I know there's already some debate about it but I thought I'd start a whole new thread on it.
There's the myth going round that Gerrard never plays centre mid any more, or never plays well there, so I decided to look up the stats for this season with the games he played at centre mid, along with the team performance and the possession stats.
Evidently he plays in centre mid more than people seem to think, but most of them are at home which shows Rafa obviously thinks it’s a risk to play him there at times, which adds to the claims he’s not particularly good positionally.
Personally I think Gerrard had genuinely great games against West Brom and Stoke.
7 wins from 10 does imply that he isn’t a liability in midfield either, although obviously that’s slightly tainted by the fact it’s at home but still, I think it shows the term liability is exaggerating things no doubt.
Gerrard’s a top player, everyone can see that – his shooting, ability to cut through defences with raw pace and power and timing of runs into the box make him a massive threat goals-wise, and I think his set pieces are quite underrated too – quite a few goals have come from his free kicks or corners. His passing, dribbling, shooting and first touch all show his technical ability, which allied with his pace, power and drive makes him a great player all round. And yes, I do think his passing technique is good, he does give it away fairly often but that has more to do with his decision-making in that he looks for the forward pass too much, like Giggs, or even better Anderson I think the technique is there but their style doesn’t complement it.
Well he’s played just under half of his games in the centre this season, 38% of the matches. Last season he played 24 games in the centre – W-13 D-7 L-4 – which is more than half as he played 46 games in total. In 06/07 he played 24 games again – W-15 D-5 L-4 – from a total of 47 games, again just over half. In the 05/06 season he did get moved about more, only playing 17 matches in the middle – W-10 D-5 L-2 – out of a total of 44 matches which is quite a bit lower(39%).
All in all that’s 75 matches in centre mid out of a total of 163 matches including this season, which means he played 46% of his matches there since the start of 2005, i.e. in 3 and a half years.
Should hopefully put the myth that he never plays centre mid to bed.
There's the myth going round that Gerrard never plays centre mid any more, or never plays well there, so I decided to look up the stats for this season with the games he played at centre mid, along with the team performance and the possession stats.
54% - Everton(H) – 1-1, average performance from both Gerrard and Liverpool, popped up with a great goal mind.
74% - Bolton(H) – 3-0, great performance(from the team, Gerrard got two assists but was taken off early and was in and out of the game a lot).
67% - West Ham(H) – 0-0, poor performance from both, very wasteful.
52% - West Brom(H) – 3-0, good performance(and 2 assists for Gerrard)
64% - Wigan(H) – 3-2, mixed performance, very open and I think Gerrard should take some blame for that.
60% - Everton(A) – 2-0, good performance from the team, but I personally thought Gerrard went missing a bit.
76% - Stoke(H) – 0-0, very good performance but just lacking the killer touch(and a bit of luck, really)
? - Standard Liege(H) – 1-0, lacklustre performance all round.
62% - Middlesborough(H) – 2-1, average performance by the team but Gerrard was the main player trying to make something happen.
59% - Sunderland(A) – 1-0, what some people would call your typical Gerard game, plenty of last ditch blocks and shots from all round, but poor at doing the simple things right. Obviously this isn’t a typical performance from him, and it might have had something to do with him playing alongside Plessis.
74% - Bolton(H) – 3-0, great performance(from the team, Gerrard got two assists but was taken off early and was in and out of the game a lot).
67% - West Ham(H) – 0-0, poor performance from both, very wasteful.
52% - West Brom(H) – 3-0, good performance(and 2 assists for Gerrard)
64% - Wigan(H) – 3-2, mixed performance, very open and I think Gerrard should take some blame for that.
60% - Everton(A) – 2-0, good performance from the team, but I personally thought Gerrard went missing a bit.
76% - Stoke(H) – 0-0, very good performance but just lacking the killer touch(and a bit of luck, really)
? - Standard Liege(H) – 1-0, lacklustre performance all round.
62% - Middlesborough(H) – 2-1, average performance by the team but Gerrard was the main player trying to make something happen.
59% - Sunderland(A) – 1-0, what some people would call your typical Gerard game, plenty of last ditch blocks and shots from all round, but poor at doing the simple things right. Obviously this isn’t a typical performance from him, and it might have had something to do with him playing alongside Plessis.
Evidently he plays in centre mid more than people seem to think, but most of them are at home which shows Rafa obviously thinks it’s a risk to play him there at times, which adds to the claims he’s not particularly good positionally.
Personally I think Gerrard had genuinely great games against West Brom and Stoke.
7 wins from 10 does imply that he isn’t a liability in midfield either, although obviously that’s slightly tainted by the fact it’s at home but still, I think it shows the term liability is exaggerating things no doubt.
Gerrard’s a top player, everyone can see that – his shooting, ability to cut through defences with raw pace and power and timing of runs into the box make him a massive threat goals-wise, and I think his set pieces are quite underrated too – quite a few goals have come from his free kicks or corners. His passing, dribbling, shooting and first touch all show his technical ability, which allied with his pace, power and drive makes him a great player all round. And yes, I do think his passing technique is good, he does give it away fairly often but that has more to do with his decision-making in that he looks for the forward pass too much, like Giggs, or even better Anderson I think the technique is there but their style doesn’t complement it.
Well he’s played just under half of his games in the centre this season, 38% of the matches. Last season he played 24 games in the centre – W-13 D-7 L-4 – which is more than half as he played 46 games in total. In 06/07 he played 24 games again – W-15 D-5 L-4 – from a total of 47 games, again just over half. In the 05/06 season he did get moved about more, only playing 17 matches in the middle – W-10 D-5 L-2 – out of a total of 44 matches which is quite a bit lower(39%).
All in all that’s 75 matches in centre mid out of a total of 163 matches including this season, which means he played 46% of his matches there since the start of 2005, i.e. in 3 and a half years.
Should hopefully put the myth that he never plays centre mid to bed.
