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West Ham drew inspiration from Aston Villa in shackling Steven Gerrard, says Stewart Downing

Stewart Downing admitted West Ham took inspiration from Aston Villa in how to deal with Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard.

Villa successfully shackled the 34-year-old midfielder in their shock 1-0 win at Anfield last week — and the Hammers adopted a similar approach in Saturday’s 3-1 win against Liverpool.

“We saw the way Aston Villa did it and I think there will be other teams, apart from us, who will play that way because Steven is a world-class player,” said Downing.

“If you give him time he can hit wonder balls and put players like Raheem Sterling in. I think we frustrated him a little bit.”
Hammers boss Sam Allardyce added: “Our tactic was to close down Steven Gerrard. That was Stewart’s job and not only did he do that but he was so creative as well.

“He was fantastic. He gets more touches of the ball in that position and I am sure he is enjoying it.”
http://www.standard.co.uk/sport/football/west-ham-drew-inspiration-from-aston-villa-in-shackling-steven-gerrard-says-stewart-downing-9748337.html

More teams will use the same tactics, shame really, SG of old would have eaten Downing for breakfast

I hope this is just defending the player and not stubborness on BR's part to try and prove everyone wrong to the detriment of the club

Brendan Rodgers defends Steven Gerrard as Liverpool captain shows his age

Brendan Rodgers has defended Steven Gerrard’s form this season
The England captain has played every game so far
He looked out of sorts in the Reds' 3-1 defeat against West Ham
Liverpool face Middlesbrough in the Capital One cup on Tuesday and Gerrard is likely to be rested
Rodgers admits new signings like Adam Lallana need time to settle

Brendan Rodgers has defended Steven Gerrard’s form and fitness, insisting the veteran Liverpool captain does not need to be rested more often.

Gerrard, 34, has played every minute so far this season, including three games in a week that saw Liverpool lose to Aston Villa and West Ham in the Premier League while stumbling to a Champions League win over the Bulgarian outsiders from Ludogorets when he scored a last-minute penalty.

Rodgers and his coaching staff are understood to be concerned that in both league games Gabriel Agbonlahor and Stewart Downing were successfully deployed to stifle Gerrard and stop him distributing the ball from deep.
As a result, the former England skipper misplaced 11 passes in the West Ham half on Saturday and gave away possession 14 times.


STEVIE'S STRUGGLES 

Steven Gerrard was poor against West Ham, as his stats from the game show. Is age finally catching up with Liverpool’s 34-year-old captain?

14 Gerrard lost the ball 14 times. Only Raheem Sterling (20) lost it more for Liverpool.

11 He misplaced 11 passes in the opposition half, more than any Liverpool player.

25% Gerrard won just 25 per cent of his duels, the worst percentage of any Liverpool player.

Only six players in last year’s top six squads are older than Gerrard, and most now play bit-part roles.
.
Rodgers has an ideal opportunity to rest Gerrard when Liverpool entertain Middlesbrough in the Capital One cup on Tuesday, although his options have been limited by fresh injuries to Jordan Henderson and Philippe Coutinho.

Asked about his captain’s form on Monday, he said: ‘There are no concerns. He is a brilliant player for us. It was a team performance that was not up to scratch. We have managed his recovery really well in the last two seasons even when Steven was playing international football. If you look at his numbers and games it has been as good as ever.

‘He is at the age where we need to treat him individually. We want him to be involved in the big games because of his experience and we will always taper that recovery to allow him to be the best he can be.

‘We will let you know if he will be rested. Some young players will be involved in the squad.’
Liverpool’s run of three defeats from five Premier League games is their second worst start to a top-flight season in 77 years. And Rodgers, who made nine signings this summer, accepts that some of them are struggling to come to terms with playing for a club like Liverpool.

‘What people probably don’t get is the pressure of playing for such a big club,’ he added. ‘The weight of the jersey here is heavy for most players. Once you adapt to playing for Liverpool you become clearer in your thinking. It’s a young group and that adjustment takes a bit of time. When you have that transition there are little bumps along the way.

‘It’s not a great start by any means but that will improve and my team will get better in the second half of the season.

‘When I first came in here we had a lot of new players coming in and at that time there was a new manager as well. We got to where we wanted to be.

‘Of course it’s not all smiles, it’s not a feeling we’ve been used to. But you have to refocus and move on. You have to be able to recover quickly at this level. It’s my job to ensure confidence is retained.

‘We want to win a trophy this season, that is still a key objective for us and this competition gives us an opportunity.’
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/article-2765779/Brendan-Rodgers-defends-Steven-Gerrard-Liverpool-captain-shows-age.html

+1 good post.

Badly layed out though.

fecking quote things

I dont like the comment "my team will get better in the second half of the season", I was expecting improvement next PL game or are my expectations too high

Gerrard needs to go back to his old position and used sparingly and as an impact sub.

Boocity » Tue Sep 23, 2014 10:23 am wrote:I dont like the comment "my team will get better in the second half of the season", I was expecting improvement next PL game or are my expectations too high

He said the same last season and he was right.  Our team are conditioned to hit peak form in the 2nd half of the season. 
Arsenal on the other hand start strong but generally start running out of steam in February. 

He doesn't mean we are not looking to improve for the next game, just that our best form will be begin in Jan.

Playing too deep . Manager doesn't seem to take chance by changing his position to play him further up . Playing too frequent .

I dont think Gerrard is a problem . He is still a very valuable player to the squad . Manager is showing signs of being clueless and that could be problem.

I would seriously like to task Gerrard with being equally as demonstrative on the field as he is in front of the television camera  ,or at the very least stop being part
of the problem..... That interview is almost like its coming from a manager whose just sat helpless while watching his team outfought ,Gerrard needs to realise that
this role Rodgers seems intent on building a team and our play around is clearly not working ,and he is more than just a conduit for our lack of control in games.

RED BEERGOGGLES » Oct 2nd, '14, 18:39 wrote:


I would seriously like to task Gerrard with being equally as demonstrative on the field as he is in front of the television camera  ,or at the very least stop being part
of the problem..... That interview is almost like its coming from a manager whose just sat helpless while watching his team outfought ,Gerrard needs to realise that
this role Rodgers seems intent on building a team and our play around is clearly not working ,and he is more than just a conduit for our lack of control in games.

Hmmm, I wonder whether he is also having a sly dig at BR for changing the tactics?

he does have alot of power it seems. i just want him to say il play antwere what ever it takes to help the team. its not working back there use him sparingly but on the right get some decent crosses in. has brendan got the balls to drop him to the bench though im not sure.

Could be a problem in terms of younger players thinking he is past it and they can do a better job, legend or not these things can happen
in a working environment and Gerrard wont like it either.

Rodgers has to deal with that as does Gerrard in an honest way, be men amongst boys, egos out the window.

Credit where it's due, played a good game today, which I did not expect. Showed good awareness defensively and had the legs to track tricky players for the entire match. Also loved it when he went further forward in the last 15-20 minutes, reminded me of his glory days.

damjan193 » Sat Oct 04, 2014 4:22 pm wrote:Credit where it's due, played a good game today, which I did not expect. Showed good awareness defensively and had the legs to track tricky players for the entire match. Also loved it when he went further forward in the last 15-20 minutes, reminded me of his glory days.

Yeah he had a decent game individually but there's still something up with our midfield as a unit, for large parts of the game (especially in the first half) I thought West Brom controlled it.
I'm not in that camp that says all our transfers in the summer were a joke but I do think we missed a trick not bringing in a top young CM talent to step into Gerrard's shoe's (someone like Pogba, Barkley or Draxler etc)