Steven Gerrard:15 years on and still Captain Fantastic

Steven Gerrard

How fleeting the opinions of football fans can be! One week hailing a player; the other week criticizing him. Performance, most often is the factor that precipitates this swing in opinions about a player.

Steven Gerrard, throughout his career has largely escaped this pastime of football fans; at least one part of it: the vilification. His one-sided treatment from fans has stemmed not just from his iconic status at Liverpool but importantly his consistent top-drawer performances for the club. However this season, fans, at least section of Liverpool fans have had grounds to subject him to their “praise-criticize” cycle.

When he excelled in Liverpool’s impressive 4-0 victory over Fulham at Anfield on November 9, 2013 adjectives like spectacular and brilliant were used to describe his 65-minute performance. These words stand in stark contrast to the ones deployed to describe his output at the Emirate a week earlier. Steven Gerrard is a player of undoubted quality. But age obviously has taken its toll and robbed him of some aspects of his game that made him outstanding match after match.

What age hasn’t done and I dare say, can’t do is to strip him of his talent and ability to put that talent on show. The Arsenal match came between the Fulham and West Brom fixtures; two matches Gerrard, reminded anybody who still doubted that he is a top top top player. He claimed 4 assists in just those two matches and provided a lot more crucial passes whiles influencing affairs in the middle of the pitch.

The Arsenal match however highlighted the weakness in his game which has been imposed by advancing age and weakening bones rather than loss in ability or talent. He was off the boil; couldn’t get his passes through and was shorn of pressing and influence in the middle of the park. He just could not match up to the pace and slickness of the Arsenal midfield. Against Everton, his best and worst were on display: assist, good passes, faulty passes, poor marking etc. A few other indifferent performances have contributed to calls by some fans-who still adore him-for him to be dropped.

When Steve Gerrard signed a two year contract extension in the summer, Rodgers declared him his most important signing. There is little reason even in the midst of some poor performances to doubt Gerrard’s importance. Calls for Gerrard to be dropped entirely from the starting eleven seem over the top and draconian. The Fulham and West Brom bear this point out.

Managing Gerrard rather than dropping him should be the solution. He may be advancing in age but his influence is not heading the opposite direction. It was clear from the Emirate that given his age and loss of pace, he is not suited to 90 minutes week in week out. That however is not an indictment on his talent.

Neither does it impugn his ability to still excel at the top. It is just prudence; ensuring that we get the most from the talented man’s last days in football. Last season played over thirty 90-minutes matches for Rodgers in his inaugural season. Injuries and lack of team depth ensured that the iconic captain was called on more than perhaps his age was comfortable with to serve his boyhood club. But LFC is not faced with a similar situation this season.

Rodgers has tried managing Gerrard in terms of recovery after matches and training regime and that has contributed to his ability to be available for selection week in week out. However if we are to get the best out of him, management should go beyond just regimes for recovery after matches.

It’s no coincidence that for the matches that he has excelled, he operated in roles that allowed him freedom and chance to express himself; roles that did not impose much defensive duties on him. On the other hand, some of his poor performances have come whiles sitting beside Lucas in a withdrawn role where his immobility has found him out on a number of occasions. The high pressing football Rodger’s “death by football” philosophy requires also mean that his age probably does not support back to back matches.

Undoubtedly Gerrad has the talent to still influence our season but the fact that his legs cannot carry through match after match…Its time to manage him tactically as well as physically. He is still our captain fantastic!