[quote author=Vlads Quiff link=topic=44755.msg1368295#msg1368295 date=1311291208]
[quote author=Gary25 link=topic=44755.msg1368285#msg1368285 date=1311289499]
[quote author=Vlads Quiff link=topic=44755.msg1368278#msg1368278 date=1311288697]
[quote author=Fabio link=topic=44755.msg1368175#msg1368175 date=1311267183]
gerrard works well with anyone though (besides lampard), but it's better to have too many midfielders than not enough. We're not going to play set people/tactics every week, so its better to have options from the off and as subs
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Not sure about that to be honest Fabs, Gerrard works well with Gerrard, he did work well with Toorres, but i think he is difficult to work with. Him and Xabi never looked great.
Adios
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Mascherano, Alonso and Gerrard was the best midfield combination in European football for a good two seasons. Fucking dynamite the three of them together.
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I bet the three if them did not play that much at the same time. Prepared to be proved wrong on that. Gerrard played well with Mascher as he never got
In Gerrards way as he would drop even deeper. xabi played well with Mascher because he was Xabi, but a central pairing of Alonso and Gerrard just did not work.
Regards
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I'm not sure about this vlad. The popular conception is that Gerrard is egotistic/lack discipline and it is hard to work with him, but the evidence based on his games for LFC only points otherwise.
1. Owen and Torres has never been able to replicate the success they had with Gerrard in the team elsewhere (at club or international level). The same can be said about Peter Crouch to an extent. I have seen (many times) Gerrard going way out of his way to get Moriantes a goal during his perpetual dry spell for us.
2. In the season where we almost got the title. Gerrard/Mascherano/Alonso was the preferred partnership. When all three were available, all three played. Against weaker teams we went in with Gerrard/Alonso. The reason that was the best midfield we had in over ten years inspite of the lack of good wingers was because you could play any two out the three and it would still be a terrific worldclass midfield partnership. Not to mention Gerrard performed wonderfully well with Hamann too. Gerrard/Alonso didn't offer that much defensive protection against the bigger teams, but it was the best attacking partnership we had and it clearly worked. We retained the ball higher up and had so much penetration when those two played. Slight defensive fraility (i say slight because, it does get exaggerated around here) is a by-product of playing further up, and not a result of them having poor understanding. Gerrard and Alonso worked very very well together....it was the best we had, if you asked me.
3. He has played DM, CM, RM, AM, LM when asked to without really complaining much. Yes, he does state his preferred position when asked, but there is no evidence of him telling a manager that he won't play a position no matter what. Which, Carra has actually done (Both for England (retired in anger) and LFC (remember us playing Skrtel at RB with disastrous result?), yet people have this perception that Carra is a self-less person who puts LFC before anything.
I think a lot of this has got to do with perception. I can't believe i'm saying this....i agree with Sam Alardyce...."I hate perception". I can see where he is coming from. Sometimes, it's easy to get typecast. It's strange that a player who has offered us so much versatility over 10 years has been typecast as a selfish bastard. If he was a little bit more intelligent about what he said off the field, we could now be calling him the ultimate team man.....but he is a bit thick, which is par for course for a footballer (no offense Ryan), and he didn't manage to create a better perception than what we have now.
I want Gerrard to be back for the first game and I'm pretty sure he will still be our best midfielder by miles next season. I want him to get that blardy title.
