Hero or Zero #12 - Steven Gerrard ;-)

[HC]

This might sound a little weird but for me the most enjoyable aspect of Gerrards game was his tackling ability, 5-10 years ago the way he'd sprint after someone and execute the perfect crunching tackle, it was flawless stuff.

 

[Judge Jules]

I don't think that's weird, but I don't agree with it. When he got it right it was certainly a thing of beauty, but too often he'd end up with a booking (or worse occasionally) and a free kick given away.

 

[Hyena]

Er, that's horseshit from start to finish, isn't it?



I remember Gerrard being highly rated right from the very start. He went away training with the England squad very early on.



I know there must've been plenty of hype, because I distinctly remember saying to my sister soon after his debut that he was the real one to keep an eye on, not David Thompson, who she'd been raving about.

Lots of people say "keep an eye on this fellow" like they do Henderson / Shelvey / Luke Shaw / Rodwell / Suso / Aaron Ramsey / Ross Barkley / Januzaj / Andros Townsend / Oxlade-Chamberlain / Wayne Routledge / Aaron Lennon / Ben Watson / Tom Huddlestone.

Hype, yes. But can you cross your heart and say you believe any of them will drag their team to the Champion's League? No. he surpassed expectations many times over.

 

[peterhague]

Surely a player (Babbel) has to contribute more than one very good season to be considered.

 

[peterhague]

Lots of people say "keep an eye on this fellow" like they do Henderson / Shelvey / Luke Shaw / Rodwell / Suso / Aaron Ramsey / Ross Barkley / Januzaj / Andros Townsend / Oxlade-Chamberlain / Wayne Routledge / Aaron Lennon / Ben Watson / Tom Huddlestone.

Hype, yes. But can you cross your heart and say you believe any of them will drag their team to the Champion's League? No. he surpassed expectations many times over.

Of course he surpassed expectations. I just tend to think anyone who says he was in the David Thompson bracket of youngster wasn't really paying proper attention. I sensed a real air of excitement around his breakthrough, and that was from bits and bobs I read as a 16 year old in papers and magazines.

 

[Judge Jules]

Surely a player (Babbel) has to contribute more than one very good season to be considered.

I can see both sides of that argument, but IMHO no, he doesn't. I don't see the judgment about the extent of a player's talent as being dependent on how long he displayed that talent. If while he *was* around he was the best of them all, I reckon he deserves to be nominated as such.

 

[peterhague]

I would definitely have Torres in the team then, in that case.

 

[Judge Jules]

Not a bad shout. I'd prefer Rushie because of his peaches-and-cream combo with the King, but Torres was frighteningly good at times that season.

 

[Oncy]

Gerrard is Liverpools greatest ever player.
Not a shadow of doubt for me.
Hero of the highest calibre.

 

[Dreambeliever]

I always try to see the good in people, but Dreamy sometimes you come across as a complete and utter tool!

Steven Gerrard is several levels above hero. He is a legend!

Ha ha ffs. Stevie is the top 5 Heros of all time at least. I was obviously taking the piss. If your greatest ever captain isn't a hero then who is?

 

[refugee]

I remember Gerrard being highly rated right from the very start. He went away training with the England squad very early on.

True, but he was turned down from Lilleshall

 

[Dirty Sanchez]

I think it's tough to compare generations of players that never overlapped. I guess you have to judge by the standards of the time.
Gerrard is, for me, the greatest player we have had - because I think he is a more athletic talent than Dalglish or Souness. When you look back at the eighties and you see how little body conditioning the players had then compared to today, it makes modern footballers seem, well greater to me somehow.
I now feel shallow and dirty.

 

[Spionkop69]

I think he's tasted success mate. After all, he's won every club trophy there is apart from the league. Winning that would be a very fitting tribute to his career here. I'm not getting excited about the league I refuse to and if we did win it I've really no idea how I'd react.

Like me, you will cry, Rub your eyes and then rip your top off and start swinging it around while singing Ring of Fire ;-)

 

[white-sox]

Special as he was then, I didn't imagine that Liverpool owe this boy so much one day. And I bet you didn't either.
At that time, the future was Michael Owen, Danny Murphy and the likes of ahem. Richie Patridge. Young Gerrard was a precocious, talented youth in the same bracket as David Thompson. I'm pretty sure no one outside of Liverpool noticed him. He certainly wasn't Fowler class.

He was special, but remembered more for being a bit fucking mental and a good lad than being a great player. He pretty much got a game only because all the senior players were injured (and shit). I think he would be where you would place Flanagan now. It all kicked off at one of those games where he suddenly burst a lung, scored a wonder goal then everyone was going on about the kids of Liverpool blah blah blah. Even then he was still a bit unsteady, a bit injury-prone, a bit unsure and hot tempered. Carragher-esque

He's pretty much eclipsed every fucking last one of them.

Our shining light in 2 decades of shit.
Absolute legend.

not sure how true that is about the people outside of Liverpool not knowing how good he was. Didn't someone offer a million for him when he was a teenager? He was always well regarded by the English establishment too. I think he was always going to be good. The surprise is how good!

 

[doctor_mac]

Some players there shouldn't be a debate in the slightest. SG falls in that category. Utter legend.

 

[refugee]

not sure how true that is about the people outside of Liverpool not knowing how good he was. Didn't someone offer a million for him when he was a teenager? He was always well regarded by the English establishment too. I think he was always going to be good. The surprise is how good!

I remember Middlesbrough trying to buy him for 5, but he had played a few games at that point.

 

[Judge Jules]

I think it's tough to compare generations of players that never overlapped. I guess you have to judge by the standards of the time.
Gerrard is, for me, the greatest player we have had - because I think he is a more athletic talent than Dalglish or Souness. When you look back at the eighties and you see how little body conditioning the players had then compared to today, it makes modern footballers seem, well greater to me somehow.
I now feel shallow and dirty.

No need for that, but if these comparisons are going to mean anything at all they have to be made given the same training and preparation for all the players involved. Who knows how much better the King and Souey would have been had they been playing today? And Souey would have had Stevie for breakfast had they been in direct opposition.

 

[tony]

Skill and aptitude transcend the generations, and as Judge Jules says above if you put Kenny into todays times and trained him as the players of today most likely he would still be a giant of the game. He was so instinctive though and that is something you just cannot train, it is a gift. As for Souness, I've never seen a Liverpool player since, apart from the occasional Gerrard performance, who could take a game by the scruff of the neck and just take complete control, great player

 

[white-sox]

I remember Middlesbrough trying to buy him for 5, but he had played a few games at that point.

middlesbrough ha, imagine that in a parallel universe.

 

[Mamma Mia]

Please God we're on the way back now, and it's impossible to overstate how badly I want Stevie G to taste some of the success I hope we're about to see returning to the club.

Is this what it's like when God prays and there is no one to answer?

 

[Judge Jules]

Dunno. I'll ask Him. 😉

 

[SummerOnions]

Dunno. I'll ask Him. 😉

You aren't glock!