This piece is about Steven Gerrard. I’m writing it for two reasons. Two main reasons. Of course, the first reason is to get my point across in an entertaining and persuasive manor. To get my point across in a way that, even if you disagree, you still really liked reading. I hope you enjoy that reason. That reason is for you guys, the readers. Have that one on me.
The second reason is the selfish reason. The selfish second reason. The second reason I’m writing this, and this is the God’s honest truth, is so that I can say I wrote an article about Steven Gerrard. I got into writing for Read Liverpool because I love Liverpool Football Club and I love writing (and because someone said it was OK to wave about my worthless opinions in front of your beautiful faces). To merge the two is like the perfect combination for me. That’s why I will happily spend the second evening of a two day hangover writing an article that made me sad, staring at a screen that hurts my face.
So let’s crack on.
Our boy Stevie isn’t going to be around these parts much longer, as we all know. And that isn’t nice. It is safe for you to assume right now that I really love him. He has kept me in a relationship with football at times, like in 2010, when it seemed much easier to just break up with it. I couldn’t love football without Liverpool, and back then we were crap. They were Konchesky. They were so Paul Konchesky.
Konchesky – adjective; to be really fucking crap.
Gerrard stuck with us throughout all the shite, and by calling him a problem it feels like I haven’t stuck by him. I can feel it now. I have a slightly guilty feeling all up inside of me. And I know this is how a lot of people feel when they even begin to comprehend the idea he isn’t quite the first name of the team sheet. He is Istanbul. He is the 2006 FA Cup final. He is kissing the camera, and calling Van Persie a prick. He is basically any penalty you can remember. He is the slip that we know didn’t cost us the title. He is Liverpool, tra-la-la-la-la. He is poetry in motion.
Yet, with the ink drying on all of the above sentiment, another feeling has become quite strong over the last few months. And that is one of quiet excitement. Of massive optimism. Like we don’t actually need Gerrard any more. Like, if he stayed, it would be all awkward.
With father time catching up with Gerrard, you can tell that when he is on the pitch, he wants to do things that he can no longer do. Like running very fast. As a central midfielder, Gerrard was all energy. He was box-to-box running around, putting in tackles and scoring goals. Hitting crosses and chasing back. That is perfect when you still have the much talked about “legs”. “He hasn’t got the legs anymore”, “he would be perfect for us if he still had the legs” – ah, the legs. A footballers’ greatest weapon. Well, however cliché that is, it’s true. He really doesn’t have the legs to play the game we want to play. Our win rate with and without him make that blindingly obvious. His mind knows exactly what he needs to do, but his legs aren’t getting him to where he needs to be. And this has become a problem.
We press. As a team, we press. But, when at our best, we don’t press-then-stop, we press-then-continue-to-press. And this really does work wonders. But let’s take a look at the other players in the team and compare. Let’s start with our forward playing midfielders. Firstly, I’m not taking Sterling as an example, because he starts every game he can and they aren’t really comparable as players. Sterling is that good, that barring a catastrophe, he isn’t dropped. So that leaves us with Gerrard, Lallana and Coutinho. None are particularly quick. Heck, I’d even say Lallana was quite slow. But the latter two have a very small turning circle and low centre of gravity which allows them to change direction much quicker and continue to press faster. Gerrard doesn’t have this, which means he can’t get across to the second man quick enough. Coutinho and Lallana also have the fitness to last 90 minutes playing this tough pressing style of play. I very much doubt Gerrard has this either. So I would say Coutinho and Lallana are fighting it out together to start games ahead of Gerrard in attacking positions with Sterling and Sturridge.
This leaves us with the slightly more defensive elements of midfield. Again, like with Sterling, Henderson doesn’t get dropped, so I’ll leave him out. His improvement is evident on a game-by-game basis, and I struggle to remember a player who is improving as quickly as he has, in the short time it has taken.
Plus, Jordan Henderson has become the box-to-box midfielder to replace that part of Gerrard’s game that we missed. Not to replace Gerrard, because that doesn’t happen. But to replace the ‘being everywhere’ nature of the old Gerrard.
This leaves us with Lucas and Allen, presuming Emre is being played as a CB in the short-term going forward. This is also where things get very hazy. It all gets very opinionated and it all depends which side of the fence you sit on.
Gerrard is a bigger name in football than Lucas Leiva and Joe Allen, yes. That’s an unconditionally and massively obvious statement from me, there. I think I would also be tempted to say he was a better player than both of the above. I’m honestly not being sarcastic when I say that I “would be tempted”, I just think right at this second it’s quite tough to choose. Because I feel like we haven’t seen the real Steven Gerrard for Liverpool for a fair few years. He has been remoulded in, but not perfected, the deep-lying role, so I find it hard to decide completely. However, the definitive question is; is he better for this incarnation of Liverpool than Allen and Lucas are? I think a lot of people will answer this question about the players and their reputation more so than the players and their roles in the squad, and the players and their partnerships within the squad.
Most people would agree that Lucas is better than Gerrard at the defensive midfield role. He offers a better defensive quality to the position, knowing where the threat is likely to come from next as opposed to now. I have always felt that Gerrard is often very much in between the two thoughts, which leaves him open to attacking the ball and the play a split-second too late. (This is a quality I have noticed with Markovic playing wing-back. I think they both think about the unnatural defensive role they’re playing in that position a little too much). This is the reason that I don’t start Gerrard ahead of Lucas.
Joe Allen. Oh Joe. I like you, but lots don’t. This is the position I feel most people may think Gerrard could actually do a better job. Evidence could show that that may be the case. So I’ll change my angle on this argument a bit. I’m going to get slightly arsey. And I don’t like this approach, but hey. Here goes…
With Henderson and Lucas fit, and Gerrard not, Joe Allen is first midfield sub. Baring this in mind, but with Gerrard being fit but not starting ahead of Lucas and Henderson, you would say he becomes first midfield option on the bench. Now, I have no clue what Gerrard wanted in terms of wages, but let’s estimate £100k pw, which is still a pay cut on what he is on currently. Do we want a substitute, who can’t really do what we need him to if he’s called upon defensively, sitting on the bench earning £100k a week. No. I don’t, anyway. “It’s not your money, so why are you arsed?”- because that’s not the way business works. Football is a business when we are talking those figures. I’m sorry, but it is.
Also, and this is very early doors, but young Joe Allen has had a little bit of a renaissance in the past few games. His ball retention has been impressive and he’s developed a feisty streak during his absence from the team. If he can show genuine consistency at the level he is at now, he will prove a really great buy and competition for Lucas. The way he bossed Yaya Toure deserved a lot of praise, and he duly got it. Against Burnley there were even people chanting his name, that’s how well he played.
And here comes the problem aspect. I’ve just been through all realistic positions Gerrard could play. There is little point in comparing with players who are playing wing-back or striker, because he won’t ever play there. If you want this, do it yourself, because I’m not. He will never play there for reasons obvious to everyone. In all fairness, no-one has suggested he should play either positions, so I’m kicking off at nothing. As we were.
The problem with having Gerrard around is that everyone looks to him. He has been brilliant for us. Absolutely marvellous. We still look to play through him, because he is at worst the second best player Liverpool have ever had. So that will naturally happen. If you had the second best person to have worked for your company working with you, you would look to them to do it all too. And to do it better than you. The thing with that is, however, that our players play so much better without him. Probably due to the above points I’ve discussed, but also maybe because they think “shit, he isn’t here, let’s buck up our ideas”, and then when they beat the likes of City without him, our team realises that they aren’t half bad themselves, and become a real team of mates. A spirited inner circle. It’s the old underdog story, isn’t it? A band of merry men, them against the world, without their biggest soldier. Without their strongest ally. They then go on to realise that sometimes it’s the sum of your parts, not the individuals that win the war.
So that’s where I stand. Sad to see the back of him, but excited to see him go. And again there, with the guilt. Let’s hope we win the FA Cup for him. Let’s hope we get into the Champions League with help from him. I’m sure he’ll give his all for the remainder of the season. Because he’s Steven Gerrard. He’s a Scouser born and bred.
