Your vision would be great except for one major flaw - Gerrard's legs. Consider how his stamina waned over the period of the Euros. Now think about our needs over the Christmas and Easter schedules. As I already said I do hope he has a great season but replacement (hopefully from existing players) is vital. If a reasonable offer came in for him this window I would accept it and lay down the challenge to our players to take on the mantle.
I'd disagree with that. In the FA Cup final for instance, he was the only player that could put a few passes together. He drops deep and moves the ball. If his legs start to go, there's always Henderson. Gerrard simply has a bit of something special about him. He has huge ability, and he'll still show it, although less than before.
Not sure I would sell him mate! But an impact sub maybe if he's really struggling. God I hope Aqua stays because he could become a big player for us if he wants to.
You and I appear to be a little at cross-purposes. I thought you were referring to my earlier post talking about Spearing and not Gerrard! However, my later posts about Gerrard still stand.
Oh.... No! I think the issue of his legs should be sorted by careful planning, subs, discipline... and by keeping the ball! No-one will be too tired to play if we're winning playing champagne football
That's why it's important to have a squad so he doesn't have to play everygame and can have a rest. I'd hate for him to ever wear another teams shirt. He's Liverpool through and through, he could have moved to Chelsea and won more trophies but stayed loyal to us - something that is rare in football these days. Think we should show him some loyalty as well.
Gerrard is worth much more to you than just a player on the pitch, although you have great history and a huge reputation many very good players looking for teams are drawn in by the prospect of people they will be playing alongside and, of course, money. At Newcastle there was a good few years where I think the only thing which sperated us from other midtable sides when it came to signing players was Alan Shearer. If you sold Gerrard I think your pulling power would drop.
I agree totally. Even though I doubt we'll ever see the Gerrard of old for a full season he is most definitely still one of the few players who offers that something different. The other thing for me with regards to a replacement is that it makes sense to have Stevie around to influence and inspire the next generation of players. Personally I think passing on that experience to the youngsters and new signings can only be a big help
My take on the midfield: Gerrard - Shouldn't be sold, still one of our best players and has a lot to offer. His game just needs to adapt as mentioned by a few people already and BR will hopefully use squad to rotate and keep him fresh. Lucas - Not much to say, proven himself to be a key player. Spearing and Adam - personally I don't think either will ever be good enough to help team move back up the table. Spearing at the moment is ok as back up for DM role, loyal and hard working, but not enough quality. I think Adam might be given chance until Christmas to prove himself, unless of course he is used to get Dempsey, but if he continues like last season BR will offload. Aquillani - I think we are in same situation as this time last year, he clearly has a lot of quality and most of us would be happy if he stayed, but I don't think we'd be too upset it he was sold for decent fee as we've been expecting him to leave. Like last year it is a waiting game to see what happens with him. Shelvey and Henderson - both talented young players who we'll see develop more over this coming season. I'd love to see Shelvey get more game time this season.
I agree with most of that. I think that Gerrard is suited to Rodgers style and will be one of the players that finds the transition easy. He has a great footballing brain and will be able to play as one of the midfield 3 or on the right of the front 3.
At the danger of bringing the thread back on topic... I think most Fulham fans would be incredibly disappointed with an Adam/Dempsey swap. Adam is not a similar player to Murphy and I strongly suspect that he thinks he deserves to be at Liverpool rather than playing for a mid-table team like Fulham. That attitude would not go down well at Craven Cottage and, having just gotten rid of two big egos in Zamora and Johnson, I'm not sure Jol will want to bring that into the dressing room. As an aside, even aged 29 with one year on his contract Dempsey is worth considerably more than Charlie Adam at this point. Not saying he won't be a makeweight, but it would be great for Liverpool and poor for Fulham if he was.
Ignoring the snide comments in and around this, my argument is not about his quality. His quality is around our level, but his attitude is not. Also, you all say he was poor last year. A year where you finished level with us on points. In what way would that therefore be a good signing for Fulham if we want to improve?
Because Murphy was a huge part of your finish I suppose, and now he's gone, and Dempsey could be gone too. I like Fulham, great club, well run, great fans. My favourite London team Real sense of togetherness there. On the points, we had a terrible season, you had a good/solid one. That should show the difference.
