I accept what you are saying Swab and i know what you mean.
My big problem is that Gerrard always takes the majority of the flak for the many sub-standard performers we currently have in the team and there are many of them. We saw the same thing happen with Carragher in his last Season and it F***ing made me sick. People calling for the head of a Club legend is not on in my opinion. Isn't it ironic how sh*t our defence has become since Carragher retired?
One of my points is that as a DM he is being shackled or caged, his natural game is being suppressed and that is down to the manager. Gerrard has still got a lot to offer as a complete midfielder because that is what he is and always has been. It is up to our manager to get it right and i pray that he does.
Somebody mentioned earlier that if the return of Sturridge doesn't pay off then we could be in serious trouble. I think it stems a lot deeper than that, our defence is still a major issue and i would hope that is Brendan's main concern. I most certainly think that the return of Sturridge will give the whole Squad a confidence boost, but it's going to take a lot more than that to fix this problem.
Apologies for going round the houses a bit here, but it comes together for the point I'm trying to make.
Before I joined this forum I read back through a lot of old threads, and saw a few recurring themes regarding Carragher.
It seemed that every season there were people saying his legs had gone, that he wasn't the player he had been, that his lack of pace was exposing us too much (he never had much to begin with) etc etc
Now I'll hold my hands up here and say that I was never Carra's biggest fan.
I never thought he was world class, but I could never fault his attitude and commitment.
The whole Rafa thing when he (allegedly) had people briefing the press left a sour taste, and I felt he had let himself and the club down.
At the same time though, once he stepped onto the pitch, I knew he would give it everything that he had, and none of us can ask for more than that.
I also knew that he'd always been a bit of a slow starter in the Prem, and that wasn't going to improve as he got older, and sure enough he got better and better as the season went on.
In many ways, he was the opposite of Gerrard.
I remember Redknapp jr saying in an interview how players loved to be up against Carra in training when as a young lad he first started training with the first team because he was slow, couldn't really tackle, couldn't turn etc and the senior players basically had great sport tying him in knots.
However, what happened next left a lasting impression on Redknapp jr. Carra went away, and instead of relaxing on the beach, put in a monumental amount of work and effort and came back for pre-season bigger, fitter, stronger, more muscular, and (crucially) more composed.
To sum up, he had to fight to prove people wrong from day 1 of his senior career, and it says a lot about his character that he continued to do it right up until the time he retired.
We also had another young player coming through the ranks, and people were just blown away by his talent, but also his pace, aggression and will to win. He also had to prove a few doubters wrong after not being picked to go to the FA school of excellence, but none of those who doubted him were at Liverpool.
Houllier had to rein him in a bit, but he was young and just doing what young lads with lots of money did back then.
Time and time again, he showed his class.
Yes, he flirted with chelsea a bit, but that was more a result of his own insecurity than anything else, and also down to that arch tw*t Parry, who was dragging his feet as usual, instead of getting on with what he was paid to do.
One of the best moments I've seen in football was during a game against man u, when there was a 50-50 and both Keane and Gerrard went for it, full blooded, holding nothing back. You could hear the smack as the 2 collided, but what happened next was that both players got up, Gerrard eyeballed Keane, and the hardest player of his generation gave a little nod of respect. A truly wonderful moment.
We're used to seeing him rip opponents apart.
We're used to seeing him hit 30 yard screamers.
We're used to seeing him put a player in the stands with a real (fair) crunching tackle.
We're used to seeing him rampaging through the midfield leaving opponents trailing in his wake.
We've also forgotten, that like Carra he can be a bit of a slow starter, but (also like Carra) he improved as the season went on.
I don't think his legs are gone as such.
I've said many times that his adductor injury when he had post surgery infections have taken a lot out of him, and that he simply can't do the things he could before that.
He's done brilliantly to modify his game, but
people still expect him to do the same things he did when he was younger, and I think that is the root cause of the criticism we see and hear.
It's hard for people to accept that a legend has the proverbial "feet of clay", but time marches on and catches up no matter how good a player is.
I've said that I have no worries about Gerrard regaining his best form, because just like Carra, he's been a slow starter.
My criticism of him as a captain may seem unfair, but I really do think that as a captain he needs to be much more vocal now that his ability to lead by example is declining.
He remains in the top 5 all time Liverpool greats, and is right up there with Souness as our best midfielder.
I'm not getting into a comparison here, because they have totally different attributes.
He has modified his game, I think he has it in him to modify his captaincy style, because now more than ever, we need him to show the new (and some established) players, exactly what it means to play for our great club.
