Apparently there's nothing wrong with Stevie

[Rosco]

THE murmurings have started early this season.

Age is catching up with him, can’t go box to box any more, is having to adapt his game etc etc.

And, as ever, they’re wrong.

Brendan Rodgers thinks so. He publicly dismissed claims that his captain has had to adapt his game and stressed how “phenomenal” he thought Steven Gerrard still is.

Fans’ fears are understandable.

When you’ve been one of the greatest players in your club’s history, you’ve got a hell of long way to fall.

But, like Mark Twain, stories of Stevie’s demise have been greatly exagerrated, as have fears about his fitness.

The England skipper is enjoying his best run of fitness for two seasons and has played every minute of every Barclays Premier League game so far.

Even more tellingly, check out this list of the Premier League’s hardest workers, compiled before Wednesday’s round of matches.

Who’s that at number nine in the list of Premier League players who have covered the most miles this season?

The skipper who apparently can’t go box to box any more.

1. Noble 77.83

2. Allen 76.97

3. Schneiderlin 76.58

4. Rangel 76.29

5. Lallana 76.04

6. Carrick 75.69

7. Arteta 75.23

8. Cazorla 73.94

9. Gerrard 73.85

10. Osman 72.57

 

[MomoWASright]

It's not the work he does that's the problem. It's the stupid passes and lack of quality in his all round play. I've just given up on him ever taking a decent corner.

 

[Spionkop69]

Hard working? Great, that's good to see.

Effective? I'm not so sure at the moment.

 

[Stulikesdrums]

I'm glad to hear Rodgers backing Gerrard and supporting him publically.
So he isn't playing great right now, what midfielder at the club is?
He's still one of our best players and if we are going to make top four (highly unlikely) or do anything in a cup this season, we will need him playing well.

 

[Mors]

Him playing 90mins and running around a lot means fuck all when he tries a poxy backheel infront of our own box and gets caught out.
He's playing shit at the moment, and I'm sure he knows that as well as anybody. He can't think a contribution to a game, as captain of this club, is 3 or 4 hollywood balls and fuck all else.
As captain, he should be screaming at the players, driving them forward and instilling some urgency into our play. Instead he's contributing to the ethos of 'lets pass it about all day and maybe something will happen later'

 

[Mamma Mia]

Some of our fans are proper cunts aren't they?

 

[gkmacca]

The fact they need to publicise the stats shows there is something to address. Fans didn't get concerned about the Gerrard of three or so years ago, mainly because he wasn't strolling around in the centre circle and misplacing so many passes and shots. It's no good on the one hand saying how intelligent and perceptive fans are and on the other releasing this kind of condescending crap that suggests the stats show he's doing almost as well as Carrick. Fans react to what they see, not what some spotty geek edits selectively and then gets printed out from his pro-zone den. Gerrard isn't anywhere near the high standards he sets for himself - he knows it, the club knows it and we damn well know it. It's not a disaster, it's not a tragedy, it's not a reason to attack the man, but don't treat fans like idiots with this kind of guff.

 

[Spionkop69]

Some of our fans are proper cunts aren't they?

I know who you mean!

 

[nealmac]

I'm glad to hear Rodgers backing Gerrard and supporting him publically.
So he isn't playing great right now, what midfielder at the club is?
He's still one of our best players and if we are going to make top four (highly unlikely) or do anything in a cup this season, we will need him playing well.

My sentiments exactly.

 

[gkmacca]

I'd prefer Rodgers to pick his words more carefully when he defends him. Saying he's 'carried' the team for years is an insult to the likes of Alonso, Hamman, Hyppia, Owen, Torres, Carragher etc etc. It's the kind of guff that normally enrages fans when they hear it from outsiders who don't pay much attention to what the team really does. When a player has been as good as Gerrard has been there's no need to churn out this disrespectful nonsense.

 

[Fox]

i just want to see him score

 

[Gerry_A_Trick]

That tells me he's doing the running, but not at the right time or place. He's spending his time running to cover up for others, and is then too tired to do what he does best.

 

[LarryHagman]

Its a shame he didn't sign for Chelsea when he had the chance. It would have allowed some of you to cement how you really feel about him and his contribution to this club.
RAWK was doing this 2 or 3 years ago so I guess you guys are playing catch up there.

 

[Farkmaster]

I'd rather he was running less in the oppositions half than running more in ours.

My main frustration with Gerrard right now is the fact that he has, his entire career, shown great attacking instincts and aggressive passing and movement. He's enjoyed every single time we've had top quality attacking talent up front. When Torres was banging them in, Gerrard and Torres combined for some of our best attacking play.

Now we have a player in Suarez whose movement is the best in the league, and Gerrard doesn't especially make pretty football with him.

 

[gkmacca]

Its a shame he didn't sign for Chelsea when he had the chance. It would have allowed some of you to cement how you really feel about him and his contribution to this club.
RAWK was doing this 2 or 3 years ago so I guess you guys are playing catch up there.

Yes, that's right, we're all just having a go for the sake of it. We respect you, too.

 

[LarryHagman]

Mmmm. Yep, you are.

 

[gkmacca]

No, you are.

 

[Judge Jules]

Him playing 90mins and running around a lot means fuck all when he tries a poxy backheel infront of our own box and gets caught out.
He's playing shit at the moment, and I'm sure he knows that as well as anybody. He can't think a contribution to a game, as captain of this club, is 3 or 4 hollywood balls and fuck all else.
As captain, he should be screaming at the players, driving them forward and instilling some urgency into our play. Instead he's contributing to the ethos of 'lets pass it about all day and maybe something will happen later'

He's never done those things as skipper before, so he isn't likely to start now. He's always led by example, and that's been at least partially effective because he's been such a tremendous player. Now that he's getting past his peak, we need to find different ways of utilising what he still has to offer. It's part of the "work in progress" which is LFC at the moment.

 

[themn]

Has Mors always been this miserable ?

 

[Mors]

He's never done those things as skipper before, so he isn't likely to start now. He's always led by example, and that's been at least partially effective because he's been such a tremendous player. Now that he's getting past his peak, we need to find different ways of utilising what he still has to offer. It's part of the "work in progress" which is LFC at the moment.

I'm still not sure why BR doesn't play him just behind Suarez in a 4231, right up the top. I guessing it's because of the concerns that the other two behind him are incapable of doing a job, so he has to go back and help out. Gerrard is most effective as an allout AM. He has far more end product in that position than Sterling or Suso etc
Whether this will change when Lucas gets match fit, god only knows.

 

[Spionkop69]

Has Mors always been this miserable ?

Yep

 

[Judge Jules]

I'm still not sure why BR doesn't play him just behind Suarez in a 4231, right up the top. I guessing it's because of the concerns that the other two behind him are incapable of doing a job, so he has to go back and help out. Gerrard is most effective as an allout AM. He has far more end product in that position than Sterling or Suso etc
Whether this will change when Lucas gets match fit, god only knows.

I wonder how many of those concerns are Stevie's rather than the manager's and if he's being allowed to get his own way on this. As a comparison/illustration, it's riled me for years that successive Liverpool managers have let him continue taking corners when (a) he's not that brilliant at it and (b) he could have done so much damage getting on the end of them instead. Maybe this is an example of something similar?

 

[Hansern]

Stevie being finished or not is irrelevant when it comes to some of the BS that has been written on here.
He doesnt deserve it.

Once we get 1-2 better players in the attacking positions and Lucas back to take care of the defensive responsiblities, I think you'll see old Stevie G also upping his game.

Thought he was good in the 2nd half against Spurs. Hopefully he'll contiune that form tomorrow.

 

[Fallon]

TBF, I can understand some of the frustrations. After all, if I'd have been playing football my whole life, and was in the top 10% of wages for the last 10 years, then I would hope to be able to take a corner and be able to clear the first man more than 1/3 of the time.

 

[RedStar]

Stevie being finished or not is irrelevant when it comes to some of the BS that has been written on here.
He doesnt deserve it.

Once we get 1-2 better players in the attacking positions and Lucas back to take care of the defensive responsiblities, I think you'll see old Stevie G also upping his game.

Thought he was good in the 2nd half against Spurs. Hopefully he'll contiune that form tomorrow.

To be honest I forgot he was playing in the second half for a while, all our good play seemed to be coming down the flank from Johnson and Sterling. Games seem to drift past him now in a way they didnt previously, its too early to tell if the decline is terminal but its certainly not to be dismissed, age and injury have taken their toll on him, to expect him to do what he was doing in 2008/2009 is pretty unrealistic, that Gerrard is gone and hes not coming back, its a matter of refining his position and seeing what he can contribute now because we are setting him up to fail if we stick him back in the second striker position and expect 20 goals a season

 

[My_Blood_Bleeds_Red]

Typical fanshite - treating our Captain Marvel as though he's some PC/PS3 game character. Oh he needs to play like this, oh he needs to score this amount of goals, oh he needs to do this, do that....zzzz

For all the legendary stuff he's done for us and the club, the man's 'entitled' to have some 'off-days', don't you think ?

Hey, even the Stevie G on FM/CM declines when age catches up eventually.

Give the man a break.

 

[Spionkop69]

Is that post above sarcastic?

 

[jexykrodic]

I think he's still one of our better players and would be welcomed into any other team in the League.

Unfortunately he looks below par in a fledgling team. Some tactical changes may help him but we all know he's not the problem.

If and when we get better quality players in he'll look much more like his old self.

 

[keniget]

If and when we get better quality players in he'll look much more like his old self.

I guess that's the sad thing. Part of what made Gerrard great is that he played well regardless of others.

I hope he can recapture some form and go out on a high rather than end his career plodding about in a mid-table Liverpool side looking a shadow of his former self.

 

[gkmacca]

Is that post above sarcastic?

I hope so!