'My game suffers when my position is changed'

[Rory Fitzgerald]

http://www.rte.ie/sport/soccer/2008/0907/gerrards.html

 

Liverpool and England midfielder Steven Gerrard feels his game has suffered because of his versatility.

 

The 28-year-old favours a central position but has frequently been used on the left and right with both club and country.

 

Gerrard told the Sunday Times: 'I've paid the price for being able to do a decent job in other positions.

 

'Other players don't get shunted around because they can't do it. I can't go and play on the right or the left and become Kaka or Robinho, I just go out there, give 100% and do a steady job.

 

'I'll work hard, do my bit defensively and help the team. That's why managers do it to me, but it is affecting me.

 

'My game suffers when my position is changed. I'm a central midfielder and in the big games I want to play in the middle and show that I'm one of the very best in that position.

 

'I've played in my favourite position for England five times in 68 games. What can you do? I go into training with England and try to prove myself every day.

 

'Every England manager I've worked under knows where I want to play, but they pick the formations and I play where I'm told.'

 

 

Gerrard will miss England's crunch World Cup qualifying clash with Croatia on Wednesday after undergoing groin surgery.

 

Liverpool boss Rafael Benitez was hoping his captain would be fit to face Manchester United next weekend, but Gerrard insists that is too soon.

 

'I've a decent chance for the Champions League game in Marseille [september 16],' he continued.

 

'I've spoken to the manager and told him I'd like to do a certain amount of training before I come back. I don't want to go into a big game only having had one session with the boys.'

[Guest Raisbeck]

Nice one Stevie, the journos will lap this one up!

 

GERRARD: MY POSITION FEUD WITH RAFA

Edited September 7, 2008 by Raisbeck

[Rory Fitzgerald]

Gerrard found it necessary to spell out such things to Benitez without equivocation. His position in the team, for example. “In the summer I looked him in the eye and told him where I want to play, which is centre midfield,” he said. “I told him that the way I like to play, you get the most out of me when I’m box-to-box, defending at one end, throwing in tackles, then getting my passing game going and getting to the edge of the box for shots. I find it difficult to play how I want to in the other positions.

 

“I love it when a manager says to me, ‘You’re playing in the middle, I want you to go and run this game’. That’s music to my ears. Rafa told me, when the Robbie Keane deal went through, that his plan was to play Keane behind [Fernando] Torres and to drop me back to play centrally. I know Rafa Benitez better than most people now and in some games he’ll ask me to play different roles, but he knows what I prefer.”

 

England, to his frustration, played him right or left, but rarely in the centre, and Gerrard believes this is because in the middle he requires a more defensive partner than Frank Lampard – a Didi Hamann or Nicky Butt type. He said: “When I played for Liverpool with Jamie Redknapp, I was the more defensive of the two, but when Didi came here he was an absolute dream for me. He helped take my game to the next level because he gave me the licence to go and express myself. You get the best out of me when I’m playing with a disciplined midfielder who gives me that freedom to play box-to-box. I can operate in a deeper role - I did it for England against Brazil at Wembley and got man of the match - but it’s not something I really enjoy.”

 

Ideally, he would have a Butt-type figure, rather than a Lampard as his partner. He explained: “Nicky’s strength wasn’t getting into the box and scoring goals, it was breaking up play. He was a stopper. He suits the type of player I am - as it would suit Frank Lampard or Paul Scholes.”

 

For England, and to a lesser extent with Liverpool, he had become resigned to playing everywhere but where he wants. “I’ve paid the price for being able to do a decent job in other positions,” he said. “Other players don’t get shunted around because they can’t do it. I can’t go and play on the right or the left and become Kaka or Robinho, I just go out there, give 100% and do a steady job. I’ll work hard, do my bit defensively and help the team. That’s why managers do it to me, but it is affecting me. My game suffers when my position is changed. I’m a central midfielder and in the big games I want to play in the middle and show that I’m one of the very best in that position".

 

“For Liverpool, I’ve played everywhere bar in goal: centre-half at Coventry, left-back at Maine Road and right-back nearly 40 times. Five or six years ago, I used to hate playing on the right or the left with a passion, so much so that I couldn’t prepare properly for the game. It really used to destroy me but as the years have gone by, because it has happened to me so many times under different managers, I’ve got to the stage where I block it out and do the best I can. There are two options: you can go out there and give it your best shot or go up against the manager, in which case there’s only going to be one winner.”

 

He estimates that 65% of his 400 appearances for Liverpool have come in the centre of midfield. And England? “Much less. I’ve played in my favourite position for England five times in 68 games. What can you do? I go into training with England and try to prove myself every day. Every England manager I’ve worked under knows where I want to play, but they pick the formations and I play where I’m told.”

Edited September 7, 2008 by Rory Fitzgerald

[Andy @ Allerton]

It'll be good to have him missing for the Manc game - recently he's been arguably our worst player against them - whatever we do when he's in the side (FA Cup aside) just hasn't worked.

 

Time to try something else anyway.

[chrisbonnie]

he wont gain any plaudits throwing his toys out of the pram like that

 

we`ve all seen him play in the centre of midfield, and i think we can accept, that, that is not his best position, he used to have the discipline to play there, but he hasnt had that discipline in years,

 

i cant get my head around those remarks to be honest, quite baffling

[Rory Fitzgerald]

Rafa told me, when the Robbie Keane deal went through, that his plan was to play Keane behind [Fernando] Torres and to drop me back to play centrally.

 

Do you think that Rafa still had Barry in mind when he told Gerrard this?

 

Now that Barry is not here and assuming Rafa sticks to his word, is this the attacking line up we could see more often than not

 

 

.......Mascherano Gerrard

 

Babel.............Keane..........Riera

 

.................Torres......................

[RP]

he wont gain any plaudits throwing his toys out of the pram like that

 

we`ve all seen him play in the centre of midfield, and i think we can accept, that, that is not his best position, he used to have the discipline to play there, but he hasnt had that discipline in years,

 

i cant get my head around those remarks to be honest, quite baffling

 

 

Do you really read that as him throwing his toys out of the pram?

[Benitez]

I hope the thing with Keane playing behind torres works, cos it'd be a damn expensive experiement if it doesn't. When Gerrard played there, it really DID work, it's where he's most productive. I'd rather they stuck with that tbh, but the club haven't spent 18m on Keane for him not to play a lot.

 

So Gerrard and Mascherano for midfield?

 

I don't really care or mind what he says about where he wants to play. Liverpool pay him crazy money to play wherever.

Edited September 7, 2008 by Benitez

[Rory Fitzgerald]

The whole interview from The Times - another excerpt below

 

 

“This time we’ve got to be in the title race with 10 games to go. Rafa knows that this is a big season for us, as far as the league is concerned. The fans are screaming out for it, the players want it and we need to deliver. If we’re out of the race again come January or February, there will be a lot of unhappy people around here, myself included.”

 

Winning the league would mean even more to Gerrard than the European Cup triumph of 2005. “The memories of Istanbul will go to the grave with me,” he said. “There isn’t a day goes by that I don’t think about it, but I want more memories. I want to get on another open-top bus and see another million people on the streets of Liverpool, acclaiming the league title. The city will explode if we win the league, and I don’t want it to happen when I’m retired. I’m 28 and realise the years are flying by. In November I’ll have been a first-teamer for 10 years and yet it seems like I only made my debut two or three months ago, I’ve enjoyed it that much. I want from 28 to 35 to be even better, and I feel my best years are ahead of me. I don’t want to retire and have just Istanbul and a couple of FA Cups to remember. It will be a disaster, personally, if I don’t win the league here.”

 

To do it, Liverpool have to be more positive, he felt. Manchester United and Chelsea had been afforded too much respect. “When we play them,” he said, “we’ve got to get the right balance between being organised and strong defensively, yet having the bottle to go and win. Going into these games negatively and too defensively, you can still lose, as we have done.

 

“Against Chelsea in the cups, we’ve ‘done’ them more than they’ve ‘done’ us, but in the league we have to be a bit more attack-minded to win. Over the last couple of years we’ve gone into games against United and Chelsea very organised tactically - defensive if you like - and still lost 1-0. Have the same sound defence and show more b0!!0cks going forward, and it could be 1-0 to us. In these matches the first goal is massive; if you concede it, nine times out of 10 you don’t get back. It’s important a few risks are taken to try to score that goal against these teams because it gives you such a psychological boost.”

Edited September 7, 2008 by Rory Fitzgerald

[chrisbonnie]

Do you really read that as him throwing his toys out of the pram?

 

yeah, i do, it sounds like he`s passing the book for when he has a bad game to be honest

[psl]

yeah, i do, it sounds like he`s passing the book for when he has a bad game to be honest

 

Which book is he passing?

[McBain]

Maybe so many mangers on so many occasions haven't played him in the middle of a 442 because the team suffers with someone so gung ho and positionally ill disciplined in there?

[kop205]

Hardly throwing toys out of the pram, butI do just wish he'd say 'I'll play where I'm told to' and keep any other discussions for behind closed doors (when it comes to Liverpool anyway - can say what the f*** he likes about England).

[Oli]

Maybe so many mangers on so many occasions haven't played him in the middle of a 442 because the team suffers with someone so gung ho and positionally ill disciplined in there?

 

Indeed. It seems Gerrard reads being played in a position other than central midfield solely as a compliment to his versatility rather than a critique of his ability to play in the middle.

[chrisbonnie]

Maybe so many mangers on so many occasions haven't played him in the middle of a 442 because the team suffers with someone so gung ho and positionally ill disciplined in there?

 

nail hit firmly on the head there Mcbain, agree 100%

 

he pretty much summed up really, by saying he was more defensive when he played with Redknapp, but then was able to drop his defensive issues, to a certain degree, once Hamann arrived, he was spoiled for so long now, he just doesnt track back enough

 

and PSL, what do you mean. "what Book", i think you know full well what im implying, he`s trying to shift blame, before its even happened

[yellow jumper]

Maybe so many mangers on so many occasions haven't played him in the middle of a 442 because the team suffers with someone so gung ho and positionally ill disciplined in there?

 

a point lovejoy completely ignores. it's a particularly weak piece of journalism.

[Gerry]

and PSL, what do you mean. "what Book", i think you know full well what im implying, he`s trying to shift blame, before its even happened

 

The point being the phrase is "passing the buck" not "passing the book". Not sure where you got the latter from.

[RP]

yeah, i do, it sounds like he`s passing the book for when he has a bad game to be honest

 

 

 

The book stops here.

[psl]

 

The book stops here.

 

[chrisbonnie]

The point being the phrase is "passing the buck" not "passing the book". Not sure where you got the latter from.

 

thanks for pointing that out

 

i always thought it was book, as thats what i was told in school

 

see what i did there? i passed the "buck", ala Stevie gerrard

[meepins]

oh brilliant. more play me in the middle sh*te and in the process lets neuter one of our best attackers.

[Stevie H]

i'm bored of hearing gerrard say this. he's patently not a bryan robson or paul ince style player, he's different gravy. and he's at his best in the final third of the pitch.

[Swipe]

Seems more of a dig at England than Rafa.

[Rimbeux]

Do you think that Rafa still had Barry in mind when he told Gerrard this?

 

Now that Barry is not here and assuming Rafa sticks to his word, is this the attacking line up we could see more often than not

.......Mascherano Gerrard

 

Babel.............Keane..........Riera

 

.................Torres......................

 

 

Midfield three and front three was my guess.

 

Also Gerrard does need to play one position 90% of the time rather than be used as a cure all for any position with a problem.

[Earl Hafler]

Gerrard found it necessary to spell out such things to Benitez without equivocation. His position in the team, for example. “In the summer I looked him in the eye and told him where I want to play, which is centre midfield,” he said. “I told him that the way I like to play, you get the most out of me when I’m box-to-box, defending at one end, throwing in tackles, then getting my passing game going and getting to the edge of the box for shots. I find it difficult to play how I want to in the other positions.

 

“I love it when a manager says to me, ‘You’re playing in the middle, I want you to go and run this game’. That’s music to my ears. Rafa told me, when the Robbie Keane deal went through, that his plan was to play Keane behind [Fernando] Torres and to drop me back to play centrally. I know Rafa Benitez better than most people now and in some games he’ll ask me to play different roles, but he knows what I prefer.”

 

[/b]

 

The main concern about Gerrard playing in this manner is that he doesn't have the discipline and it requires someone to permanently sit deep. Masch is probably the best in the world for that but then we'd also need wide players who could be relied upon - we don't have them, particularly on the right.

 

 

-----------Gerrard--------Masch------------

----Babel----------Keane---------Riera-----

 

Could that work ?

 

If Rafa did tell Gerrard that he intended dropping Steve back into central midfield then it's the only formation i can see that works