This ^ Gerrard was our best player at the Euros. He hasn't been poor for the last few seasons either. He has a bad game last weekend.
Besides off the front line or on the right in a trio, the only other place he can go is where lucas is, Gerrard can turn defence into attack quickly but for that he needs to be deep, Alonso kind of deep. We had masc and now Lucas there from a defensive perspective but neither is good at turning and creating in a flash. Gerrard has too much attention about and after the centre circle, yes mozilla Centre is correct.. but has more space to launch attacks with excellent delivery for runners into space from deep which then allows him and others to join in, arriving late on hte edge of the box is a thing he does well but we never fkn see that kind of thing and have not since 2009 with Xabi when Gerrard was the receiver of those quick releases from Alonso as well as Aurelio and even Kuyt You want gerrard to get the ball and get up a head of steam, he's never allowed the space to do that where he's been playing, on the right or deeper CM allows for that. We just don't have the CAMs ready to play Lucas behind 2 CAMs, so lets have it solid with Gerrard Lucas partnership which can only help us retain possession to be honest, Stevie is always better running or lookng for a driving pass to give, he's not great when he's on his heels
Billy, there's times when it feals like centuries!!! Somehow I just can't get into all of this angst. It's too early in the season.
In all honesty, Gerrard had an off-day, he just didn't perform. His distribution was dreadful, passes that he would normally make in his sleep, he mis-hit by a long way. Lucas and Joe Allen did relatively well, and Lucas is coming on leaps and bounds even though he's still not at 100% yet.
I agree with this. I feel like I've seen it all anyway at some stage. I'm just happy to follow my team and see how it turns out. Until we lose again, of course.
Steven has been and is the best midfielder we have. But like everything else, it is horses for courses. As soon as BR was appointed I thought that Steven's position will come under threat. He is the thrusting scoring midfielder. He sends long diagonal passes to the wings. He goes on long mazy runs and scores goals. But patient short passing and retaining possession a la Swansea is not his forte. I think in an ideal world BR would have wanted a scholes, xavi, iniesta, silva, nasri type of player. There isno evidence to suggest that he won't be able to change his game and adapt to a new system. If he does the team will benefit. I fear the consequences of his failure to sdapt. I agree with the premise of the OP. this issue is massive and resolving it will be among the top priorities for BR.
