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What do you think of when you think of Steven Gerrard? Do you see the G-Force in your mind’s eye, the most crusading, pulsating, take-the-game-by-the-scruff-of-the-neck midfielder of his generation? Do you see the man described by Jamie Carragher as the “best-ever Liverpool player” and by Zinédine Zidane in 2009 as “maybe the best in the world”? Do you see the force of nature who has almost single-handed dragged Liverpool from mid-table mediocrity to top-four contention season after season; the player who, in the dying moments of one of the most exciting FA Cup Finals for years, scored an unforgettable blockbuster; the talisman whose self-belief and brilliance galvanised the Miracle of Istanbul? Or do you, like me, almost against your own will, find yourself with other thoughts and images? Do you see Gerrard in Bloemfontein and the weary trudge off the pitch after humiliation against Germany? Do you see the disappointments in so many international competitions when the present England captain and his team-mates were found out at the highest level? Do you find yourself wondering how fans from outside Merseyside (and England) would react if you attempted to make a case for Gerrard as the leading light of England’s supposedly Golden Generation? Do you ponder whether it is quite appropriate to talk about Gerrard as a truly great midfielder when players such as Andrés Iniesta and Xavi Hernández have been quietly winning World Cups and European Championships? In some ways, Gerrard is one of the most contradictory players of his generation. He will receive his 100th cap for England today, giving him a kind of immortality. Liverpool supporters, almost unanimously, would acknowledge him as one of the two outstanding players (alongside Kenny Dalglish) in the club’s history. Most home-grown coaches would argue that he has taken the English orthodoxy of the crusading midfielder to its most elevated plane. When you think of Roy of the Rovers, you think of Gerrard in Liverpool red. But only a fool would ignore the doubts about him as an authentically great footballer, and not just because of his inconsistency for England. The comparisons with Iniesta and Xavi are apposite. The two Spaniards have taken the concept of midfield football to a new place altogether, and one that exists beyond the comprehension of most English coaches. It is a vision of minimalism, the accumulation of advantage, and dominant possession. It is a more enlightened approach — and more successful. Perhaps Gerrard loyalists would say that he had no other choice than to seek to impose his will unilaterally on games because, so often with Liverpool, he was playing with team-mates well below his level of skill. They would also point out that, when it comes to England duty, Gerrard has too often played out of position. And they would doubtless argue that if the 32-year-old had been given the opportunity to play with Barcelona and Spain rather than Liverpool and England, he would have won many more trophies. I am not so sure. I doubt Gerrard would have made either the Spain or Barcelona first teams, particularly in recent years. His first touch is not sufficiently sublime, and neither is his capacity to offload instantaneously the ball to a team-mate (a skill constructed on an awareness of the relative position of other players on the pitch and assisted by the constantly swivelling head so familiar with this generation of Spanish footballers). Such things are less vivid and noticeable than a blockbuster shot or pass, but, in the appropriate context, infinitely more important. There is no doubt that Gerrard has proved himself capable of doing almost everything that has been asked of him by his coaches. The problem is that, all too often, they were asking the wrong questions. And this explains the essential contradiction of a player who is considered a deity by Liverpool fans, a footballing immortal by many English fans, but who is admired but rarely revered across the Continent. Gerrard is paradoxical in other ways, too. In a world of mercenary tendencies and manufactured loyalty, he has remained at his boyhood club for an entire career (despite many temptations). He has played 601 games for Liverpool across 14-plus years, placing him at tenth on the all-time list. That is worthy of deep admiration. The back story of a boy who journeyed from the streets of Huyton to the captaincy of his nation is also inspirational. But Gerrard has always craved more than the usual quantum of acclaim. He would like to be compared with the top players in the world and, for a while in the middle part of his career, it looked as if he might take the requisite leap. But the truth is that he never quite made it. When Zidane compared him favourably with Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo three years ago, it did not sound flattering so much as plain odd. Gerrard’s excellence for Liverpool has all too often been compromised by his inconsistency for England. His moments of brilliance have illuminated many afternoons, but they do not add up to greatness at a world level. He is the most accomplished English midfielder of his generation, but he has been outflanked by a small group of pioneers who have reinvented the game at his (and England’s) expense. For all his brilliance and heroism, the G-Force has not quite made the A+ grade.

November 14, 2012
288 replies

Man of the match

beemer replied to Morse 's topic in Liverpool FC

Allen Gerrard Downing

August 31, 2012
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