After a cagey start to life under Kenny Dalglish, the embers of a revival were starting to flare up, but after the showing against West Ham, we were firmly put back in our place, and rightly so.
The display was something we all know Liverpool had in them. Too many players going missing and the usual scapegoats being made, well, the usual scapegoats.
Two players that stood out, in terms of absolute worthlessness though, were Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher. This might sound like a strange shout, but it’s all about perspective.
I’ve heard many many fans slating David Ngog, sometimes fairly, sometimes unfairly, and I’ve felt the brunt of criticisms of Lucas over and over along with Kyrgiakos. There is a difference between the nagging comments of these three players, who cost £7.5m in total, to the ‘invaluable’ combo of Gerrard and Carragher.
These stalwarts, the so called life-blood and embodiment of all things LFC, have been off the boil for too long now, and in Carragher’s case, never quite had the ability to cut it at the peak. If this is the backbone of Liverpool Football Club, then we are suffering from a broken back.
The silence, when it comes to the analysis of the two English players is deafening. I don’t mean to be sensational when I write, just for the sake of it, but I cannot be the only one who feels Liverpool might better off without them (proper investment permitting).
First up, Jamie Carragher. A player who, after reading his autobiography, has a lot of self worth it seems. His ability to read a situation and make a possible saving challenge is unquestionable. He is highly competent at doing so. But, from a footballing standpoint, he is not good enough. His distribution is atrocious. Soft, 30-yard chipped balls up to anybody who is up front is not good enough. The ball inevitably comes back straight away, possession it seems is not an option when Carragher has the ball at his feet.
I can see an immediate future for the centre back, dogged defending is his forté and when he stands alongside Daniel Agger, it can work. But when paired with anybody who can’t use the ball well, i.e. Martin Skrtel, he may as well be standing on one leg. For a professional footballer, I find it shocking.
If Jamie Carragher did not carry so much fanfare, then I would be able to accept his deficiencies. It’s all too common for other players to be lambasted, and Carragher to be let off the hook. If you’re wondering where I’m coming from, the next time Liverpool play, just look at how good ol’ JC uses the ball. I only pray Agger is present to hold his hand through it.
Deep down, maybe I have a grudge against him, but one exert in his autobiography forever turned me from being endeared to him. After taking some criticism from a journalist in a local paper, Carragher judged it unfair, and then infers that a phone call was made resulting in nothing critical being written again, if that’s not blinding arrogance I don’t know what is. I can see why successive England managers overlooked the Bootle born defender. His heart is there, his head is there, he has the organizational skills to be a leader, but his ability lets not only him, but the team down.
Secondly, with one of the worst displays I’ve seen from any club captain in the last couple of years, Steven Gerrard.
After strutting about the pitch for 94 minutes having no more than a shot and a couple of flicks, Gerrard embodied his last two seasons. As I said with Carragher, these performances don’t ‘grind my gears’ individually, it’s the combination of people being unwilling to question the ‘icon’. Those most guilty of this are the pundits we see on every live match, paid to be critical, but forever taking the easy road out.
Quick to lay into the smaller fish out there for Liverpool, not undeservedly, it’s the unwillingness by the likes of Jamie Redknapp, Phil Thompson, Paul Merson, and anybody who seems to have a say on LIverpool, to really see the gaping hole that Steven Gerrard leaves behind when played in his ‘favourite role’.
Rafa Benitez could see it, and so could Fabio Capello. Gerrard, although a great player in his own right, Gerrard does not do the ‘team’ any justice. Tactically he leaves gaps.
This is the main driving force behind Benitez deploying Gerrard up front, free of any responsibility, the ‘influential hero’ could do what he liked, and he did it very well.
The press, it seems, were adamant Benitez had it wrong and only in central midfield would we see the true Steven Gerrard. Well, if this is the true Steven Gerrard, throw him back up front, please.
In the West Ham defeat, once Meireles went off, Lucas Leiva was left to deal with three midfield runners. An impossible task. The Brazilian wasn’t helped by his skippers absence in the game and duly took the criticism for a poor performance. Silly old Lucas, didn’t you get the memo? You’re in a no-win situation.
This is becoming an all too familiar sight now at Anfield and on the road. 2008-2009 saw Gerrard undoubtedly hit his peak. His partnership with Torres during that season was the most prolific in Liverpool history and both players looked fired up all season. Since then, the captain has looked a nomad lost in a talentless desert.
I’m not sure what it is that makes Gerrard tick, whether it’s proper motivation from a manager or what’s going on in his family life, but the skipper has not looked the player he was for a long time now, and that brings into question his worth to the team.
Our current squad dictates that both he and Jamie Carragher have their places almost guaranteed, but this comes from a lack of competition which for me, could be the reason their performances are so indifferent.
When it comes to summer dealing and planning, traditionally, managers have not felt the need to look into signing direct competition for these players, they simply buy ‘reinforcements’.
This has, over time, become a dangerous strategy. It seems to me, dear reader, that both Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher have become too big at Liverpool, they are now untouchable.
We need someone at the helm who is bigger than them both, and can hold sway in any power struggle, luckily, that man is already there.
Kenny Dalglish, you’ve got a few big decisions to make come the summer. Rant, over.
By Chris Severs
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