With the arrival of Joe Allen I'm pretty sure we'll see glimpses of the Gerrard from back when he partnered Fernando Torres up-front. Over the last 2 seasons there's been question marks over whether Steven Gerrard could walk in to our first team, and I've always had the opinion that, if he's played as an attacking midfielder he's a nailed on starter. He's great in the middle don't get me wrong, and it's not that he's not good enough to fit in a holding roll, but, Gerrard is wasted as a deep holding player, the lad is a match winner, the sort of player that is irreplaceable in any team. The other night against Gomel we saw the roots of a promising partnership between Suarez and Gerrard, the sort of partnership Gerrard found with Torres which was so successful, add Borini in the mix and it could be a promising trio with possibly another attacking player coming in. Gerrard is the sort of player who will take the game by the scruff of the neck, and in a CAM role he will flourish. And judging from BR's quotes he plans to keep Gerrard in a attacking position, which in my opinion can only be good for Liverpool, here's hoping for an attacking free scoring Stevie Gerrard.
Only difference is under Rafa ,Stevie played further forward than the wide men (Yossi,Babel, etc) Under Brendan, the wide guys will play further forward than Stevie
Yep that's true, I think that will benefit Gerrard, he can't cover the ground that he used to but we all know his attacking ability's so we will still get the best from him. I think half the challenge is keeping him fit, but recently he is looking right up to speed in terms of his fitness which can only be good
Spot on. Under Rafa, Gerrard excelled because Rafa knew that Gerrard was attack minded and he had two players to cover the back (Alonso and Masch). When they left, Hodgson and Kenny dropped him back to cover that role, which made him a) run more, and b) not be able to influence the attack as much. With Allen in the squad, I feel Gerrard will move up and be a force again.
One of the midfield is supposed to be attack minded, where Lucas and Allen will have responsibilities to be the main defenders one of the 3 has the menality to look to the attacking play. Don't like to compare but will...... Last season Swansea played a 4-3-3 as we know, they then signed Siggy on loan and the difference was this.. -------Britton--Allen------- Dyer-------Siggy-----Sinclair ----------Graham----------- So................... -------Lucas--Allen------- -Downing--Gerrard--Borini- ----------Suarez--------- The formation is interchangeable so add Shelvey in the Gerrard position or Borini or even Carrol in the striker role and so on. When people say there is no Plan B they are right with the menality but it just changes to a straight 4-3-3 with Gerrard or whoever having more of a defending role.
That would be better for Gerrard IMO. It means there will be more players in front of him to link up with, play the one-twos that he is so great at. There will be more options in front of him to be able to pick out that deadly pass. Having three in front of him will push the opposition defense giving Gerrard more room to operate in, if the opposition put a DM on Stevie then others can join the attack and put even more pressure on the opposition.
