Stevie G

[My_Blood_Bleeds_Red]

I'm quite frustrated knowing that Brodgers will never play Stevie in the No. 10 role ever again, that I'm tempted to sack Brodge just for that.

Yeah, lose tonight and I will create a thread calling for Brodge's head, even though I love him lots.

 

[Farkmaster]

That's more like it from Balotelli.

...oops

 

[hamstrung_pigeon]

Gerrard's game-winning penalty was the 44th penalty he's scored for the club. He continues to build on his lead as our top penalty scorer after surpassing Molby (42) with his kick against Spurs this season.

Of the 44 penalties he's scored, 11 of them have come after the 80th minute mark, with 4 of these coming after the 90th minute mark. 3 of these 4 90th-minute penalties earned us 2 wins and a draw in 3 different games.

# Minute Date Result Against Remark
3 84' pen 05.11.2005 2 - 0 (A) Aston Villa EPL - put us 1-0 up
7 85' pen 10.11.2007 2 - 0 (H) Fulham EPL
8 82' pen 28.11.2007 4 - 1 (H) Porto UCL
10 89' pen 02.02.2008 3 - 0 (H) Sunderland EPL
11 86' pen 08.04.2008 4 - 2 (H) Arsenal UCL - put us 3-2 up
14 90' pen 04.11.2008 1 - 1 (H) Atletico Madrid UCL - earned a draw
24 88' pen 04.11.2010 3 - 1 (H) Napoli UEL - put us 2-1 up
30 82' pen 10.03.2013 3 - 2 (H) Tottenham EPL - winning goal
36 90' pen 12.02.2014 3 - 2 (A) Fulham EPL - winning goal
38 90' pen 01.03.2014 3 - 0 (A) Southampton EPL
44 90' pen 16.09.2014 2 - 1 (H) Ludogorets UCL - winning goal

Source: http://www.lfchistory.net/Players/Player/GoalsPerPop/305-1

 

[ctlovesred]

Why not try him at CB proper, instead of pretending that he is a DM but really not?

 

[Judge Jules]

Counsel, please approach the bench. Surely the factors which make Stevie unsuitable for the DM role (ropey positional awareness at times, slowness in covering) would make him even more so for playing CB?

 

[ctlovesred]

But your honor, I contest that should his role be more clearly defined, as the CB role surely is than his current floating DM/pseudo CB spot, he would be better suited. He's in no mans land most of the game, which requires that heightened positional sense, and he has no obvious playing partner with whom to coordinate and to calibrate. He knows he is not the last man on paper, yet he may surely be the last man in execution.

I cite one Herr Matthaus as Exhibit A.

 

[Judge Jules]

A respectable argument, Counsel, which I will take under advisement. 🙂

 

[dantes]

My Lord, my respectful submission is that the defendant is unable to play in every game by reason of his age. My further submission is that a CB and his GK should play in every game in the interests of consistency. In the alternative, the defendant vacating his current role would open the door for Lucas. In either event, my Lord cannot support Counsel's argument.

 

[mom]

I plead the fifth

 

[Avmenon]

The first thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers.

 

[Judge Jules]

But let's grant an amnesty to those with exceptional Photoshop skills.

 

[ctlovesred]

My Lord, my respectful submission is that the defendant is unable to play in every game by reason of his age. My further submission is that a CB and his GK should play in every game in the interests of consistency. In the alternative, the defendant vacating his current role would open the door for Lucas. In either event, my Lord cannot support Counsel's argument.

Counsel petitions your Honor to decline to consider opposing counsel's first argument add the team selection per se shows this hardly to be the current practice or requirement; but concedes opposing counsel's second and most potent argument.

 

[Judge Jules]

So found. 😀

 

[ibromurph]

Watching Lampard against City makes me wonder about Gerrard's role. I agree with Macca, when he says we should not be trying to mould him into something he's not late on in his career. Gerrard should be played in the number 10 role, even if he can only perform that role for 20minutes in a game. He could be that impact sub we need to grab a late goal,

I'd much rather we have a proper defensive midfield destroyer (ala Mascherano) in the DM position. As good as Gerrard's passing is, most teams have 10 men behind the ball whenever he picks it up in the "quarterback" position, so I'm not sure what great value we get playing him there anyway.

 

[Fabio]

Gerrard should be an impact sub and no more, because he seemingly can't do much more now

 

[Ryan]

We’ve got a 34 year old defensive midfielder who a) doesn’t see it as his job to defend, and b) is getting worse in the role by the week, and he was already at a pretty low base to begin with.

I love him n all and no one needs to bother highlighting his goals/assists/strong passes anymore, I get all that shit, but we’ve got a guy in a crucial spot that’s fucking killing us.

 

[DHSC]

We’ve got a 34 year old defensive midfielder who a) doesn’t see it as his job to defend, and b) is getting worse in the role by the week, and he was already at a pretty low base to begin with.

I love him n all and no one needs to bother highlighting his goals/assists/strong passes anymore, I get all that shit, but we’ve got a guy in a crucial spot that’s fucking killing us.

Where do you think he should be playing or does he even have a role in Rodgers' formations?

As sad as it is, Gerrard doesn't seem to fit our current playing style.

 

[Frogfish]

It's pretty irrelevant what we all think. With some players you can see BR is on the same wavelength as most of this forum, with Gerrard he simply isn't. BR's comments this week just go to underline this. He won't be moving him anywhere this season.

 

[MaBigTip]

It's pretty irrelevant what we all think. With some players you can see BR is on the same wavelength as most of this forum, with Gerrard he simply isn't. BR's comments this week just go to underline this. He won't be moving him anywhere this season.

Mostly because BR hasn't got the foggiest about defense.

 

[Ryan]

Mostly because BR hasn't got the foggiest about defense.

^^^This. I've said it from day 1, he's fucking clueless about defensive systems.

 

[hamstrung_pigeon]

I know this thread was supposed to be about how he's gone to shit, but it's hard for me to look at a thread titled "Stevie G" and not go running to look for the clip of his goals for club and country. This is updated up to Jan 2013.



What a collection of fucking belters. Left foot, right foot, headers, volleys, stiff grounders, chips, free kicks, corners, tap-ins, one-on-ones, etc. And that's just his goals - I'm not sure how long the clip will run if they compiled all his assists.

 

[Dirty Sanchez]

^^^This. I've said it from day 1, he's fucking clueless about defensive systems.

Yep. Notice how BR always attributes goals scored by the opposition to "mistakes" that the players have made during the game rather than mistakes that he has made in team formation, selection and training.
Needs to have a word with himself.

 

[rurikbird]

We’ve got a 34 year old defensive midfielder who a) doesn’t see it as his job to defend, and b) is getting worse in the role by the week, and he was already at a pretty low base to begin with.

I love him n all and no one needs to bother highlighting his goals/assists/strong passes anymore, I get all that shit, but we’ve got a guy in a crucial spot that’s fucking killing us.

Against Spurs Gerrard made 8 clearances, 3 out of 3 successful tackles and blocked 3 shots. It's only when we switched to 2-games-a-week schedule, while simultaneously losing 2 players who could have been rotated with Gerrard (Allen and Can), his performance and energy level dropped. At 34 he should not be playing 2 full games a week, that much is clear. But at the moment we don't have a fucking choice. So can we have a bit of patience, please? If anyone earned the right not to be slaughtered by our fans after a couple of mediocre or poor games, it's Gerrard.

 

[KopRed]

Maybe at 35 he can start playing once a week when we don't have champions league football.

 

[Woland]

http://www.thedailymash.co.uk/sport/sport-headlines/gerrard-blamed-for-everything-2014092691109

 

[Frogfish]

 

[gkmacca]

Most sportsmen just don't get it. They get criticised, quite rightly, when they under-perform, and they resent it. So when they perform again at the level their critics had demanded, they act as if they've proven the critics wrong. They haven't, of course. They've actually proven them right. So the only thing Gerrard's hand cupped to ear gesture did on Saturday was risk getting him a second booking and a red card. Well done, Steve.

 

[Frogfish]

An interesting read from Whoscored.com.

A quote:

To a large degree, that is a matter of positioning. It certainly isn’t a matter of running. A hint of that is given by the fact that Liverpool, as a team, have made just 12.3 interceptions per game this season, the fifth lowest figure in the Premier League. That’s a statistic that requires unpacking – it could, of course, simply be that Liverpool haven’t had much defending to do; so it’s telling that of the four teams to have made fewer interceptions, only Everton have conceded more goals than Liverpool.

Is Gerrard to blame for that? It’s startling that he has made only 0.5 interceptions per game this season, which isn’t even in the top 50 for central midfielders in the league. It’s even more startling that he makes only 1.8 tackles per game – the joint-35thbest for a player in his position. A pass accuracy of 87.4%, with an average of two key passes per game, is good and he has scored two goals, one of which was a penalty. But those are figures for a more advanced midfielder.

Gerrard may be running as well as ever, he may be playing wonderful passes, but he simply isn’t winning the ball back enough for a holding midfielder. That means either he has to adjust his game, or Brendan Rodgers needs to stop asking him to perform a role for which he doesn’t seem equipped.

http://www.whoscored.com/Articles/d...ering-Liverpool-Defence-Too-Little-Protection

 

[My_Blood_Bleeds_Red]

Meanwhile in other news, Fat Frank is scoring for fun.

 

[Judge Jules]

An interesting read from Whoscored.com.

A quote:

To a large degree, that is a matter of positioning. It certainly isn’t a matter of running. A hint of that is given by the fact that Liverpool, as a team, have made just 12.3 interceptions per game this season, the fifth lowest figure in the Premier League. That’s a statistic that requires unpacking – it could, of course, simply be that Liverpool haven’t had much defending to do; so it’s telling that of the four teams to have made fewer interceptions, only Everton have conceded more goals than Liverpool.

Is Gerrard to blame for that? It’s startling that he has made only 0.5 interceptions per game this season, which isn’t even in the top 50 for central midfielders in the league. It’s even more startling that he makes only 1.8 tackles per game – the joint-35thbest for a player in his position. A pass accuracy of 87.4%, with an average of two key passes per game, is good and he has scored two goals, one of which was a penalty. But those are figures for a more advanced midfielder.

Gerrard may be running as well as ever, he may be playing wonderful passes, but he simply isn’t winning the ball back enough for a holding midfielder. That means either he has to adjust his game, or Brendan Rodgers needs to stop asking him to perform a role for which he doesn’t seem equipped.

http://www.whoscored.com/Articles/d...ering-Liverpool-Defence-Too-Little-Protection

Very interesting. Some on here have said, and I agree with them, that despite Stevie's age we should still be playing him further forward. The middle para.of this excerpt clearly bears that out.