He was in many ways the poster child for those aesthetically pleasing cross-field passes, even if it’s fair to argue how much value they actually bring to an attack. As hinted earlier, he was able to make passes behind the backline either aerially or on the ground. Gerrard’s list of passes that he could reasonably generate was quite diverse. In comparison to other midfielders from his era who were more conservative and possibly left value on the table by forgoing these potential opportunities, Gerrard brought more value in this area because of his risk taking as a passer, which suited Liverpool’s style of attack given some of the issues that the club had under Rafa Benitez in breaking down low-block defenses. If he saw even the slightest opportunity to make a home run pass through a tight window, he would gladly attempt that pass. In particular, Gerrard was almost at the extreme end of pass difficulty. That viewpoint held up strongly when reviewing the film.
#Steven gerrard football story full#
To many, he’s one of the most dynamic passers that the Premier League has seen with a full array of deliveries in his repertoire.
But did his style of play ultimately confine him to operating best as a floor-raiser where he could soak up a high usage on offense to pull a limited team up a few pegs, or could he scale up and have his presence correlate positively with team results? Scouting ReportĪny talk about Gerrard as a player has to start with his passing. He clearly had a wide range of skills, which along with his athleticism, allowed him to be a force of nature when he was at his best. Perhaps that was slightly due to Liverpool finally ending their long drought for a PL title, and he was part of some of the heartbreak along the way, but I overall found him to be a fascinating figure. Given what this project has focused on, which is creating profiles on noteworthy players whose peak occurred in the 1990’s and/or 2000’s, it was hard to pass up the opportunity to write one on Gerrard. It was interesting seeing this discussion occur constantly from pundits remarking about him having to adapt to his new role to mitigate his declining athleticism, and the comparisons that brought on between Gerrard at that point of his career, and him at his apex in the 2000’s. That version of Gerrard had to reinvent himself as a holding midfielder who could orchestrate attacks from deep, which worked very well because of his passing abilities (we’ll get to that shortly), but his issues defensively were part of what ultimately doomed Liverpool‘s chase for the title. The last stand for him in many ways was that memorable 2013–14 season, his best opportunity to win the PL title with that electric but ultimately flawed iteration of Liverpool that nearly won the league by outscoring their way past their defensive woes. It helps that his relevance as a player spanned well into the 2010’s.
#Steven gerrard football story series#
Of all the players done in this series so far, Gerrard was the one that I had the most knowledge of beforehand. He helped create a new generation of Liverpool fans, and given his local roots, he almost singlehandedly carried the burden of trying to return Liverpool back to the top domestically. He is the most iconic player to wear the Liverpool kit since the glory days of the 1970’s and 1980’s, and he helped define an era of football that featured both amazing triumphs (three cup titles in 2001, 2005 Champions League, 2006 FA Cup) and heartbreak (2007 Champions League, Premier League runners up in 2002, 20). without dedicating ample time towards Steven Gerrard. It’s impossible to talk about the history of Liverpool F.C.