Liverpool 3-1 Exeter

Luis Suarez 1-0

Maxi Rodriguez 2-0

Andy Carroll 3-0

Steve Gerrard Gerrard, He’s big and he’s… awkward?

That’s not exactly the song Scousers sing for Stevie G, but it might as well be. I just came across the video of the pre-match handshakes at the Liverpool-West Brom game, and saw this

Ouch! That must’ve hurt. Its not the first time Gerrard’s been merked by a kid, though, has he? We all remember this gem from a Chelsea mascot a few years ago.

Gerrard may be our inspirational leader on the pitch, but he’s also quite awkward and quiet when it comes to public appearances, like a lot of footballers seem to be. Here’s Gerrard, not exactly being a knight in shining armour.

And who can forget this interview after the Luton Town FA Cup game a few years ago. Not exactly awkward, but still funny.

Of course, put him on the football pitch, and he becomes quite the performer (jump to 1:38)

Gerrard’s Best Position

One of the biggest footballing debates in recent times, at least among the viewers of English football, has been Steven Gerrard’s best position. Is it out on the right, where he played from 2005-2007 for Liverpool? Is it on the left, where he’s occasionally played for England? Is it as an old-fashioned central midfielder, where he played for most of his Liverpool career until Benitez came in? Or is it just behind the centre forward, where he’s played since Torres signed for Liverpool? Lets take a look.

Out Wide
While most would think of Gerrard as a central player, he has shown that he can do a job out wide. In fact, he started his Liverpool career as a right-back, and temporarily played there in the final of the Champions League in 2005. He certainly has the qualities to succeed as a wide midfielder – he can cross well, he will have space to operate, his defensive duties will be more limited than that of a central midfielder, and he has the ability to cut in towards goal which is the last thing defenders want to deal with. However, there is a big problem with that – he hates playing wide, as he’s stated time and time again. Gerrard also isn’t the type of player who is good at keeping shape, and has the tendency to drift centrally, which makes the team narrower, and places too much responsibility on the shoulders of the full-backs. I think we can safely say, though, that Hodgson will only look at Gerrard as a wide player in case of an injury crisis, so its futile discussing that.

As a Central Midfielder
Now this is a position that most English pundits seem to feel Gerrard would be best at. He does seem to have all the qualities required of a good central midfielder – he’s an excellent passer and tackler, has very good movement and stamina, and loves to be in the thick of things. He does have one glaring weakness, however, and it is something that a lot of managers seem to have picked out – his tactical indiscipline. Its no coincidence that both Capello and Benitez have seemed reluctant to play Gerrard in his “natural position” – he makes too many mistakes to warrant a regular starting place there. Unlike Paul Scholes and Xabi Alonso, Gerrard prefers to play the game at the pace its being played at, rather than dictate the tempo of play itself. He is also guilty of vacating his position time and again, and being a bit rash with his tackles. Arrigo Sacchi once said of Gerrard:

“When I was director of football at Real Madrid I had to evaluate the players coming through the youth ranks. We had some who were very good footballers. They had technique, they had athleticism, they had drive, they were hungry. But they lacked what I call knowing-how-to-play-football. They lacked decision making. They lacked positioning. They didn’t have the subtle sensitivity of football: how a player should move within the collective. And for many, I wasn’t sure they were going to learn. You see, strength, passion, technique, athleticism, all of these are very important. But they are a means to an end, not an end in itself. They help you reach your goal, which is putting your talent at the service of the team and, by doing this, making both of you and the team greater. In situations like that, I just have to say, Gerrard’s a great footballer, but perhaps not a great player.”

In the Hole
This was a position that seemed perfect for Gerrard when he played there from 2007-2009. He linked up perfectly with Torres up front, the two combining to form one of the most potent partnerships in world football. He effectively had a free role, with limited defensive responsibilities. Alonso and Mascherano were rock solid behind him. It was the start of a golden era, and its no surprise that Liverpool had their best Premiership finish in 08-09. Then suddenly it all went wrong last year. What was the problem? Alonso’s departure had a huge effect on Gerrard’s game. Alonso was pulling the strings from his deep midfield position – controlling the tempo of the game, getting the ball to Gerrard where he was most dangerous, and usually starting the attacks for Liverpool. Lucas Leiva is not the same player as Alonso, and it was expecting too much from him to replicate Alonso’s game. Benitez would’ve done better to move Gerrard back, or look for a midfielder with a game similar to that of Alonso’s (easier said than done). Suddenly, Gerrard wasn’t getting involved in the game as much as he should’ve been. When he did get the ball, he got it from deeper positions, and didn’t have as many players forward to pass to. You have to try and set your formation to get the best players into the game, and Benitez had failed to do that. Also, opposing managers were now used to Gerrard playing in the hole, and a lot of them had a defensive midfielder man-mark Gerrard all game long in order to keep him quiet. A good example of this is last year’s game against Bolton Wanderers where Megson decided to use Muamba to man-mark Gerrard, meaning that until Sean Davis was sent-off, Gerrard was remarkably quiet and failed to influence the game. Megson himself admitted to this tactic in the post match interview

“Being reduced to 10 men at this level always has an impact, and when it happens against a team of Liverpool’s quality even more so. We were man-marking Steven Gerrard up until that point, and he was under a measure of control. But when Davis was sent off we were unable to use (Fabrice) Muamba as a man-marker from then on, you can’t do that when you only have 10 men. Steven is clever, he dropped deeper and deeper and orchestrated the game from then on.”

Within minutes of Davis being sent off, Gerrard played his part in creating Liverpool’s 2nd goal by playing the ball in for Torres to score, and then proceeded to score the third himself. You can see from the highlights below just how much better he was before and after Davis was sent off

Verdict
So where does that leave us? Is Gerrard a jack of all trades, master of none? No. He still remains a world-class player, but the manager has to use him in a way that brings the best out of him. He is good enough for the team to be built around him. I think the key is in looking at the opposition. Unless Meireles turns out to be a lot like Alonso, I think Hodgson will do extremely well to play Gerrard in a couple of positions depending on the level of the opposition. This will require Meireles and Lucas to be quite versatile as well. Seeing as the “lesser” teams are the ones who are more likely to single out Gerrard and man-mark him, I would like Hodgson to play Gerrard as a central midfielder against those teams. As long as he plays with a defensive midfielder, Poulsen primarily, he can focus more on spreading the ball around and trying to influence play. Gerrard has been criticized for his lack of game intelligence, but that criticism is mostly in comparison to the cream of the crop, and I reckon he can certainly do a job from central midfield against most of the teams in the Premiership. As for the other games, the ones against the top teams, where maintaining tactical shape is of utmost importance, it would probably be better to play him just off Torres. He’s still not immune to being man-marked, which is what Guus Hiddink and Carlo Ancelotti have done at Chelsea in the respective fixtures against Liverpool, but then again, you can only prepare in response to your opposition so much, you have to try and be proactive to a certain level. If he’s really being played out of the game, then it’s up to the manager to see what to do – whether to take him off, or push him back and change the formation.

Getting the best out of him
I thought Benitez did an excellent job getting the best out of Gerrard, especially in the 07-08 and 08-09 seasons. Gerrard was at his attacking best playing behind Torres, and with Alonso and Masch behind him. However, there were times when Liverpool could not break down teams that parked the bus. They were excellent through the middle, but couldn’t create the space from wingplay. Unfortunately for almost all of Gerrard’s Liverpool career, he hasn’t consistently played with traditional wingers. The best ones were Pennant and Kewell, and they didn’t really play that much. As a result, the middle area has often been cramped, and Gerrard’s received little delivery from the wings meaning he often has to get out on the wings himself, where he’s wasted. Gerrard would be far more dangerous if he got on the receiving end of crosses. Also, think of all the room he’d have to operate in. Right now, the only player at Liverpool who fits the role of a winger is Ryan Babel, and he’s yet to establish himself. I’d actually like to see Hodgson try Babel at right wing, but that’s for a different article. Part of the reason for Gerrard’s inability to stick to his position in the middle may be the fact that there isn’t much activity on the wings to begin with, resulting in the middle getting crowded, and he is forced to find space out wide. Hodgson can’t be blamed for this, as this was a feature of both Benitez’s and Houllier’s Liverpool. Hopefully, he will rectify this in the future.

Gerrard assist v/s Switzerland

Steven Gerrard’s beautiful assist set up Adam Johnson for England’s second goal against the Swiss in EURO 2012 Qualifiers.

In other Liverpool related international news, Pepe Reina conceded four goals as Argentina beat Spain 4-1 and Denmark (with Poulsen and Agger) beat Iceland 1-0.

Torres, Kuyt, Meireles, Shelvey and Ngoo goals

Liverpool players were in action yesterday and today. Torres scored 2 beautiful goals for Spain against Liechtenstein, gaining some much needed match practice, Kuyt scored a peno against San Marino, Meireles scored a beauty against Cyprus and Jonjo Shelvey and Michael Ngoo scored against Slovakia in the U19s yesterday. Shelvey looks like the real deal, creating a number of opportunities for the team, and is definitely one to look out for.

Torres 1st goal v/s Liechtenstein

Torres 2nd goal v/s Liechtenstein

Kuyt penalty v/s San Marino

Meireles v/s Cyprus

England U19 v/s Slovakia U19