It is always painful to sit down and write about Liverpool following a loss. Sunday’s game against West Ham is a game to quickly forget about as Liverpool just did not turn up for the game and as Dalglish said after the game, Liverpool did not deserve to get anything out of that game.
What pains me deeply about the game yesterday was the form of Steven Gerrard. Yes he was only coming back from injury and many had thought that he would not even play against West Ham but he did and he put in one of his poorest displays in a red jersey to date. What has happened to our ‘Captain Fantastic?’
I am sure Gerrard would be the first to admit that he has not been his best this season. The team has not had the best of seasons as we had too many distractions and poor form, and the injuries Gerrard has been picking up this season has not helped. In seasons gone by, Gerrard literally carried the team on his own, has he just gotten tired now and he can not do it anymore?
Gerrard will be 31 years old come the end of the season and you can see that he is starting to loose that burst of pace he used to have which made him into such a great player. I think that Gerrard flourished best just behind Torres (or the striker) and now that we have Meireles, Gerrard could be more suited to drop back into a central midfield role on a permanent basis.
Gerrard used to give us 20 goals a season in the past but now that has dwindled down to 12 last season and only 8 so far this campaign. I have heard some fans saying that Liverpool should sell Gerrard now and atleast get some value from his sale. I think this would be one of the biggest mistakes we could do. We need Gerrard to remain at the club as I believe he still has a vital role to play for the current team and for the young players coming through the ranks who have idolized him. It must be special for anyone to be working with arguably to of the greatest Liverpool players of all time in Dalglish and Gerrard.
All I ask for right now is for Steven Gerrard to regain some form and push us through the rest of the season, starting with the game on Sunday against United.
hey relax people..i mean Gerrard plays bad for a game and so many things are being said by people..he was out injured for a month and he aint 100% match fit.the west ham game may have given him some fitness and he’ll be better against utd.ok it was a bad result but nothing is lost.we’re still 6th and either someone from the top 5 must win the FA cup or we must win the europa league.we need to be playing at least at europa league next season.now against utd i hope for the best for us and i can see Andy Carroll’s name on the scoresheet!!lets hope that Agger and Meireles are back,when Agger misses a game Skrtel,Kyrgiakos,..etc make funny mistakes and Meireles was on great form currently,so we gonna need them back.Suarez is playing great since his arrival and he’s shown huge talent already.So my line up against utd:
Reina
Kelly Carragher Agger Johnson
Gerrard Lucas Meireles
Suarez Kuyt J.Cole
Carroll in for Kuyt at 80th minute to score!!
YNWA
Steve is getting on in years. In defence of Steve, he was just coming back from an injury. He’ll come good again.
Yinka.. R u Nigerian
Wow – one game and you are questioning him! Patience and attention span of a fruit fly.
Stevie is a quality player coming back from an injury; whilst brilliant, he is not a miracle worker.
The team were rubbish on Sunday; they need to improve collectively. Kenny will put them back on track.
Went to the game yesterday and Gerrard was absolute tripe. Keeps trying hollywood passes when there’s simpler options. I don’t think I’ve ever seen the Xavis or Iniestas of this world try and ping 40 yard passes. It seems to be an inherently English trait and it’s utterly delusional. He gave the ball away needlessly and showed no endeavor with regards to retrieving it. We may as well of gave Sammy Lee a runout. As bad as Gerrards performance was mind you he looked a world beater compared to Dirk Kuyt. Kuyt is without question an absolute horror show. For all his enthusiasm the fact remains that he CANNOT play football. His first touch, pace, passing ability, creativity, vision are completely non-existent and cannot be compensated for purely with work rate. The longer players of the calibre of Dirk Kuyt remain the mainstay of the Liverpool starting XI the longer Liverpool will be a mediocre side. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that mediocre players equate to a mediocre side. I can only hope Kenny realises the lack of ingenuity in the side and is given the backing to remedy it in the summer.
He was poor no doubt about it, alongside Joe Cole….these two need to pull it out for the reds now!!!
I am afraid its not just an issue of one game, this type of low impact performance has been going on for a long, long time. I must also add that he is not the only one, yesterday even Reina looked as though he has already mentally left LFC, Lucas played the part of the village idiot rather well I thought, at the moment he seems incapable of creating any opportunities, Kuyt runs around like a headless chicken and seems incapable of passing or keeping the ball, Ngog is just out of his depth, he should go out on loan for two or three years and then try again. Then there’s Cole….what more can I say?. I am of the opinion that we will be knocked out of Europa, we will not finish in the top four and we will not be in CL, LFC need a major overhaul and unless we get about 6 or 7 new “good” players I am afraid we are going to be subjected to more and more of these pathetic displays followed by excuses.
Aside from the fact that Suarez was the only player who turned up at the game yesterday, Liverpool are still suffering from the same problem they have done for the last 6-7 years. WE HAVE NO WINGERS. I don’t know what it is about our managers who seem obsessed with central players.
If its not central midfielders (Benitez had a real fetish for these, even when he had the world class pairing of Mascherano and Alonso he was still looking to bring in Barry etc.) then its centre backs, and occasionally a striker. Look at every other quality team in the prem and the players they have had in the last 5-6 years:
Chavski: Robben, Duff, Malouda
Manure: Ronaldo, Giggs, Nani, Park
Arsenal: Walcott and any number of forwards capable of being wingers
Tottenham: Lennon, Bale (Two players we turned up the chance to sign)
Our only signing in this mould has been Babel… No need to say much more on him…
PLEASE Kenny recognise our complete deficiency in this area and sign some players with some pace and creativity for the wide areas! This has been the difference between us and the top teams. Its all well and good filling the team with grafters who ‘work for the team’, but we are Liverpool NOT Bolton, sign some soddin’ quality!
I believe that as from next season we will begin to see Gerrard in a more defensive role as he is no longer effective playing off the striker. I think Dalglish has realised this and therefore wants to bring in Charlie Adam
Gerrard is becoming more bad every year. He used to be a great player, but he loses to much balls in midfield nowadays. I hope he recovers from this downturn, but I have my doubts.