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Football News: Steven Gerrard: Why Liverpool Will Miss The Man But Not The Player

Steven Gerrard: Why Liverpool Will Miss The Man But Not The Player
Image from: redandwhitekop.com

The media has gone into a storm in the last 24 hours. Who is the man at the centre of the cyclone? You guessed it, Steven Gerrard. With it now confirmed that "Mr Liverpool" will be leaving the club at the end of the season, Liverpool fans are completely split emotionally. Is it the right thing for the club? Or are we losing our best player?

For the last 15 years Gerrard has been the face of the club. The word legend has very rightly been mentioned in the same breath as him virtually every time he is discussed. He has scored so many iconic goals that you could run an entire 'Best Premier League goal' competition with just those he has scored. He has dragged Liverpool across the finish line on so many occasions throughout his glittering career.

Of course, all the talk from Liverpool fans is about how you replace such an icon. I personally don't think replacing him as a footballer is necessary though. Since around 2010 Gerrard has been a mere shadow of the player he once was. His stature has made most of the world blind to it though. The fans still worship him as though he is the teams best player. His team mates still rely on him to produce moments of magic. Every manager in the last 15 years except Kenny Dalglish has built the team around him (and to be honest that was only because he was injured for most of the King's second coming). We don't need the next Steven Gerrard, we need the first Jordan Henderson or the first Emre Can! We need to let whoever comes into the team become themselves and not constantly cling to the past. Gerrard doesn't need replacing any more than Kevin Keegan. The past is the past, and the future should be left to those who will be a part of it.

Gerrard is so powerful at Liverpool because of what he has done that nobody has been able to take a step back and just judge him based on what he is currently offering the team. His stature has put him on a pedestal where he cannot be touched. When he plays though, the midfield is noticeably more static and the defence receives little to no protection. That has primarily been Brendan Rodgers' fault for persisting with him out of position. Gerrard has always been an attacking player. For some reason Brendan Rodgers came in and decided that Gerrard could play in between the centre backs though and it has made the team absolutely calamitous at the back. When the team had Suarez and Sturridge pulling the strings up front, these defensive deficiencies were masked. Liverpool could just outscore the opposition and Gerrard's passing range actually allowed us to counter attack far quicker. Last season Gerrard was statistically very good. He grabbed a lot of goals and assists. However nearly all of his goals came from the penalty spot and most of his assists came from set piece deliveries. He wasn't offering enough from open play. This was the exact reason why Liverpool fans hounded Charlie Adam out of the club! Again though, this wasn't necessarily because Gerrard was not good enough, but because he was being utilised out of position. Gerrard spent the best years of his career playing behind the striker either in the centre or on the right hand side. He never bossed a midfield because that wasn't his game. Rodgers was naïve to think he could change Gerrard into something else so late into his career. Very few players are asked to do that, and even fewer ever achieve that feat.

Essentially, Liverpool have been carrying Gerrard for the last 4 years at least. In Gerrard's defence, he carried us for the best part of a decade. There is no room for sentiment in football though. There is not a single Liverpool fan who does not like Steven Gerrard, and rightly so. It must be said though, that Gerrard has been holding the team back; particularly this season. It is hard to know what is going on in his head, but it seems as though the slip against Chelsea last season (that basically cost Liverpool the title) has taken a mental toll on him. He isn't even offering the excellent diagonal passes, or the vocal leadership that he did last season. His set pieces seem to have taken a dip as well. Whilst he is still reliable from the spot, it's difficult to justify playing him purely to take penalties when he so clearly has a detrimental affect to the rest of the team when utilised in a deeper role. He could still offer us something in an advanced position, but is he really better than Coutinho, Lallana or Sterling?

The really sad thing about all of this is that if he had been managed correctly and used sparingly in his best position, he could probably still be influential for us similar to how Frank Lampard has been for Manchester City.

In my opinion, Gerrard does not need to be directly replaced. Liverpool's biggest problem for the last 4 or 5 years has been that they had previously spent so long relying on one man whom the team had been built around. Once Gerrard's age caught up with him, the whole team looked lost and devoid of an identity. Last season, the magic of arguably the best front 2 since Thierry Henry and Dennis Bergkamp dragged Liverpool into a title race that they had no right to be in. An impressive philosophy aided the excellent run Liverpool embarked on in the second half of the season, but that philosophy was largely made possible by the 'SAS' (Suarez and Sturridge). Gerrard still caused problems at the back as is proven by the appalling defensive record the team had. Not all of Liverpool's defensive deficiencies were Gerrard's fault, but he certainly didn't help the situation.

I am a strong believer that once Gerrard is phased out, players like Henderson, Lallana, Can and Flanagan will step out from his shadow and show us all what they are capable of in terms of both play and leadership. It will also allow Liverpool to play a more balanced team rather than constantly trying to accommodate a legend. Legends are better off being left in the past and reflected on. For too long Liverpool FC has relied on History and status and Gerrard epitomises everything right about the club, but also everything wrong about the club. At some point, Liverpool need to move on. Gerrard has very rightly made the decision for Liverpool by choosing to leave in the summer. I would like to think he has become self aware of the detrimental affect he has on the team and has selflessly opted to put the team first and move on.

I implore all Liverpool fans across the globe, don't remember the Gerrard of the last 4 years. Remember the Gerrard of the 10 years before that; Captain fantastic. He will forever be a club legend. It is time for somebody else to take the mantle though. However, we should not build the team around a single player, but instead around a philosophy. There is no 'I' in 'team'. Liverpool would do well to remember that going forward. A cohesive unit will always defeat a one man team over the course of the season (Atletico Madrid showed that last year by snatching the title away from Messi and Ronaldo). No single player can ever be allowed to become bigger than the club again at Liverpool.

Thank you Steven Gerrard for everything, and I genuinely hope that you find success wherever you end up. You will be sorely missed as a person and forever be my childhood hero.

Written by Adam Jones January 02 2015 14:14:09