This redux and recycled Gerrard narrative is interesting.
Folks Gerrard is not past his prime.
He is still a world class player and the problem against WHU was not his lack of mobility. It was the same point that a few have made here and that Carra made in a column this last week about Gerrard's:
1) Space on the pitch when marked
2) Time on the ball (since he is our ignition for penetrating and probing distribution)
3) Influence on the game (instead of making plays, he is in the role of having to yell to influence (see Borini's decision-making several times)
This is not a result of playing 3 games in 7 days.
This is not a result of being an aging world class player but losing his step
This is not a result of playing with Lucas (other than there is more pressure on Leiva to play out of pressure)
This is a result of not solving a tactical decision to man mark him. I am sure in BR's mind that if we dominate the ball in the midfield, then Rodgers does not give two shits about Downing preventing Gerrards' touches. However, when that assumption is taken away and we are pressed ------> now we have the double whammy of the lack of his influence going forward (as speed going forward is a strength) and we have to defend more in the space right in front of Gerrard and right behind him.
The solution is to find ways for him to find influence or make man marking so disagreeable to the player or team utilizing these tactics that they are either negated or punished for this tactic.
Ironically, if we start looking at a few solutions, Lucas does come to mind. First, you could switch roles a bit and have Lucas drop. Or you mark the marker (and find ways to get numbers up within the battle, play some give and goes, force the player (Downing) make a decision to release with Gerrard or stay put). Third, find a Plan B location on the pitch for Gerrard to influence. But much of this depends upon where and when we press and how well we keep the ball, doesn't it. The higher up the pitch our captain gets, the more running he is going to have to do to get back. This is actually a consideration as most teams want to sit back and counter us.
Overall, I do not think Gerrard or Lucas are done. C'mon, Rodgers would not have them on the roster or playing if felt like this. And as we have seen ad nauseum, these narratives get offered every time we struggle as a team or individual mistakes happen. How we want to play changes, evolves. This is what Rodgers brings to Liverpool -----> learning on the fly, not absolute football purity.
If you want to go off on Gerrard this year, which was a mistake last year by a large number of people here, tell him to get going with his corner and free kick service. But, I suspect he would be the first to say it.