Why Gerrard shouldn’t start for Liverpool against Fulham

There’s little doubt that Steven Gerrard remains, by some distance, Liverpool’s finest midfielder. Despite the arrival of Brendan Rodgers being hailed by many as a death knell for the ageing captain who was supposedly too inclined to the possession-ceding ‘Hollywood pass’, Gerrard spent the last season adapting, and not just surviving, but thriving. Discounting the at times inhuman efforts of Luis Suarez, Gerrard was the club’s most impressive performer last term.

Premier League key pass rankings 2012/13

The whisperings of those keen to read his footballing obituary, though, have resurfaced in recent weeks in accordance with what has been something of a drop-off in the midfielder’s form. Gerrard’s underwhelming recent showings came to a head on Saturday evening as part of a Liverpool side that found themselves distinctly second-best against Arsenal, and their captain seemed utterly incapable of doing something, anything, to reverse the momentum in his side’s favour.

Of course, he was far from alone in this shortfall – at least six or seven of his team-mates were similarly inadequate on the day, one being his midfield partner, Lucas Leiva, who was equally adrift in the engine room – but the fact remains that Gerrard will always be judged by higher standards than most of his peers due to the feats he has achieved over the years. He is, in this sense, a victim of his own talents – which is only fair, but also lends itself to the more extreme responses to a bad game or two.

On Saturday evening, though, as Arsenal’s plethora of mini-creators scampered and rampaged throughout Gerrard’s territory, the question inevitably crept into the mind of the onlooker: temporary dip, or terminal decline?

Going on last season’s evidence, and the spells of similar imperiousness this terms, it is most likely simply the former. That said, though, with Gerrard turning 34 in May, surely a greater rationing of his game-time needs to be exercised by Rodgers. Last season, preposterously, Gerrard played each and every minute of the club’s league campaign until he was withdrawn deep into their 6-0 win at Newcastle, on April 27th. Such durability may have gone some way to disproving the doubters, but the manager’s unwillingness to give his captain a rest could have proved disastrously counter-productive. Indeed it’s hard to escape the feeling that we may currently be seeing the effects of last season’s bizarre and needless policy.

Not only does the man himself currently look as though he could use a week off, but it’s imperative that the rest the team get used to functioning without his presence – an occurrence that will only become more regular as Gerrard’s career continues into, and beyond, its 16th year. There can be little argument that Gerrard has, at times this season, played as though his boots are that bit heavier than everyone else’s, especially as games enter their later stages.

There’s a strong argument to be made for Gerrard to be pushed further up the pitch and asked to expend his energy more sparingly and in game-deciding areas, although it’s one that Rodgers’ ears seem deaf to, and so Gerrard’s current position appears to be rather black and white: he plays in the heart of midfield, or he doesn’t play at all. If this is indeed the choice to be made, then a spot on the bench for Saturday’s visit of lowly Fulham, in anticipation of the Merseyside derby being the following fixture, may not be the worst thing for player or team.

Indeed, the withdrawal of Gerrard could also serve to solve a number of problems at once: Henderson, who would likely drop into central midfield, has a leggy energy that would mark an improvement his captain’s recent lethargy, and is more suited to a position that doesn’t showcase his at times ghastly technical limitations. Moreover, his vacating of the number 10 role would allow the club’s in-house chance-conjurer Philippe Coutinho to enter the fray in his favoured stationing, something that would surely please the striking duo of Daniel Sturridge and Luis Suarez.

It’s a formula that at least looks sound on paper, and, should it present itself less successfully in practice, could still be remedied somewhat by the introduction from the bench of the club’s best midfielder and captain. Win-win?

Perhaps – unless Liverpool lose, in which case Rodgers leaves himself open to heavy criticism from the stands and punditry sofas alike.

The fact remains, though, that Gerrard is a player whose aptitude to dominate and dictate has not yet left him, although today he tends to do so by probing and prompting rather than roving and rushing. Recently, though, his spells of domination have become shorter, and his finest form has come in flashes and patches as opposed to unrelenting, match-defining performances. If he’s to recover and sustain the capacity for the latter, he will need to have a taste of the substitutes’ bench at some point. Whether that comes at the beginning or end of games is up to Rodgers, but a more sensible – some would say less star-struck – managing of his captain’s time of the pitch needs to be implemented, and now seems as good a time as any to get it underway.