitely no time to rest your captain and experiment, especially since we've got only Lucas to play instead of him. If something bad happens tomorrow and Gerrard doesn't play, there will be even bigger pressure on Rodgers and the media will not spare him.
2. But outcome number two might give Brendan even a bigger headache, and that's: What if we win? And perform well too. Had we not been in such a bad form right now, winning without Gerrard wouldn't matter too much. But we are, and if we play well and win tomorrow, then it will be evident that Gerrard is a big reason for our bad form, and it will become obvious that giving a 34 year old such a key role in our system isn't such a great idea. Rodgers will have to start thinking about easing Stevie out of the starting 11 a lot sooner than he thought he'd have to, and he knows that that won't be an easy task since Gerrard has at least the same amount of power as our manager in this club.
Basically, resting Gerrard will be a lose-lose situation for Rodgers, regardless of tomorrow's game outcome. Still hope he does it though.