Liverpool FC Forum

by **Toffeehater** » Thu Jan 03, 2008 7:42 pm

The problem with Liverpool is Steven Gerrard
http://www.sportingo.com/footbal....01,6384

Manchester United, Chelsea and Arsenal have all solved the issue of too much reliance on one man – Rafa Benitez must now do the same.

“What wrong with Liverpool?” lamented a Liverpool fan after his club drew with Wigan, making four points dropped in the last two games. “What’s wrong with Steven Gerrard?”

“That,” I told him, “was exactly the problem.”

Liverpool are too reliant on one man – Gerrard. They need him to provide the leadership as well as the impetus to their entire endeavour. To be fair to Stevie G, in the big games he has never failed them, and his most glorious statement to that effect was in Istanbul when he single-handedly hauled Liverpool by their bootstraps from the brink of defeat to be European Champions. If ever a football achievement deserved the award of the Victoria Cross, that was it.

Gerrard is to Liverpool what the Katana Sword is to a Japanese Samurai. Without him, Liverpool have no soul. But such reliance has also at times proved Liverpool’s undoing over a season-long campaign. Gerrard is fantastic when it comes to the crunch, but can look ordinary during routine games. His influence is so great that Liverpool tend to falter when he has an off-game.

Without him on the field, the current expensively assembled Liverpool squad lack a leader. Who else is there? Jamie Carragher? No. Sami Hyypia? No. Xabi Alonso? No. Fernando Torres? No. They are all are good players in their own right, but not one of them is capable of leading and inspiring great performances from those around them.

In the past, I have suggested Gerrard be relieved of his captain’s armband and been met with a barrage of criticism. The fact is I am not condemning Anfield's very own Superman. Rather, I see a need to make others in the Liverpool ranks step up. An over-reliance on one man is just not good for the team. Arsene Wenger found that out. Sir Alex Ferguson found that out. And even Jose Mourinho found that out last season. All did something about it, making others around their captain more accountable.

Not Rafa Benitez. What’s worse, Benitez has done nothing to identify and cultivate the next generation of leaders at Liverpool. Whereas other managers – Wenger for one – have passed the captain’s armband around to great success, Benitez seems reluctant to disturb the hierarchy at his club, which would be fine except instead of treating Gerrard with reverence, the manager treats him like a water-boy. He continually plays him in awkward positions, like midfield-anchor, wide-right, in the hole etc. so he can accommodate other – perhaps lesser – players. To my mind, that’s just so disrespectful of his prized asset.

I still hold the view that in order to progress, Liverpool need to take away the captain’s armband from Gerrard. Give it Jose Reina. Force the goalkeeper to take responsibility for his team and maybe that will stop him making the occasional rash and silly judgments. Allow Gerrard freedom from responsibility to express himself in midfield in the way Wenger has allowed Aleksandr Hleb to flourish.

Maybe then we’ll see a better Liverpool who are not constantly looking to Gerrard for redemption, and where the likes of Torres can step up. In fairness, the Spaniard is already proving his mettle, but Liverpool cannot progress from a one-man team to a two-man team. That’s a miniscule step for a club with Liverpool’s pride and tradition. They need to be an 11-man team and, in this respect, Rafa needs this transfer window period to re-evaluate his players. John Arne Riise, Harry Kewell, Jermaine Pennant, Dirk Kuyt, Peter Crouch, Momo Sissoko, Daniel Agger and Andriy Voronin haven't added value to the team and all need to go.

The next generation of the Rafa-lution needs to be brought in. Among them, someone who can challenge Stevie G for the captain’s armband and for the soul of the club.
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Harsh but parts of it are true , we depend on him too much , and No i don't agree that we should sell agger , pennant , riise and maybe either kuyt or crouch , unless we can get some1 better

by **dawson99** » Thu Jan 03, 2008 8:04 pm

we depend too much on stevie and torres. they are the ones we look to to win us games. we need the other players to pull there socks up. not stevies fault that hes absolutely awesom, its the others for not rising to the challenge of sharing the spotlight.

by **Toffeehater** » Thu Jan 03, 2008 8:09 pm

dawson99 wrote:. not stevies fault that hes absolutely awesom, its the others for not rising to the challenge of sharing the spotlight.

by **username** » Thu Jan 03, 2008 8:20 pm

Carra or Hyypia not a leader?
Give the armband to Reina, who accordingly makes silly mistakes?
Daniel Agger hasn't added value to the team and needs to go? (stupidest part)
Need Gerrard to not have the pressure, so our only golascorer Torres can step up and take all the pressure?
Arsenal switched captains only after Viera left, where Henry then took it for a year
He says we will be great if he change Gerrard as captain... then says we can only win if we get rid of the driftwood

Sorry, but he seems to know nothing. He has such a massive lack of knowledge, I feel bad for him for wasting his time writing this article, its just the random guess at a scapegoat reason for being poor again

by **username** » Thu Jan 03, 2008 8:31 pm

btw, this is the 10,000 topic the Liverpool FC - General Discussion.
woo

by **King Carra** » Thu Jan 03, 2008 8:49 pm

Sorry, but what a complete and utter moron. I can't take this guy's article seriously; I mean, sell Agger? He's been great in the centre of defence and is turning out to be as good as Vidic.

However I do agree with some parts about Gerrard...

by **account deleted by request** » Thu Jan 03, 2008 9:20 pm

We have always had "special" players that were that bit better than the rest of the team. We used to call them inspirational leaders, now we call them performance inhibitors. Dalglish was one such but with players around him who rose to the challenge, Keegan another, Stjohn. Maybe we would have won more leagues and cups if we had just sold them?

What we need is to get more players in that are closer to his ability, such as Mascherano,Torres, Alonso, not get rid of one of the few players we have that can actually win us games. If some players are inhibited rather than inspired by playing with great players maybe they should be the ones sold and better ones brought in.

by **NANNY RED** » Thu Jan 03, 2008 9:35 pm

s@int wrote:We have always had "special" players that were that bit better than the rest of the team. We used to call them inspirational leaders, now we call them performance inhibitors. Dalglish was one such but with players around him who rose to the challenge, Keegan another, Stjohn. Maybe we would have won more leagues and cups if we had just sold them?

What we need is to get more players in that are closer to his ability, such as Mascherano,Torres, Alonso, not get rid of one of the few players we have that can actually win us games. If some players are inhibited rather than inspired by playing with great players maybe they should be the ones sold and better ones brought in.

Absolutly quality points Saint

by **redtrader74** » Fri Jan 04, 2008 12:23 am

The point of the article is drivel, although it is clear that at times the team look for Gerrard and now Torres far too much, and ignore other teamates, Kuyt for example, but atm i would be hard pressed to pass to him infront of an open goal. This could be allieviated if the other players pulled their fingers out, especially the wingers and scored a few goals, and also if we make sure our next signings are top quality, even if that only means ONE addition. By now (In Rafas tenure) we should be at the stage where we add one player at a time, at the level of Torres, Gerrard, Mascherano, Agger, Reina and Alonso, our only top class players. Leiva and Babel may yet join that group.

by **Dundalk** » Fri Jan 04, 2008 12:31 am

Do United really to heavily on Ronaldo and Rooney?
Arsenal on Fabregas and Adeybayor?
Chelsea on Lampard and Drogba?

I know you didnt write the article but are you saying we should sell Gerrard for the good of the team?

by **skatesy** » Fri Jan 04, 2008 12:42 am

This article is complete :censored:

.

Like some of the other posters have mentioned, I will reiterate - every team has "top" or "inspirational" players that their respective teams rely heavily upon. You can look at all top teams and they all have a couple "top" players in which the team relied heavily upon.

Liverpool has Gerrard, Torres and Carragher. I could argue a couple more however those are the obvious ones. To argue that these players, specifically Gerrard, is a problem because he is relied upon is stupid.

by **LiverpoolMadman** » Fri Jan 04, 2008 12:53 am

He 's NOT the problem. The problem is the $$$ for the new stadium. We should NOT build the new stadium first, we should use money to buy new players rather than build new stadium. Yes , build a new stadium will bring in some money ... but if the team is below par ... do you think that ppl will come to the new stadium to watch them play.

by **dawson99** » Fri Jan 04, 2008 12:56 am

LiverpoolMadman wrote:He 's NOT the problem. The problem is the $$$ for the new stadium. We should NOT build the new stadium first, we should use money to buy new players rather than build new stadium. Yes , build a new stadium will bring in some money ... but if the team is below par ... do you think that ppl will come to the new stadium to watch them play.

people will always come to watch liverpool play.

by **mungi** » Fri Jan 04, 2008 1:08 am

how about not replace gerrard as captain, but form a leadership group amoungst the players. say gerrard, reina, carragher, torres and hypia, its abit unconcentional but works wonders and is the new ything here in australia. the most successful teams here have leadership groups. they even rotate thge capatiancy. so i cant see it as a bad thing. its encourages others to take more respoinsibility. the leadership group also establishs a culture which players must follow. i think its a good idea

by **ruskiy playmaker** » Fri Jan 04, 2008 1:14 am

The problem is not enough quality and negative tactics.

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