NEIL ATKINSON, Nick O’Prey, John Gibbons and Mike Girling reflect on Liverpool’s 2-2 draw against Leicester City and the bombshell news about Steven Gerrard.
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I don’t think there was any other possible outcome. Not for Steven Gerrard.
He’s not like Lampard, he’s not like Scholes, he’s not like Giggs. For all their talent, not one of them was ever the main man at his club, which makes managing them out infinitely easier.
None of them came remotely close to being as totemic as Steven. Local boy, one-club man, literal legend.
Though his technical abilities were exceptional, the thing that made him unique was the force of his will. He was never the orchestral conductor. He was frontman, he was Freddie Mercury. His greatness was not in controlling games but transcending them. It is a conceptual impossibility to use Freddie Mercury sparingly.
A season from the bench? I honestly struggle to even picture it. It wouldn’t have worked. Not for Steven, and not for the club.
I have this image of Steven Gerrard reading your post. Can you imagine his face: ‘he’s calling me Freddie Mercury’!
Play the kids at Wimbledon save for the back three; Can, Skrtel and Lovren. Kolo needs a rest and given Sakho’s history of muscle injuries I would rest him as well. Stevie and Hendo in the middle (Allen in for Hendo if he’s fit to play), Manquillo on the right and Enrique on the left. Markovic and Ojo playing behind Balotelli/Borini/Lambert, take your pick.
Happy New Year everyone and thanks for all the great work guys.
Every ex-pro says the same thing: you’re a long time retired. Nothing can replace the buzz of playing. Who can blame him for wanting to play regularly for a few more years? The sad truth is that he’s no longer quick enough, fit enough or good enough to do that for us; age and injuries have caught up with him and he hasn’t proved savvy enough to adapt his game to his new realities. It’s the right time to go, for everyone, Brendan isn’t LVG, you need to be a very experienced and assured coach to work with a legend breathing down your neck.
He’s been a great servant but if wants to play every week then this is for the best. Good luck to him.
Anyone who thinks even this 2014 Gerrard vintage isn’t good enough to play in *this* Liverpool midfield has seen something from the other midfield septet (100 EPL appearances and 13 goals between them) that I haven’t seen.
Lots of people have Brownie, lots. And you know that. The point is rendered void if he wants to play 3 games a week anyway. The heart and head may be willing, the body isn’t.
On a personal note, had he been willing or able to adapt to the libero role as I’d hoped for a number of years (I was never one for citing Paul Scholes; Ronnie Whelan had two distinct career phases), I think he may have been able to carry on: it’s far less taxing. But he hasn’t done enough to warrant a regular starting berth in CM and that’s, I suspect, what he wants and will get in a less testing league.
Lads, I think at the end of the day, Gerrard just fancied playing somewhere else for a bit while he still can. You can criticise FSG for this or that, but if he wants to go, we have to respect that. He doesn’t want to look back on his career and wonder what it might have been like to play in another country. I think it really is that simple.
Could well be Jimbo. Us supporters (and I’m guilty of this myself) have become far too engaged with conspiracies, rumours and minutiae, I don’t know whether that’s a consequence of ownership issues, (under) performance, parochialism, social media or the suffocating bombardment of news/rumours/gossip in the digital age. Can’t help wondering if we’d be like this if we were winning league titles though.
Seen Pardew at Palace so I checked the fixtures and Ste Gerrard’s last game at Anfield is against them. Nailed on we’re losing that game.
Judging by the hype, I could sell my ticket for that game and it would pay for next year’s season ticket
I’ve always admired Gerrard rather than loved him, which is why it came as a shock to me when I burst into tears after watching his interview on LFC TV. Where the hell did that come from?
So, with that out there, I have to say the lads on the podcast (with the exception of Neil) were far too dewey eyed. Over the past two years, many of us, including the anfield wrap chaps, have pointed out that we’ve been struggling to figure out how to use Stevie G. On too many occasions we’ve been critising him for not picking up the midfield runner (Clyne against Palace, for example) or just walking around the pitch as the opposition has been launching attacks. Seems odd, then, to suggest he’s still our best midfield player. We’re all emotional right now but clearly this is the right decision for him and for us. Why should LFC cough up 300K every week for a player who’ll play on average around 30 minutes per game? I too worry about the absence of Liverpool lads around the club (Lambo and Flanno excepted) but I think that’s not enough reason to have tried to match the big money offers that he’s entertaining from the US.
I remember how devastated I felt when Torres left. I couldn’t have foreseen what a crazy fun two and half years of Suarez we would have enjoyed. Guess I’m reaching for a circle of life thing here …