The heartache of Steven Gerrard

Most neutrals will remember Steven Gerrard’s season in one excruciatingly embarrassing moment: a slip. That slip. The moment where we arguably lost the title in some kind of cruel jape by the footballing gods that saw Gerrard watch helplessly as that first Premier League title squirmed out of his grasp.

Liverpool fans will remember it differently. Of course, no one harbours any feelings of anger toward him for that error; it’s one of those things, unlucky moments that unfortunately happen to even the most talented and hardworking of players. No, Liverpool fans will remember Gerrard for his inspirational leadership that took a team from challenging for a top 4 spot to challenging for the league. That team talk after the Norwich victory was one of the most hair raising and inspiring speeches I’ve seen in recent times, and it illustrated once more just how important our captain is.

Because it’s easy to forget that at the beginning of the season, people were starting to think of Gerrard as a problem that needed to be solved; or worse, snuffed out. Coming off the back of unconvincing performances in Rodgers’ debut season, fans were wondering what Gerrard’s future was in this team.

Now in his early thirties, Gerrard no longer had the legs to play further forward in an attacking role, nor could he be the box-to-box midfielder that he used to be. Brendan Rodgers was seemingly struggling finding a place for Gerrard in his side, but also unwilling to drop such an influential member of the squad.

Despite good results in the first half of last season, the problem persisted. Gerrard was plonked in the middle of midfield with no specific role to play and clearly trying to take on too much for a player of his age and in his position. The problem became more obvious when the team actually ended up playing quite well when he got injured in Autumn, most notably during the incredible 5-0 win away at Tottenham in his absence.

When Rodgers elected to reinvent him as a deep-lying midfielder, Reds fans were still not convinced. He didn’t look entirely comfortable defensively in the 5-3 victory away to Stoke, and he looked completely out of his depth against Aston Villa until Lucas was subbed on to help him out.

But Rodgers persisted, and soon Gerrard adjusted. Finally, he had his place in the team; a role going forward. Dubbed ‘the Pirlo role’, he sat back deep in midfield protecting the defence and pulling the strings for the rest of the team going forward, inspiring the team to success every week.

How heartbreaking it was for him that this season ended the way it did. Gerrard is now 34 years old; he doesn’t have many campaigns left in him. But luckily, due to his legendary skill and adaptability, he has extended his footballing career by another two – perhaps three – seasons.

I’d say that’s more than enough time to complete his collection. Wouldn’t you?