Gerrard will forever be a legend at LFC but it’s important to not dwell too long on his departure
The news that Steven Gerrard will be leaving his boyhood club at the end of the season has drawn mixed results from fans. Though criticism of the captain has only increased during the reign of Brendan Rodgers, there is no doubting that Gerrard has remained a club legend. The man is the heart and soul of Liverpool FC and has been for well over a decade.
So what will happen when he leaves?
The first issue will be the captaincy. The most obvious choice to succeed Gerrard will be Jordan Henderson, as the 24 year old is the current vice captain and has shown a great deal of determination and leadership qualities throughout his time at the club. In Gerrard’s absence for a period of last season, Henderson stepped up to plate and led the team with gusto.
Alternatively, there are other players with potential for the captaincy. Adam Lallana captained Southampton for two years on their rise to the Premier League before joining Liverpool. Lallana is a player that Rodgers very much likes, so it wouldn’t surprise me if he isn’t at least awarded the vice captaincy in place of Henderson next season.
Another with experience in leading is Mamadou Sakho, who captained PSG at 18 years old until their new rich owners bought the club. Considering that Sakho is probably our best defender at this point, you’d like to think that gives him a decent chance at the captaincy. However, it’s been made evident this season that Rodgers doesn’t really like Sakho; his current run in the team seems to be down to necessity rather than actual preference.
All in all, I’d expect Henderson to be named captain next season with Lallana made vice captain.
The second issue to be solved is the midfield, which has been a constant problem for Rodgers this season. Ultimately, I think Rodgers will look to Henderson in Gerrard’s absence. One of the team’s many problems this year is that Henderson has often been moved away from his preferred positions in order to directly help out Gerrard (such as partnering him in defensive midfield early on where his energy and pressing high up the pitch is lost) or more recently putting him out wide so that Gerrard can play in the centre.
While Henderson does a solid job as a right wingback, we saw against Swansea on Monday that Henderson does his best work in the centre of midfield. He could help out Lucas when he had to, but he isn’t required to babysit the Brazilian like he is with the captain. This gives him licence to help out with the attacking play and pressing off the ball, and Manquillo is perfectly capable of playing as a right wingback instead.
The departure of Gerrard may also finally persuade Rodgers to buy a defensive midfielder. At the beginning of 2014 Rodgers had decided to bank on Gerrard as the man to shield the back four, which brought with it a lot of issues that still haven’t been solved. We have Lucas available to play defensive midfield in Gerrard’s absence, but the
Liverpool fans will have almost endless memories about the captain’s contribution
Brazilian lost most of his pace when injured against Chelsea years ago and has been past his best for a while now. Rumour has it that we were prepared to offload Lucas to Napoli in the summer so it would seem that Rodgers doesn’t rate him highly anymore. Perhaps rather than rely on Lucas for decent defensive cover, we might actually go and buy someone who does a far better job at protecting our defenders than our current options.
The thing that Liverpool Football Club will miss most about Gerrard is his presence in the squad; the same as when Carragher retired. Gerrard is still viewed as world class by his fellow pros and is held in high regard as a result, with former LFC players only ever having good things to say about our captain and the influence he has within the squad. On the pitch there are several things we can do to make sure Stevie’s departure doesn’t hit too hard, but how the dressing room copes in his absence will be the most interesting thing to observe.
Gerrard will always be a Liverpool legend, but it would be nice if we didn’t spend the years following his departure bemoaning the absence of Captain Fantastic.
Idiot Rodgers doesn’t know how to manage him, look at Fat Frank at City, Pelligrini uses him sparingly in the right games at the right times. Rodgers is a mug.
gerrard managed the players last season, Not Rodgers . We take for granted that we have not had any primadonas in our team for so long as it would have meant crossing the standards and example Gerard sets . Let’s see how long it will take for players to show their discust at being substituted or being left on the bench or slag off the manager in the press once gerrrard leaves. Rodgers days are numbered
Gerrard was the biggest prima Dona himself! he couldn’t accept some bench time and that’s why he is moving away!!!
no wonder BR has been forced to play him throughout since he was afraid of fan backlash in case things went wrong
I personally think this is close to the truth.
You think Gerrard is a prima donna? Have you not read all the tributes pouring in from players, ex players and rival players as well as numerous managers who say he is humble and professional?
Btw how is BR handling Balotelli, Mignolet, Borini, Lambert, Lovren etc???
Wrong. If BR isn’t man enough to pick his own selections than that shows what a wuss he is.
Majik, i think you can’t differentiate between a prima donna and a leader of men. There are some players who would throw the biggest tantrums for just not getting a cake, now that is a prima donna.
For our Captain, he bailed us out time and again and showed leadership when none was available, including from his team mates and our con artist manager.
Stevie is a local lad, Captain of our team and had Never let us walk alone. He deserves more respect, certainly much more than con artist.
Think about what you said and reflect, is this how you would treat one of our, if not our greatest player of all time.
saying Gerrard is/was a prima donna just shows that some fans have the intelligence of a 2year old child , and im insulting the child here !! hes never complained when being dropped in the past, he is agreeing that the premiership is too demanding for him at his age and he reads how many fans dont want him in the team which must hurt. He still wants to play football regularly while he can so needs to move to lower level. Majik , when your boss tells you one day he doesnt need you full time , just part time after you gave hime 15 years of proffessional service dont look for another job as it will make you a premature donna !
Huge blow to the club. He wasn’t managed properly. Look at Giggs and his final years. Not too many games played/started and finished. GERRARD was expected to carry the team still in his thirties.
I said in the summer, 120 million is replacement for suarez, Gerrard and fix the defence. None of the above happened. Hence we are struggling . How will we cope? I dread to think
As for prima donnas and managers fav…see Allen, see the treatment of Reina , see their replacements etc. Rogers has made mistakes by bucket loads . Too many to list