Liverpool FC Forum

Posted: **Sun Aug 20, 2006 12:21 pm**

Steven Gerrard is un doubtly our best player and along with Carragher the most influential player that puts on a Liverpool shirt. Steven Gerrard Should have the team built around him in my opinion which means unless he is injured or needs a well deserved rest his name should be put first on the team sheet at the central midfeild position. I mentioned this next point a while ago on a thread on this forum that We have bought Pennant a Rw and thats who should play on the right wing not Gerrard he is a cm and should stay there. Sissoko Alonso Zenden and all the other cm in our team should not get the nod before Gerrard in the heart of our midfeild them 3 (sissoko alonso zenden) should be battling it out to play along side gerrard.

Whether people think that sheffield united arent a great team and maccabi haifa for that matter aswell then thats fair play but we Should be playing our strongest team week in week out if we want to challange for the major competitions.

This is not a dig at anyone who either doesnt put gerrard in there team or Puts him on the right wing but i would just like to know where he stand in ur Liverpool team

So where does the king of the kop stand in your team ?

Posted: **Sun Aug 20, 2006 12:34 pm**

Stevie should have the team built around him. He is our battery, he makes things tick. TBH I wouldn't consider Bolo for centre midfield, he does not play well there. This was our problem yesterday, we stuck gerrard on the right and put zenden and momo in the middle. The ball spends most of its time in the middle of the park. We must get stevie on the ball more and in CM he is on the ball alot more that he is when he is on the wing. I think if we put stevie on the right we must have alonso in the centre because alonso is a player who's passes are fantastic and he can spread it out to gerrard and get him on the ball more. Zenden could not do this yesterday because his passing is not as good. Although gerrard is a good crosser of the ball, I think we should put pennant on the right and stevie in the middle and just let him off his lead and let him roam, like he does best. He doesn't do it as effectively when he is on the right.

On resting players, I think we should play our best team week in week out. IMO, footballers these days have never been fitter. They have better training, a better diet etc compared to players in the 70's and 80's. Players back then also had to play more league games than players do now. They had the old 46 instead of 38. So I see no need to rest players, they play less, are fitter and have a better diet than old players did but they still need resting. Players in the 70's and 80's played unless they were injured. There was none of this rest bollocks.

Posted: **Sun Aug 20, 2006 2:51 pm**

I think Gerrard should be the first name on the teamsheet, whether he plays central midfield or Right midfield. I think the key is not where Gerrard plays (he can play well in either position) but in getting the right service to him. Admitedly this is much more important when he plays R.midfield, as when he plays central he has many more options to receive the ball. While one of Gerrards strengths is making exquisite passes whilst under pressure,give him the ball with time for him to look up, and he can make killer passes/shots with deadly accuracy.
This is where Alonso is so effective and Zenden is not. Alonso sprays the ball out so that Gerrard can receive the ball and look up before the defender gets close. Zenden does not, his passing is limited, and whilst I think he can be used as an emergency central midfielder there is no way he should be in midfield if any two of Gerrard/Alonso/Sissoko are fit.
When Alonso and Sissoko are fit I think Gerrard should play R midfield, if one is injured or rested Gerrard should play central.
BTW Adam we used to play 42 games a season not 46, and the players didnt run half as much during a game as they do now. Shankly used to tell his players that they should never run more than 30yds and that they should let the ball do the work. Todays players are bigger,faster stronger and fitter, whether they are better footballers is another matter.

Posted: **Sun Aug 20, 2006 7:04 pm**

s@int wrote:I think Gerrard should be the first name on the teamsheet, whether he plays central midfield or Right midfield. I think the key is not where Gerrard plays (he can play well in either position) but in getting the right service to him. Admitedly this is much more important when he plays R.midfield, as when he plays central he has many more options to receive the ball. While one of Gerrards strengths is making exquisite passes whilst under pressure,give him the ball with time for him to look up, and he can make killer passes/shots with deadly accuracy.
This is where Alonso is so effective and Zenden is not. Alonso sprays the ball out so that Gerrard can receive the ball and look up before the defender gets close. Zenden does not, his passing is limited, and whilst I think he can be used as an emergency central midfielder there is no way he should be in midfield if any two of Gerrard/Alonso/Sissoko are fit.
When Alonso and Sissoko are fit I think Gerrard should play R midfield, if one is injured or rested Gerrard should play central.

Spot on, Saint. Couldn't have put it better myself! :nod

Posted: **Sun Aug 20, 2006 8:33 pm**

isnt he due a transfer request?

Posted: **Sun Aug 20, 2006 8:49 pm**

the dome wrote:isnt he due a transfer request?

What are you talking about

Posted: **Sun Aug 20, 2006 9:27 pm**

for me, stevie g should always play centre mid, playing him on the right i feel we loose the driving force he gives us, neither alonso or momo can give what gerrard gives.
as for zenden we all know hes just a stop gap untill rafa sorts it out,

Posted: **Mon Aug 21, 2006 2:59 am**

thegreenred wrote:for me, stevie g should always play centre mid, playing him on the right i feel we loose the driving force he gives us, neither alonso or momo can give what gerrard gives.
as for zenden we all know hes just a stop gap untill rafa sorts it out,

The problem Rafa will have in replacing Zenden is who would be willing to come, knowing he has 3 players like Stevie, Momo, and Alonso to compete for a place with. His chances of first team football will be very limited and because they are all relatively young ,he would have no real prospects in the forseeable future. So we may be stuck with Zenden for some time unless one of our reserves starts to shine.

Posted: **Mon Aug 21, 2006 2:41 pm**

once again we see stevie g on the right side of midfield..why??he is the best central midfielder in england so how come rafa started with zenden in the centre who absolutely c***,just look how we got our pen stevie bursting thriugh the CENTRE..

Posted: **Mon Aug 21, 2006 5:15 pm**

I myself think stevie should play centre midfield where he is most effective, dont get me wrong stevie is good on the wing probably better than some right wingers some other teams have, but to get the best out of him play him centre.I know we have quality midfielders but as we all know its all down to the main man Rafa.

Posted: **Wed Aug 23, 2006 10:24 am**

For me the best formation that we can play is 3-5-2 that way you can play Stevie in an advanced CM role and then have Sissoko and Alonso behind him.

This formation will also allow us to have Pennant and Riise(Aurielo) on the wings providing the width we've missed in the past.

I've been impressed with Aggers performances in the last 2 games and think a back 3 of Carra Hypia and Agger would be solid. And if need be Riise could drop in on the left and the defence would be back to a 4 with Carra Hypia Agger Riise.

But i echo the thoughts of everyone else when you say Stevie should be the first name on the Team Sheet

Posted: **Thu Aug 24, 2006 10:00 pm**

Everytime i see the teams and Gerrard is out on the right side i cringe, We have one of the best attacking midfielder in the world and we play him out of position, do you think if he went to chelsea or even Real that they would play him out right, not a chance in hell.

Posted: **Fri Aug 25, 2006 3:05 pm**

J*o*n*D*o*e wrote:Everytime i see the teams and Gerrard is out on the right side i cringe, We have one of the best attacking midfielder in the world and we play him out of position, do you think if he went to chelsea or even Real that they would play him out right, not a chance in hell.

Exactly mate. We have Stevie G one of the best if not the best Central midfeilders in the world and he plays on the right for us. guarantee if man u chelsea real madrid arsenal juve any team had him he would play week in week out in the centre

Posted: **Sun Aug 27, 2006 12:04 pm**

I disagree. It is all fine and dandy to say, Gerrard should always be the first name on the team sheet and he shold always be playing in the middle. But, by playing in the centre we would have drop either Alonso or Sissoko. The problems that I see, is without Sissoko, we don’t have any grit in the middle.

Without Sissoko, we don’t have any physical present in midfield. We need this presence, because of the physical nature of the EPL. One of the main reasons we ended up getting clean sheet last season, was because we had Sissoko playing in the middle. The Gerrard/Alonso partnership is to light weight IMO, to be used in most games. I could see it working in La Liga, where players are given more time on the ball and it is less physical.

I would prefer Gerrard on the right, rather than Alonso on the bench.

Posted: **Sun Aug 27, 2006 12:07 pm**

I think 5 stars, that there are more options than that.

We could play Alonso and Sissoko behind Gerrard as an attacking midfielder, that would make us rock solid, and with two attacking wingers like Pennant and Gonzalez or Kewell, and Kuyt on front, we would score many goals and still be solid. But it seems that we cannot play like that in the EPL... *shrug* it's just that I'm a bit continental

Liverpool FC Forum

Steven gerrard - Where does he stand

Steven gerrard - Where does he stand