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Is it time for Captain Fantastic to hang up his cape?

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LFC captainIT’S almost treason to suggest that Steven Gerrard is no longer an automatic starter for Liverpool FC but perhaps, to get the best out of Brendan Rodgers’ tactics and team shape, the time has come for Captain Fantastic to hang up his cape.

At the start of the 2012-2013 season all fan’s knew that we were in for a rough ride initially, we were given a nightmare start to the season thanks to the fixture computer and we were left dreadfully short up front due to the transfer deadline fiasco.

We also had a new, young and in-experienced manager in Brendan Rodgers.

Rodgers likes to set his teams up in a 4-3-3 formation. He likes to play with tempo and for his teams to press high up the pitch.

He would have noticed that there was a serious lack of mobility in the Liverpool FC midfield and almost immediately shipped out Charlie Adam , Jay Spearing and Alberto Aquilani. He then spent £15million pounds on Joe Allen from his previous club Swansea City. Eyebrows were raised as it was a significant amount of money to be spent on a player that had only played in the Barclays Premier League for one season.

However, Joe Allen knew the way Brendan Rodgers liked his teams to play. Also, anyone who watched Swansea City the previous season could not have helped but be impressed with Joe Allen’s composure on the ball, awareness of what was happening around him and also his ability to win the ball back even though he is slight in stature.

With the loan signing of Nuri Sahin and the return of Lucas Leiva after long term injury it appeared that Brendan Rodgers had his first choice midfield for the start of the season.

However, with the Nuri Sahin deal only completed near the end of the transfer window he was severely lacking in match fitness and although Lucas Leiva came back from injury, a thigh muscle tear was soon to follow in the home game against Manchester City.

Brendan had a problem, he tried to supplement the midfield area with first Jonjo Shelvey and then Jordan Henderson. He also moved Joe Allen to a defensive midfield position to cover for Luca Leiva however more problems soon arose.

Steven Gerrard was struggling adapt his game to Brendan’s tika-taka style. Steven liked to get the ball and look forward on nearly all occasions, he didn’t want to slow the play by passing sideways and back. He preferred to try the risky cross-field pass, the longer ball into the channels or to the feet of the striker.

All of that went against Brendan Rodgers’ death by football approach.
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Teams also learnt to press high on Joe Allen at the base of the midfield 3 and he lost form and confidence. Although, how much of that is down to a shoulder injury he sustained we will never know.

All of which meant Brendan had to adapt and start playing a 4-2-3-1 with Steven Gerrard sitting alongside Lucas Leiva and either Jonjo Shelvey, Nuri Sahin or Jordan Henderson playing further forward and joining the front players in attack and being the first to press high when in defence.

What also happened was that Brendan Rodgers gave Steven Gerrard more licence to hit those long raking passes, to be slightly more direct than Brendan Rodgers wanted but he knew he had to get the best out of what he had at his disposal.

This was the theme for the rest of the season, there were some changes in personnel, Jordan Henderson came in and played very well and Nuri Sahin was sent back to Real Madrid. Jonjo Shelvey fell by the wayside a little and Joe Allen finally succumbed to his shoulder injury.

So, you may be asking why would it be time for Steven Gerrard to hang up his cape and no longer be a first choice player?

Last season we learnt that Lucas Leiva, Joe Allen and Steven Gerrard cannot play together in a midfield 3, they are all too one paced and unfortunately for Steven Gerrard his legs can no longer carry him around the pitch as quickly as Brendan Rodgers will want.

When Jordan Henderson played there was more energy, more pressing higher up the pitch and Jordan Henderson was happy to make more runs forward to supplement the attacking players.

This season Brendan Rodgers will want to play his preferred formation, that is a 4-3-3. He will want his team pressing higher up the pitch and hopefully he is looking at a replacement in the defensive midfield role to Lucas Leiva.

I would like to see Joe Allen and Jordan Henderson starting in the Liverpool FC midfield at the start of the season alongside Lucas Leiva or his replacement.

At all clubs there comes a time for evolution, the old guard hand the baton to the younger guard and this could be the time for Steven Gerrard to do that. He will still be a huge part of the squad and the club of course but perhaps it is time for him so follow the footsteps of Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes.

Of course it would be a huge decision for Brendan Rodgers to make, especially in the wake of Jamie Carragher retiring.

If I were a betting man I would say that Steven Gerrard will start more games than not up until Christmas, and after that point Brendan Rodgers will start phasing him out of the starting XI.

He will always be our Captain Fantastic but now is the time for someone else to take on the cape and the responsibilities that go with it.
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33 year old passionate Liverpool Fan and fan of football in general with no writing experience, happy to put my thoughts out there and get into friendly debate with anyone. Enjoying watching the Rodgers and FSG revolution taking place, expecting big things in 2013-2014. Living in Cardiff and from Wales, a former Police officer who in between watching and talking about football organises events for Charity.
Enjoy's the banter of fellow football fans and doesn't take life too seriously.

41 comments

  • The boys pen says:

    What a load of crap I would take gerrard playing on one leg over Allen or Henderson.people have got short memories Steve still got a good 2/3 seasons left in him at the top

  • Spike says:

    “James Fishlock” one of the great footballing tacticians of our time. . . .”drop your best player” – genius!! Also by follow in the footsteps of Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs – you mean continue to play for the next 6yrs until he’s 39? You are obviously clueless!!!

  • James Fishlock says:

    Cheers for the comment Spike, the point about Giggs and Scholes was that they have gone on until their late 30’s by not being first choice players, yes they have started games but a lot of the time they have been impact substitutes. Steven Gerrard is a Liverpool legend but I don’t personally think he is the best midfielder at the club to fit into the way Brendan Rodgers wants us to play in the future. That future could be this season or next.
    It’s all about opinions though.

  • garyLFC says:

    Gerrard is still our best player and can play anywhere and control games. He has so much influence so why would you drop him? stupid article.

  • trinity says:

    I really doubt if you are a Liverpool fan, first I think Henderson should be sold because we don’t need him, not even in the reserve team, Gerrard is far better to Henderson.

  • mario says:

    Brendan is our problem not stevieg u muppet!!

  • Jimmy says:

    It would be narrow minded to say there isn’t logic in the article because there is some sense, I agree with the comments saying Gerard is still one of our best players, but he simply isn’t fit enough, or won’t be for longer, to perform week in week out. We need someone to be ready to replace him, like fishlock has said, but Allen is certainly not the man for the job, there’s no star quality there, and Henderson has potential but he is nowhere near ready, and Lucas is defensive minded, Gerard is a tactician and creator. I like what Rodgers is doing, but the most important player he may ever buy could be Gerard’s future replacement to play week in week out, whether that be in 6 months or two years, however long we can depend on Gerard for

  • nma says:

    stevie g is wasting whats left of his career playing too deep in midfield. he is far more potent and influential playing in a more attacking role. we could revert to 4-4-2 mid-game if we need the result. push stevie up!

  • Brigadier says:

    Fat Frank Lampard still scores goals and wins things while playing an advanced role, while Gerrard gets wasted by clueless Brenda. Gerrard was always more mobile and athletic than Fat Frank but our manager cant manage him. Pathetic.

  • sungi says:

    brenda certainly is clueless as its no secret tht cpt fantastic is mo effective playing up front.lets not 4gt tht playing him alongside lucas was supposed to be temp
    measure till we find a better defencive link…..certainly I agree with previous writer…. stuuupid article indeed……no stevie no brenda as well.

  • Raam says:

    It is very obvious that Mr Fishlock is a Joe Allen fan. Good for him and thats his problem but asking SG not to play is obscene! He just needs support by good players around him. The better the player playing beside him,the better he gets. Even with all the troubles Suarez was causing,Gerrard enjoyed playing with him. Thats because of the aimilar animalistic drive he sees in Suarez. The dribe to win. Thats SG’s tonic. Superman can still fly without his cape Mr.Fishlock.

  • Raam says:

    Sorry for the mistakes. Similar not’aimilar’ and its drive not ‘dribe’. Sorry.

  • James Fishlock says:

    Once again, thank you for the comments and counter arguments. It’s safe to say I am a Liverpool fan. Steven Gerrard is an absolute legend in my eyes, however I am also a fan of Joe Allen and Jordan Henderson, sure they have not done anything in the game like Steven and they may never do. I just feel that constantly pinning all our hopes on a 33 year old who could well be being played out of position is wrong. If we got a top class DM then could we see more from Allen and Henderson? I would say yes. Would we see more from Steven? I would say yes also, the difference is we’d see more for about one season max, with Henderson and Allen we could see more for maybe 5 or more years. Just my thoughts and glad to have got you all talking. Cheers James

    • Tommy says:

      Joe Allen fan ? Really ?
      Are u Brenda Rodgers in disguise ?
      He is useless . Not good enough to be a premier player

    • GEORGE OWOLABI says:

      Gerrard should be played behind the top 9 not the role of DM. WE NEED supplementary DM to compete with LUCAS… Cheers

  • Mark A says:

    Joe Allen is pony. I’d boot his arse out the door and add him to the long list of crap we have bought. I’ve lost faith with Liverpool, we gamble in the transfer market on unknown players which is what every mid table club does. Who are Alberto and aspas? Yeah they might end up being good but they are just as likely to be crap too! Gone are the days we were linked with the world class players.

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