If Gerrard doesn't play, the ball won't get passed forward. We would have had Allen passing in backwards all game and Henderson running around like hes in the play ground. Stevie is the only man who plays positively and why Rodgers doesn't play him in the AM role, I don't know..
If Gerrard does play, the other 2 central mid's will be carrying a passenger. Allen and Henderson sitting deep will protect our defence and keep possesion. Someone like Suso will provide the attacking intent and he's shown it. Henderson was very good today. Not only was he good in winning the ball back, his passing was accurate and started a few attacks with clever 1-2's.
I avoided this thread as I was slated on the match thread for saying that Gerrard had a good game, I'm glad to see that there are a few who agree.
Spot on. Fellas sometimes I think I watch a different match thsn some of you. Gerrard might not have been great but sometimes you have to make a decision...do I go for the "hollywood" pass (as in trying to get it early to either of our two best performers in Suarez and Sterling) or do I take the easy way out, pass it 5 yards sideways to Joe Allen who'll give it away in a far more dangerous position or worse give away another stupid free kick on the edge of our own box? Out of our trio of midfielders yesterday it certainly wasn't Gerrard who was the weakest link.
Yes but we expect more from Gerrard, that's the point. and I think we have a right to. **** if we compared him to Downing then that's another story. Why is he forced to make a decision between Hollywoods forward or a pass back? Can't he just play simple short forward passes and keep the ball moving forward. Understand sometimes his killer balls pay off but seriously, more often than not it gifts the opponent possession which is a cardinal sin, especially with the way we are trying to play under BR. Hopefully having Lucas back will relieve him of some of his defensive duties and focus solely on attacking picking the right passes and times to shoot.
For all those who keep stating that certain players are lazy then I would ask for comparisons to be made with those who are not supposed to be lazy.
Who exactly do you want him to play short forward passes to? You want Suarez and Sterling to drop to the half way line with back to goal where they are as useful as a botlle of suncream on the Titanic? Sterlings got raw pace and Suarez is at his best when in and around the box. Why are some of you so desperate to have our forwards playing EVEN deeper? Its bad enough having Allen giving nothing going forward and Henderson adopting the "headless chicken" role but you want Gerrard to be the same too? Count up the nuimber of hollywood balls he played putting Enrique, Sterling or Suarez into the "right" areas and I'd be more than happy to have our other midfielders doing the same. We'd be a damn sight better off for it too.
Allen Lucas Henderson Suarez Enrique Sterling Pretty much our entire midfield and attack. Closing down and pressing hard. If they lose the ball, they try and win it back.
I recall many LFC fans blasting Lucas for not being attacking enough. Allen is not playing in an attacking role therefore he is not required to play killer balls. His job is to defend and keep possesion, just like Lucas.
Yeah and Lucas was ****ing useless at it at first as well. I know exactly why Allen and Gerrard are suffering and it's exactly the same problem with them as it was with Lucas...ssquare pegs in round holes. The difference is some of us didn't slate Lucas we criticised the decision to play a player in a position that he was (initially) hopeless in. The same applies here. The people slating Gerrard could just as easily be slating Allen for yesterdays performance. Gerrards the easy target because you expect more but out of the trio who played yesterday Gerrard was in no way the weakest link as I said. The manager plays the players in those positions and so lives and dies by it. He made a good choice with Enrique on the left who played very well. He made bad decisions with the midfield positions and Downing at left back.
I'm not saying Allen had a brilliant game but this thread is purely about Gerrard and Gerrard was poor IMO. Central midfield is a very weak area for us, ever since Alonso and Mascherano both left. Lucas is the only one who deserves to be there. Allen at the start of the season looked brilliant and was worthy of his space but now looks vulnerable. Gerrard hasn't been worthy of his place for over 2 years now.
Suarez isn't really a solitary striker though, he's more of a false 9. Watch him, he's always in midfield linking up play. Without that there is an even bigger disconnect between our midfield and attack. Gerrard doesn't need to look for the extraordinary all the time, especially when you consider that he does lose possession an awful lot in the process. I agree more movement is needed from Henderson, but then what good is a thread on Henderson? We all expect nothing from him and he is, quite frankly, a **** player (for an aspiring top 4 premier league team). BR's style requires movement, short and accurate passing. I just wonder whether Gerrard will ever flourish again under BR
I know I'm picking on Gerrard but I don't think it's the system/style that is the problem. I just don't think Gerrard is good enough anymore. He struggled under Kenny as well. It's been a disasterous year for us (2012) ever since Gerrard came back from injury.
Gerrards always worth a place because he's head and shoulders above the others as a player. The reason I mentioned Allen wasn't to compare him to Gerrard, he's a tidy player who's limited playing deeper and isn't strong enough for the role at the moment. The reason was because his performance yesterday was shocking and it compromised the team. Gerrard and Henderson on numerous occasions were having to cover his mistakes and having to either go longer due to no movement from the other midfielders or try and take on players in the wrong areas. Obviously we can just have three midfielders who are exactly the same and never drive forward or look for the "hollywood" ball but if that's what we end up with not only will we be boring as **** to watch we'll also be even more ineffective than we are right now. We need all the quality we can get right now and anyone who suggests dropping Gerrard is the answer to our problems needs their ****ing heads testing (IMO)
This is what I was getting at yesterday but I was shot down and bullied. Seriously though Gerrard played well yesterday he was the start of our attacking play for the majority of moves, yes he could have done more going back but do we really need that?
Yeah Suarez drops deep "when its right to do so". He also goes long "when its right to do so". The point is if you have 3 Joe Allen types in midfield Suarez will spend the whole game HAVING to drop deep. He's a clever player...just like Gerrard. He has excellent movement and the only midfielder we have who has any chance of finding those runs more often than not is Gerrard. Granted his accuracy isn't what it was but he's still far and away the best of a poorly performing bunch. I guarantee you one thing...if you asked Suarez who he'd most like to be on the pitch with out of our current crop I know what the answer would be.
Jimmy, I think you've let your blinkers blind you to the fact that he is the most creative midfield player that we have with the widest range of passes. We have nobody in the squad that even comes close and very few opponents have a midfielder who is as good.
I think that people remember the box to box dynamic player banging in goals, he's not that player anymore and imo he's adapting well to a different role.
No. It went downhill once we sold Alonso and Mascherano. It went further downhill the moment Lucas got injured in terms of our midfields dynamics. It then stayed like that once BR played Lucas despite him not being fit to start. It was made even worse by us spending **** all in the summer to get cover in for Lucas....mind you I can see why all that must be Gerrards fault
