It was around this time last year that I wrote at length about our skipper.
The general gist was that of expectation. That his body was slowly in decline. That although his anaerobic fitness (the ability to perform multiple sprints with short recovery time) would gradually fall off a cliff, he still had something significant to offer the squad and his technical qualities would find their place in our system. I was quite harsh on Gerrard (bar the romanticism in his exploits and miracles he had pulled off for the club in the past) but my point was a fairly clear one; Stevie was becoming very much a luxury player in regards to what he could offer and produce in any given game. His playing time had to be managed over the next 12 months; that was an expectancy on my part and Gerrard continued into the second half of the season expressing his superb vision and ability to be a key player at the highest level with several swashbuckling performances in his new quarterback role.
Twelve months later (maybe a tad more) this expectation hasn’t been met. Gerrard has still played a significantly numerous amount of minutes for club and country, being used heavily, and where once the way we played suited Gerrard with space being created for him by two forwards always looking to get in behind the defence with superb 1v1 qualities, pushing defenders back, giving Stevie the time and space receive the pass, get his head up, with multiple targets to aim for long and short, things have evolved (or devolved) since then.
But I’m not really here to discuss the tactical issues Gerrard has had with the loss of Suarez (and Sturridge thus far) as this is already something which is being discussed and covered pretty coherently by others and seems fairly obvious. Without a significant goal and pace threat to push teams back, teams are pinning us in more, we’re stuck deeper, Gerrard isn’t being given the time and space he needs as his nervous system slows down and he needs that extra split second to adjust his body shape and the ball to pull off each pass. The quicker he is pressed, the more trouble he is in, rendering his game almost inoperable when man marked (and this has always been a weakness of his no matter what year or position he is in).
It’s a pretty fundamental flaw in Gerrard’s inclusion at the moment. We simply cannot get the best out of him with the systems current set up. Without those runners, without that time and space on the ball, and Gerrard’s weaknesses – his positional sense, his inability to turn quickly and his lack of acceleration, are being ruthlessly exploited with little to nothing gained. A lob sided back four does him no favours, and the way they drop off after he has been beaten often hinders his ability to recover a situation as nobody is slowing the opposition up substantially.
But as I aforementioned, this is not really my gripe, for want of a better word, for Gerrard’s constant inclusion. I have always enjoyed writing and discussing at length systems, spaces, shape etc, and as a whole I think Brendan is making a major error in persisting with players he ‘trusts’ rather than players who would suit how we are playing at the moment and have done since Suarez’ departure. It’s arguable that Mignolet, Johnson, Skrtel, Gerrard and all our strikers bar Sturridge are not in tandem with how Brendan sold us his vision and how we played last year. Yet they are ‘trusted’ and played pretty religiously. It’s baffling, and I expect a lot more from Brendan given his obvious eye and knowledge for the game. He’s almost breaking his own rules.
But as is so often the case I digress. There is so much more to football than a functional or dysfunctional system. It could be conceived as unfair to criticise Gerrard in particularly given the issues we have revolve around with how Brendan is setting us up to play at the moment, we have to look at our long standing captain as a focal point. He plays even when he isn’t playing well, he plays most competitions, he usually plays the full 90, he doesn’t suit the way we should be playing, and he is playing badly.
But it’s challenging, in fact impossible, to get irritated at Gerrard for his misgivings currently. He is a notorious slow starter, even in his pomp when he was one of the best in Europe, it always took Gerrard a couple of months to get out of the blocks. Couple this with Brendan’s philosophy to condition players to peak physically around New Year, and I think even if we were playing well, people would be once again questioning Gerrard’s inclusion. Hell, even if we were playing like this but picking up points regularly, it would be over looked until Stevie comes good again and ‘defies the doubters’, proving the haters wrong. This is true, but not necessarily right.
I feel for Steven. My heart aches for the man right now. History repeats itself but it gets all the crueller. Those of us with any sense will never look at Gerrard and think ‘you lost the title’. There were plenty of other opportunities to pick up points that we missed long before Chelsea closed ranks at Anfield. But you can bet your bottomest of dollars, that every time Stevie glimpses himself in a mirror, he will think that very quote. It’s human nature. Alex, Brendan, Stevie’s parents and everybody else involved significantly in his life will tell him this is not the case lad, but he will think it is. He never shirks responsibility, and he will feel responsible.
But this is only one of the latest tales of woe. Of course we have had this before where Gerrard has given everything and been left with nothing. After United pipped us to the title in 2009, Gerrard looked exhausted, the player the team was built around as Gerrard had adapted to playing with, left the club for the bright white shirts of Real. The season after two of the other key players jumped ship in Mascherano and Torres for the Spanish sun and London; Gerrard was left again, as the one world class player in a rebuilding operation starting pretty much from scratch after the club went through its most horrendous financial crisis in decades.
The previous rebuild had occurred after the departure of another star forward who allowed Gerrard to play his game, when his boyhood pal Michael Owen left for a measly fee back in 2004. It had been a couple of seasons since we were last in with a shot and narrowly missed out, and there was a Rafalution on the horizon to be embarked upon, but this was the first sign for Gerrard that the team mates he built a game and relationship with would eventually flee for foreign lands and leave Gerrard every single time as the juggernaut surrounded by foot soldiers. Gerrard has had this time and time again and having lost out on the title by a whisker in part due to a monumental error on his part, and arguably the best player he has ever played with flying the nest, again. He enters his 35th year still devoid of a league winner’s medal, and can surely feel the walls closing in.
There’s no reason either why he would forget the world cup in too much of a hurry, as much as he’d like to. He led a squad to footballs heart in Brazil with young, exciting talents around him, some of whom he had played with at International level for years, and several who had been part of an epic title challenge with him over the last 9 months. He must have felt there was a chance of competing. Even with Roy in charge I would argue with all the pundits and Roy and say that is one of the most exciting England squads to ever fly off shore. The nation may not have expected, but I suspect Gerrard might have.
You’d think that lightening couldn’t strike twice. Any England collapse that may have occurred couldn’t be pinned on Gerrard as simply as the title crumble had. However it did, and as Gerrard mis-timed his jump, the ball flicking off his head into the path of his soon to depart deadly striker at club level, Gerrard watched helplessly as Luis did exactly what Gerrard had seen so many times previously and fired accurately into the net, dashing any hopes England had of climbing out the group stage. Again, Gerrard will be playing that phase of play over and over again in his head. If only he had jumped a split second early, if only he hadn’t jumped at all, the timeline and events that ensued may have deviated massively. It’s crucifying, psychologically.
He needs a break. It’s been his most testing 6 months in football that he’s ever had emotionally. To be so close and to lose it all on the tred of the turf will be tearing him up inside as he sees any chance of a title medal slowly dissipate further and further away to a land he hasn’t got the legs left to make. The man is human, as we sometimes seem to forget, and we can all relate to huge pressures, build ups, and disappointments in all walks of life that significantly halt us from moving forward. Our brains do not let us just ‘forget’ traumatic events. There is not a day that will pass where Gerrard does not revisit his slip and he is likely petrified he will never have a day without a memory of it if he fails to clasp his hands round the Premier League trophy before he hangs ‘em up. He will torment himself, as so many of us do.
He needs a rest. Not just physically but mentally. The pressure he is under at the moment is ridiculous and now his long lasting supporters of such a truly great, legendary footballer are beginning to turn on him as he grasps onto a hope that he can make things right. It’s probably too late for him to make things right by being on the pitch regularly. Liverpool need to move forward and so does Stevie. He needs to realise that he still has a wealth of quality to offer this team if he is managed in the right way, played at the appropriate times, and that the team is now to be built around the likes of Raheem, Phil and Sturridge to move forward. Gerrard must pass the responsibility on to these lads and play a more supportive role. His experience around the dressing room, knowledge of the game and games where his technical ability can shine without his physical ability causing us more problems should now be his focus. It might be difficult for him, like accepting your spouse leaving you, but you have to do it for everybody to move on.
The responsibility truly lies with Rodgers. Brendan must have seen the change in Gerrard’s perspective, the damage last season and summer have done to a man who has suffered this fate so many times before and now finds himself in a position where he can’t wrestle things back as his legs slow. Its clear Gerrard is massively distracted as well as suffering from the natural hindrances age brings to a previously such explosive player. His contract being up in the air is something else that will be drawing Gerrard’s attention away from the pitch and that needs to be tied up as soon as possible. Give him an extension, but reduce his expectancy on playing time. I don’t think money has too much to do with it.
Rodgers needs to allow some space for Gerrard to pull his head back together, some time away from the limelight. He needs to be brave and take the flack he may get from the media manager and prove that he knows best. Gerrard is having a really tough time physically and emotionally and it is costing the team, it is costing Gerrard his longevity, and it’s costing Rodgers his reputation. It would best for all parties to give Gerrard a bit of a rest, let the experienced pro that is Lucas Levia come in and add some stability with his positional sense and knowledge of the position. His qualities suit us more than Gerrard’s right now and he hasn’t got his head in a mess over a title slip and disastrous world cup. Let him go and play, let Gerrard g and rest his mind.
It’s vital that Rodgers does this soon, in my opinion. Gerrard is of course a symbolic figure and leader at the club, but if he had any other name and had put in these performances he has this season he’d have been dropped a long time ago. Good performances need rewards, and poor ones need punishing. Right now the lack of faith Rodgers is showing other players and the lack of meritocracy in the team selections is a poor example to young players and potential recruits. Rodgers needs to be brave for him, Gerrard, and most importantly Liverpool Football Club, if they make the right decisions, neither Gerrard nor Rodgers will ever have to walk alone.
