I don't think Rossiter was helped by being labelled a new Gerrard. I don't think he's anything like Gerrard. In fact he's almost the anti-Gerrard, because the one thing Gerrard's bad at - game intelligence and positional discipline - is actually Rossiter's main strength.
You've got a point though. He's certainly the least exciting wonderkid I've ever known. Look at his standout attributes: leadership, reading of the game, tackling, efficient passing, positioning. It's not a very sexy list. But by all accounts he does those things exceptionally well, and anyone who knows their stuff expects him to make it. And generally those sort of people are right.