Gerrard the problem, Gerrard the solution

The recent results or rather the lack of it has not been the best of ways to begin a season, especially for a new manager occupying one of the most important and respected jobs in world football. While Liverpool were unlucky on their opening day defeat at West Brom and did some comical self-damage with careless defending against Manchester City, against Arsenal, they were just not good enough to get a result.

Suarez’s profligacy upfront (rather bizarre for a player of his quality), a lack of attacking options and shaky defence have completely overshadowed a glaring anomaly – Gerrard’s rather subdued performances. To his credit he did put in a disciplined and tactically solid performance against City. But with each passing game, more questions about how well Gerrard fits into the Rodger’s style of play keeps growing. His rather careless misplaced ball led to Arsenal’s opener and it is definitely unfair to blame Gerrard for the overall result. The debt owed by the team to Gerrard for his stellar service over the past ten years is way too much to be repaid and pointing fingers at Gerrard would be such a heartless thing to do.

It will only be better for both Liverpool and Gerrard if he adapts into this new style or rather made to fit by Rodgers. That is easier said than done. A more defensive role in the absence of Lucas seems plausible at the moment which would slightly push up the other two midfielders. But the limitation with that option is that neither Allen nor Sahin have that attacking drive or the flair in the final third. This is exactly why I see the following option should be considered by Rodgers:

Playing Gerrard upfront. As crazy as it might sound it is still worth trying. Suarez is clearly not a finisher and cannot lead the line. Pushing Gerrard upfront will relieve some pressure of Suarez’s shoulders. Gerrard has it in him to lead the line (even Benitez suggested this idea once).He can do a similar role to the one performed by Totti (albeit a less spectacular one) under Spalleiti’s striker less formations which resulted in mind-blowing football on the pitch (Yes, it also gave Roma a sound thrashing at Old Trafford in the champions league game, 7-1 to be precise, but it did produce some fantastic play and good league results in Italy). As Gerrard is not as technically gifted as Totti, he will be limited in such a role although he could use his intelligence and link up play to adapt to such a role. Gerrard’s finishing if not world class is easily the best Liverpool have got at the moment. With Gerard upfront, Suarez can play wide and drift in with his trademark nutmegs and trickery. Besides Suarez other options for the wide role also includes Downing, Assiadi, Borini and the promising Sterling. A midfield three out of the possible options of Sahin, Allen, Shelvey, Henderson and Lucas (when he returns) is reasonably strong.

This may not be the perfect answer to Liverpool’s current problems, but however it is worth trying out until a solid finisher can be bought during the winter transfer window. Of course, it might seem ludicrous to suggest that the best midfielder in the world in the last ten years should be played as a striker, but then Liverpool’s options are very limited as of now.