There is a certain myth around Liverpool FC that needs to be broken, a lie that we tell ourselves as Liverpool fans that we need to stop pervading, and it is that some senior players can do no wrong.
When Liverpool perform well these players are lauded; praised for their awesome influence on ordinary mortals that made these secondary players perform above their usual level.
They may have provided no goals, assists or even any defence-splitting passes, or match-winning tackles, and they may, themselves, have performed decidedly averagely but it will have been them that instigated the win, nonetheless.
However, when the result goes badly or the team performs badly, they are exonerated of all blame and it’s as if they weren’t even on the field when the game took place; Lucas, Skrtel, Ngog or another ‘lesser’ player will be the fall guys instead.
At the moment, there are three players that are performing well, well below par on a regular basis and have so far – mostly – avoided criticism, or been dropped.
For so long, Liverpool FC fans have dreamed of a team of Carraghers. Now, sadly, seeing even one Jamie Carragher in a Liverpool side is an indication that errors may be made and the defence may be shaky.
That is not to say that the defensive fragility Liverpool have shown this season is entirely Carragher’s fault; it isn’t, but he has become a shadow of himself in the past 2 months.
Whether or not our vice-Captains performances are just a symptom of wider problems or not, the simple fact remains: he needs to be dropped, if not least of all for the good of the team but also for the good of his own confidence.
A spell out of the first team – however much he might resent it – can only be good for Carragher’s mental state of mind.
For so long he has been un-droppable, and not for a moment is that to suggest that Jamie has let his performance drop through laziness, or feeling overly secure in his position but he has become stale, irritable and when Liverpool come under pressure he is beginning to resemble a wild man; screaming at officials and blaming his team-mates for his own mistakes.
He is making more mistakes than usual; showing uncharacteristic lapses in concentration and needs to be taken out of the fray, at least for a few weeks.
Give Agger his place back and see what Skrtel and Agger can do together to shore up a leaking defensive line. At the age Carragher is at now, any serious drop in form could be permanent if left to deteriorate further, and if Agger is not given games soon, we could risk losing them both.
Secondly, Steven Gerrard needs to take a moment to address what is happening with his performances and his inconsistent form. One minute, he’s scoring two goals in 10 minutes against Man Utd, the next; he’s going missing for entire games at a time.
I’m well aware of Gerrard’s match winning attributes, and if it hadn’t been for his goals in the past 2 league games, the results would’ve looked much worse than they did by the end but had the Captain been performing, marshalling his troops and just generally putting in a good shift himself, then it’s likely that the results would never have needed ‘saving’ in the first place.
Now, this is not a slight on Gerrard’s abilities, his value to the team or his status as a genuine, rock-solid world class midfielder but at times last season was perhaps his worst in recent memory and this season has started similarly.
If his goals contributions of the past couple of weeks are not to be a wasted catalyst, then our Captain needs to be the man to stand up and be counted, and give the rest of the side – lost, disillusioned and seemingly bereft of guidance as they are at the moment – an example (and one that has, all too often, not been there lately) to follow.
An alternative to this would be to take the Captaincy away from Gerrard, pass it to another well-respected team-mate; who is capable of leading from the front (or back) – Reina.
The freedom Gerrard would be given could enable him to concentrate solely on getting his own game back in order. As big and as hard as he may be Gerrard is one of our most mentally fragile players.
Whatever the reason may be, something is affecting his form, in terms of game-to-game consistency and cannot be allowed to influence the rest of the side by proxy.
Gerrard is our best player that much is fact but he cannot be allowed to escape criticism; not if we are all to remain in our belief that no man is bigger than the club.
Finally and perhaps least controversially: Fernando Torres.
There is not a great deal to be said of Torres recent performances. Simply, the man needs to take a very long, hard look at himself. His performances this season have been somewhere between lame and abysmal; he looks disinterested, stroppy and is beginning to look like he doesn’t want to be here.
We are all aware that he has had promises made to him (about the signing of top class players) and broken, and he feels lied to but so do we, as fans, yet we haven’t thrown a strop, stopped turning up at the game and cancelled our Sky subscriptions, we’ve remained loyal and tried to stay as optimistic as possible.
If he wants to leave (for whatever reasons), that is perfectly fine, he should be allowed to leave but there are over 3 months until the January transfer window opens and he needs to start performing like we know he can and stop acting like a spoilt child who hasn’t got his own way.
We expect more from Fernando, he is one of those few, genuinely decent footballers, or so we can hope. What we don’t need is another Mascherano situation, one drawn out until next year.
There are those that would argue that Torres’ recent injury problems are the cause of his performances but this would never be in question if our star striker was actually showing any desire to even be on the pitch.
We have seen a Torres with injury doubts devastate opposition for Liverpool and Spain in the past. A bad performance or two is easy to swallow, what isn’t, is a lack of interest in even showing up; that is unacceptable.
All three of these players are crucial to Liverpool’s upturn in form, should it materialize. At the moment, all three are playing in the shadow of their own personal issues, all to the detriment of their team and team-mates.
Being a leader is a privilege for sure, but it is also carries heavy responsibility.
You do not get to pick and choose when you lead and when you don’t; just as you can’t take all of the benefits that come with being held in such high regard and then pass the buck on when the blame is being handed out.
Pretty soon, we are going to need to see a return to expected standards from the three that form the spine of our team, or heads will need to roll.
http://lINKA nice piece.
A very different view from the intensely popular opinion.
Now all we need is a fierce and fearless manager.
