Liverpool FC Forum

by **red_guy** » Fri Jan 04, 2008 1:19 am

Gerrard is not the problem, others...some of them, yes. Why should we blame Gerrard for everything? Look at mediocre players who did nothing to help the team.. not enough quality in the team? yes. and one more thing, the players just don't have the belief that they can win the league.

by **The_Rock** » Fri Jan 04, 2008 2:20 am

Gerrard is not the problem......If rafa just sticks him at CM and play Mash behind him...he does a great job.

Its when rafa sticks him at RW or a as support striker (after months of playing in centre) and somehow expect him to come up with a world class performance....now thats the problem.

Stop screwing up gerrard and see him score loads of goals (like he did just a few games back).

by **masch17** » Fri Jan 04, 2008 3:47 am

mungi wrote: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

you wouldn't be referring to th AFL would you Mungi?

i know my team st.kilda are developing great young leaders by way of a leadership group.

by **holylamb2006** » Fri Jan 04, 2008 5:16 am

Sorry, but he seems to know nothing. He has such a massive lack of knowledge, I feel bad for him

Sell Gerrard for the greater good

sorry i was watching hot fuzz

This chap must of been on drugs wen he wrote this pile of :rasp

by **kazza** » Fri Jan 04, 2008 8:40 am

These are what I consider our best players and who need to step up and take more resposibility:

Reina -Just world class but he is young, keepers reach their prime in their thirties.

Agger - Has gone missing but if he progresses like he was, then world class.

Carrager - Although not an international anymore to Liverpool he is world class.

Mascherano - World class and I hope we keep him.

Alonso - World class but needs to take more responsibility

Gerrard - My opinion is when on song the best player in the world

Torres - Seems worth the 26 million paid

Players that could be there:

Arbeloa
Babbel
Lucas

The rest are squad players and can be replaced as far as I am concerned.

by **Leonmc0708** » Fri Jan 04, 2008 9:42 am

Toffeehater wrote: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

There is so much wrong with htis article its not true.

LEt me get this morning out the way in work and I will rip it to shreds.

by **Red Dotty** » Fri Jan 04, 2008 9:49 am

I remember reading an article like this last season and it was again when people were unhappy with the teams run of performances. Yet again we see another article calling for Gerrard to be put in the spotlight. It was utter :censored:

then and it is utter :censored:

now.

As for JC not being captain material thats utter B o l l o c k s

Stupid article like the last one

:angry:

by **NJD83** » Fri Jan 04, 2008 9:54 am

This is just sh!t, how does this bloke come to the thinking that it is Gerrards fault that we are 12 points behind?? Take him out of the team and replace him with anyone in the world except Kaka or Ronaldo and we would be a hell of a lot more points behind than we are now. Thing is when we don't win we all think why Gerrard played why didn't we win. Torres is now with us helping Masch is playing well but his job is to stop the oppo scoring he is not expected to score loads and cut through the opo's defence. All we need is a balanced strike force Please Rafa play Torres and Babel up top together and just let Gerrard pick their runs out. Read in the paper today that we have had the most shots out of everyone in the PL but are in the bottom 5 for goals to shots, so it is the same problem as last year not taking our chances. Rafa I think is sometimes too technical think he just needs to sometimes let the players class come through and just try and score more goals than the other team not try and get the perfect 2-0 performance every week just let the players go out and play free flowing football.

by **66-1112520797** » Fri Jan 04, 2008 10:23 am

Okay Leon before you rip that shaby article to bits, I can sort of see where the author of that article is coming from.

But firstly I'll tell you what I dont agree with him about, giving the captains armband to Reina or anyone else, that is a ridiculous thing to do and wont solve this blokes perseived problem surrounding Gerrard. Also I dont agree with Agger not "adding value to the team" thats fecking laughable and he obviously doesnt watch Liverpool enough. Instead he's just jumped on this 'Liverpool are a one man team' bandwagon, that he has heard other journelists talking about.

Ever since Gerrard has come through the youth system and ended being the best Liverpool midfielder since Souness, alot has been said about us being a one man team. This belief that Gerrard is a one man team was really highlighted during the Houllier era.

Fast forward to Rafa's tenure and we'll see that overall the manager has brought in better talent man for man than Houllier did. Gerrard is Gerrard, a local lad who is a brilliant footballer who can really take a game by the scruff of the neck. Still IMO Gerrard is the focal point of the team, and again IMO is right to be, he is our best player end of.
I think its still true to an extent if Gerrard doesnt play well the team dont tick, IMO thats fair as its my opinion. In his four years Rafa has done one thing more than Houllier did, and thats sign another match winner in the mould of Gerrard, Torres. The Spaniard is capable of world class displays similar to Gerrard, and although the likes of Alonso, Mascha, Kewell are very good players, and possibly World class in their respective positions. We dont have enough quality players in our team, to take the game by the scruff of the neck or to terroise opposition defenders.

Gerrard IMO is a central midfielder, and the debate about where is best deployed should be null and void IMO. Gerrard isnt the problem, it comes again down to the manager who if as got the funds should go out and buy the kind of players that are going to make an instant attacking threat.

Finnan, Hyypia, Agger, Arbeloa, Carragher, Aurelio, Mascha, Alonso and Reina Are all brilliant in terms of a defensive unit.

Now look at our players as an attacking unit, and hand on heart I can only say that Gerrard and Torres are the two players who will win you a game.

Babel, Kewell, Benayoun, Pennant, Kuyt, Crouch, Voronin and even Riise are just numbers, in a team, and each due to their own reasons are either simply not good enough. Dont get enough games, wonder in and out of matches or have no end product.

All in all I dont think Gerrard is the problem, we wouldnt have to rely on him to pull us through a s.hit fight if the manager signed the right players in the first place. Thats where all this quantity over quality comes into it, and thats a different topic, but all roads IMHO lead back to Rafa.

edit

One more thing also, time is running out. Finnan, Hyypia and Carra arent getting any younger and they have saved us millions in the transfer market over the years with top notch defending. By the time we get around to solving our attacking midfielders and striker problems these three will have probably moved on. In which case Rafa or who ever will probably turn his attention back to the defence and build from the back. We've luckily had a great defence for years now, plenty of time to get the attacking aspect of the side right, yet we're not much better off Torres apart. Its ridiculous and like I said time is running out before we have to spend sufficiently elsewhere on the team, and with money at an apparent premium its going to be a struggle.

by **metalhead** » Fri Jan 04, 2008 10:33 am

Bamaga man wrote:Okay Leon before you rip that shaby article to bits, I can sort of see where the author of that article is coming from.

But firstly I'll tell you what I dont agree with him about, giving the captains armband to Reina or anyone else, that is a ridiculous thing to do and wont solve this blokes perseived problem surrounding Gerrard. Also I dont agree with Agger not "adding value to the team" thats fecking laughable and he obviously doesnt watch Liverpool enough. Instead he's just jumped on this 'Liverpool are a one man team' bandwagon, that he has heard other journelists talking about.

Ever since Gerrard has come through the youth system and ended being the best Liverpool midfielder since Souness, alot has been said about us being a one man team. This belief that Gerrard is a one man team was really highlighted during the Houllier era.

Fast forward to Rafa's tenure and we'll see that overall the manager has brought in better talent man for man than Houllier did. Gerrard is Gerrard, a local lad who is a brilliant footballer who can really take a game by the scruff of the neck. Still IMO Gerrard is the focal point of the team, and again IMO is right to be, he is our best player end of.
I think its still true to an extent if Gerrard doesnt play well the team dont tick, IMO thats fair as its my opinion. In his four years Rafa has done one thing more that Houllier didnt, and thats sign another match winner in the mould of Gerrard, Torres. The Spaniard is capable of world class displays similar to Gerrard, and although the likes of Alonso, Mascha, Kewell are very good players, and possibly World class in their respective positions. We dont have enough quality players in our team, to take the game by the scruff of the neck or to terroise opposition defenders.

Gerrard IMO is a central midfielder, and the debate about where is best deployed should be null and void IMO. Gerrard isnt the problem, it comes again down to the manager who if as got the funds should go out and buy the kind of players that are going to make an instant attacking threat.

Finnan, Hyypia, Agger, Arbeloa, Carragher, Aurelio, Mascha, Alonso and Reina Are all brilliant in terms of a defensive unit.

Now look at our players as an attacking unit, and hand on heart I can only say that Gerrard and Torres are the two players who will win you a game.

Babel, Kewell, Benayoun, Pennant, Kuyt, Crouch, Voronin and even Riise are just numbers, in a team, and each due to their own reasons are either simply not good enough. Dont get enough games, wonder in and out of matches or have no end product.

All in all I dont think Gerrard is the problem, we wouldnt have to rely on him to pull us through a s.hit fight if the manager signed the right players in the first place. Thats where all this quantity over quality comes into it, and thats a different topic, but all roads IMHO lead back to Rafa.

Good post mate

Its true that we don't have enough quality players, but we do have 1 or 2 more players (other than Gerrard and Torres) that are matchwinners, well not as an attacking unit but can change the whole game with their midfield display and I'm talking about Alonso and Masch.

Why Alonso? Well he produced a superb display against Everton when Gerrard was sent off, if it wasn't for him then we would have been overrun in the midfield and may have not won the game (Maybe). Juventus away, battled for every ball, created so many good passes and was the key to getting us in the semi finals that year. Fulham in 2004/05 season, he came out of the bench and won us the game. He has the qualities, but its a shame he isn't producing the same display that he did 2 years ago, maybe because of his niggling injuries, but I really hope he gets back to his old self again.

Mascherano, his performances this season shows why he can keep the defence safe and let the attack do their job up front.

We just need a couple of matchwinners in our team and we will win the title, some day.

by **Toffeehater** » Fri Jan 04, 2008 11:01 am

username wrote: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

henry took it and yes he did not score that many that season as compared to when he was not the captain . Yes , is aid some parts are true and no i believe that agger is a prospect and has a bright future so the poster is wrong , Reina is one of the best keepers in the world and if u can't see that than i dunno what liverpool team are u watching , have u forgotten the penalty saves in the champions league semi finals last season , or the Fa cup final against west ham? Carra and hypia are leaders yes but not those kind of leaders who can instill a fight back , ask urself can they score goals like gerard does? can they pull us out of the ditch like gerrard does? All The writer of this article is saying that if gerrard is relieved of the armband , he may improve and be the player that we need more then ever in EVERY game to step up and produce goals for us , and to force others to take responsibilty instead of us always depending on gerrard

by **Toffeehater** » Fri Jan 04, 2008 11:03 am

redtrader74 wrote: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.

You left out one of the most important man mate , Jamie Carragher

by **Toffeehater** » Fri Jan 04, 2008 11:06 am

Dundalk wrote: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?

No mate i am not saying anything just are over dependence on gerrard at times , and we always look to him to rescue us . The game against wigan when they drew level , the one man whom i thought would get us back on track was gerrard and he didn't u see thats the problem , we rely too much on one man . The other players need to step up and start scoring

by **Toffeehater** » Fri Jan 04, 2008 11:17 am

Dundalk wrote: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?

United , look at their players , class almost every where , roandlo and rooney get goals correct but they have a couple of match winners hell even ferdinand can win matches for them mate , yes they over rely on roanldo and rooney , correct but they have other players who step up too when these 2 players that u have mentioned cannot get it back for them .

Arsenal , play some very good football and yes they also rely on fabregas but they have people like rosicky , van pu$$y , helb , players who can get them out of ditches , they played absolute cr@p against everton and yet they won , why ? because their players get them out of situations like this

Chelsea , pratically have a blank cheque book also and yes their over dependance on lamaprd and drogba is there but look even without them , they are winning , their players take their chances and say to themselves look our stars are out injured , now it's our turn to step up and take responsibility , we are also a part of this team . Etc , ballack , he's stepped up when lampard was injured , so has kalou and shevchenko with the injury to drogba ,

Now i love this club as much as anyone else , but lets be practical , yes we only have 2 match winners which are torres and gerrard , they ahev scored most of our goals this season , all i am saying is that i don't agree with this article totally and yes the other players need to step up take responsibility like some have mentioned here and that would relieve huge amount of pressure from the shoulders of gerrard , whenever its why Liverpool lost all i here is oh gerrard didn't perform , not the other players , we always look to our captain to instill the fightback

by **Leonmc0708** » Fri Jan 04, 2008 11:32 am

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

I honestly can not think who he is refering to here. I will give him Arsenal and their apparent reliance on Thierry Henry, but for the life of me cant think who Chelsea and United have over-relied on. Drogbe is the one that springs to mind, but the problem that Chelsea face is they have no one who can step into his breach.

Quote from earlier wrote:Liverpool are too reliant on one man – Gerrard. They need him to provide the leadership as well as the impetus to their entire endeavour.

Leadership is not provided by Gerrard in our side, that comes from behind him, in the form of Carra. Stevie provides the forward drive, of that there is no doubt, but he is hardly the one barking the orders or cajoleing the troops.

Quote from earlier wrote: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.

He hardly ever lets us down, in fact his poor game usually means he left three or four blades of grass uncovered and was only involved in 99% of our play, but is the author suggesting he is a big game player and doesnt help out against the lesser lights ? Bullsh.it - Derby County, Pompey, Everton and other teams will beg to differ.

Also, to suggest a single handed turn round in Istanbul is well wide of the mark. Garcia's endevour, Carraghers blocks, Alonsos' craft, Didi's wise head and superb defensive display and still to this day how I dont know but the saves from Dudek played a pretty significant part in that game, as did the penalties.

Quote from earlier wrote: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.

Any Scouse player, now and throughout history, has been part of the soul of Liverpool Football Club, of that there is no denying. The local lads in all football teams are key. Its the same at United where Gary Neville, love him or hate him, has been an integral part of the side. I dont think we are breaking the atom pointing this out.

As for Gerrard being ordinary against lesser lights, I would ask you to look back at the final season of Gerard houlliers tenure, where Gerrard pretty much single handidly ensured we remained in the top four. That season included games against "routine" opponents. Indeed this season routine games at Aston Villa, Newcastle, Bolton, Fulham and Derby have seen him score in winnign displays.

Quote from earlier wrote: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.

Jamie Carragher is not a leader ?

Xabi Alonso cant dictate the tempo and patter of play for the team ?

Fernanondo Torres cant inspire ?

Also the use of the word expensively tells us all we need to know about the thinly vieled attack.

Quote from earlier wrote: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.

I would have supported the notion of taking the armband from Gerrard my self a few seasons ago, but he has grown into the role. to take it from him now would be pointless.

To suggest that the presence of a piece of cloth around your upper arm is the only way to motivate highly paid players to perform suggests we have even bigger problems than this article points to.

I still dont see where Ferguson made people other than Gary Neville (United Captain) step up and take responsibility. Neville is hardly runnign the show there. I dont see where Mourinho had to get people to take the burden from John Terry at Chelsea as whilst he is undoubtedly a leader, Lampard, Drogba and Essien took more of the responsibility of winning games. Again I will give you Henry.

Quote from earlier wrote:Not Rafa Benitez. What’s worse, Benitez has done nothing to identify and cultivate the next generation of leaders at Liverpool.

Has this writer seen ANY reserve games ? If he had he would have seen not only the deluge of talent that Benitez and his team have scoured the planet for, but also leaders like Jay Spearing, Jack Hobbs, Robbie Threlfall and numerous others. The youth team also won hte FA Youth Cup the last two years despite playing (and at times losing to) top sides. This does not happen to one man teams.

Quote from earlier wrote: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.

Wengers arm band was passed from Gilberto, who is now surplus to requirements, onto William Gallas. Only when these players not plaued have vice captains taken the arm band. But hey, lets jump on the Arsenal bandwagon what the heck.

The manager treats Gerrard like all the other players. At arms length and as an employee. IS the writer suggesting we do something different ?

Gerrard, because of his ability is th best player that we have in EVERY position. Should we utilise this and play him where ha will be effective or fu.ck the team and play him where he "prefers" to play and throw a kid on the wing ? We have enough people to play in the middle as and when required.

Quote from earlier wrote: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.

Riena - when did he last cost us a goal ? Was this piece written two years ago or what ? The golden glove einner two years on the bounce, most clean sheets, more records for LFC goalkeepers than Clemence and Brucie. What a load of bollo.ck.s.

And comparing Hleb with Gerrard ? What is that all about ? Hleb is a great player, under rated and an asset, but the last time he tackled anyone was 10 years ago. He is not the same kind of player as Gerrard so comaparrison is pontless.

However lets jump on the Arsenal band wagon.

Quote from earlier wrote: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.

I agree, I wish Gerrard would let Torres play !!

Has this joker seen any of our games ?

Toffeehater wrote: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.

There is no doubt some of those players are not good enough, but lets be fair here, Agger is not even in question, Voronin was free and only brought in 4 months ago, no one could have predicted Momo's decline but he will still be worth a few bob in the window (and I also beleive he will mature into an excellent player) Riise and Kewell where not bought by Rafa, Crouch has been an effective stop gap until we got Torres, and Kuyt has dissapointed and will need replacing unless we get a better striker and he becomes 3rd choice.

Also, this piece was uspposed to be about why Gerrard is the reason we have under performed, so why are we now blaming these players ? Did Gerrard sign them did he ?

Toffeehater wrote: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.

The next generation will be brought in, however until Gerrard leaves or stops being the best midfielder in Europe I dont see how you can take the captaincy off him.

That said, even the mighty Arsene Wenger has publicly stated that despite the destination of the fabled arm band, the importance of leaders all over the pitch is paramount to success. Flamini, Fabregas, Toure and Gallas are testament to this fact.

-----------

In conclusion, the piece uses the controversy of suggesting the captaincy of the club be taken from Gerrard to provoke interest, trys to keep it by poking the usual money spent finger at the squad, contradicts itself by stating that the quality of the players in the squad is also to blame for the poor form and then completely poo poo's itself by suggesting Reina needs the captaincy to find any form and Agger is not good enough.

For good measure it also conforms to the current press standard of bumming Wenger and Arsenal.

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Our over reliance on Gerrard at times has been a bit of a problem, but in times of trouble do you look to the best man you have for inspiration ? Too right you do.

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