Steven Gerrard leaving Liverpool?

Talib Fiasco

Oh you were being serious...oh then f*cking lol @ the imagination

Talib Fiasco

Talib Fiasco wrote: »

I lol'd...well played

I know, wasn't that Rooney or did I miss a joke

niallo27

The equaliser against West Ham in the cup final was my favourite goal. I was right behind it. I didn't realise how far out he was at the time. Magic player. You can probably judge how good a player is by how much he is hated and going by this thread he is right up there as one of the best in the world.

8-10

niallo27 wrote: »

The equaliser against West Ham in the cup final was my favourite goal. I was right behind it. I didn't realise how far out he was at the time. Magic player. You can probably judge how good a player is by how much he is hated and going by this thread he is right up there as one of the best in the world.

Some strike. Love that goal. For whatever reason after that I just knew we wouldn't lose the shootout.

J Mysterio

Tributes to Gerrard here from current Liverpool team:

http://xtra.liverpoolfc.com/listicles/sterling-sturridge-balotelli-and-20-more-current-team-mates-pay-tribute-to-steven-gerrard

Turtyturd

Was never his biggest fan but some of the posts in here make me proud of what he stirs up in other fans.

Legend.

Talib Fiasco

8-10 wrote: »

Some strike. Love that goal. For whatever reason after that I just knew we wouldn't lose the shootout.

I got that feeling too. Regardless of all the f*ckups you just knew they were gonna pull it off. One of the best cup finals I've ever seen.

8-10

J Mysterio wrote: »

Tributes to Gerrard here from current Liverpool team:

http://xtra.liverpoolfc.com/listicles/sterling-sturridge-balotelli-and-20-more-current-team-mates-pay-tribute-to-steven-gerrard

Martin Skrtel - man of few words!!

Virtanen

Sad to see him go, but nobody can keep playing forever. I think it is the right time to leave. Such a shame he could never win the PL

Bandana boy

zerks wrote: »

My opinion had nothing to do with my post.Fact.

Before I was being a little glib ,but it is becoming more apparent you do not know what the word fact means !

That my friend is both the saddest and funniest thing i have heard in awhile

martingriff

niallo27 wrote: »

The equaliser against West Ham in the cup final was my favourite goal. I was right behind it. I didn't realise how far out he was at the time. Magic player. You can probably judge how good a player is by how much he is hated and going by this thread he is right up there as one of the best in the world.

There was a program on BBC 3 a couple of night ago about the best 50 moments in FA Cup history. He was on it and he said that the only reason he hit the ball from that far out was it was shattered and sore so just let it rip. If he was not he would have took it down and played it in.

Gbear

J Mysterio wrote: »

They deserved to win it last year, playing amazing football.

So did City.

Our games were just more entertaining because playing Gerrard as the deepest midfielder was a recipe for defensive atrocities.

It underlined a problem with Gerrard and I think it's what differentiates him from players like Keane and Viera.
Gerrard needed an engine in his teams and when he had that, he had license to do what he did best.

He was pretty good as a midfielder - he was the complete player from a technical standpoint. In a pinch he could do that job to a good standard but not to the standard of players liket like Keane or Scholes.

Generally you need both sorts of players to be successful, especially when it comes to the business end of knockout competitions. Xavi was the heart of Spain and Barca but Iniesta popped up and scored huge goals when nobody else was going to (Chelsea semi-final, WC final and so on).

That's what elevates him from a good all round midfielder to a minor deity in the eyes of Liverpool fans.
Driving us on in Istanbul, the goal against Olympiakos, the FA cup final and dozens of other examples are the stuff of legend. Plenty of players have a couple of those moments but he pulled them out of his hat all the time.

And they were all done with an almost reckless energy. It wasn't overly technical, cynical or rational. It just seemed like instinct.
That was part of his charm and contributed to the folklore around him.

You could argue that Scholes had more impact on the pitch over the course of a season, that Lampard scored more goals, that Xavi is the most accomplished passer of the ball of his generation and one of the greatest ever teams was based around that but I don't think there's anyone who has the number of career defining individual moments.

He was a walking highlight reel. Consciously you can accept that someone needs to do boring things like scoring tap ins, covering the full backs on the break and winning defensive headers but Gerrard is the sort of player that dreams are made of.
That doesn't mean he's "better" (whatever the **** that means when you're talking about wildly different players) but it's why he's seen as a hero.

smileyj1987

8-10 wrote: »

Martin Skrtel - man of few words!!

Stevie is special !!! What a tribute !!

Spazdarn

I'm prone to bouts of myopic thinking, but I can delete the last year or so from memory and remember him as one of Englands few World Class players of the last generation.

shamrock55

Steven gerrard is leaving the league we all love, we all as fans will never witness him playing in it again after this season, all the begrudgers and piss takers need to at least have the decency to recognise what he bought to english football for the last 15 or so years, the guy was one of the best to ever play in the premier league what he won or didnt is irrelevent, the guy was a legend .

Iused2likebusts

niallo27 wrote: »

The equaliser against West Ham in the cup final was my favourite goal. I was right behind it. I didn't realise how far out he was at the time. Magic player. You can probably judge how good a player is by how much he is hated and going by this thread he is right up there as one of the best in the world.

Ye It was one of those games he was trying to be a hero by scoring goals by taking shots the self indulgent so an so. Some of the arguments people make to try and discredit a player are laughable. A great player with lots of great attributes will be sorely missed.I couldn't care less who he was or wasn't better than up until very recently he was one of the better players in the league over a decade and a half. The hatred is funny by some.

SlickRic

my 2c on Gerrard.

i've heard a few too many people over the last 18 hours or so try to belittle Gerrard's stature as a player. it's fúcking nauseating. the man is, quite literally, only second to Kenny Dalglish as the greatest icon and player the club has ever had. Only Billy Liddell would come close, and none of us are old enough to have experienced those days.

yes, he didn't win the Premier League. I don't believe it's a travesty though. that would be ridiculously sentimental. the teams he played with weren't quite good enough. arguably only the teams of 08/09 and 13/14 ever had a realistic shot going into the season.

in his early years, right up to Istanbul, he was a superb box-to-box midfielder. He could run, tackle, pass, shoot, and perhaps most importantly, and the real sign of a special player, he could come up with that moment of inspiration when nobody else could. in Istanbul, yes, the introduction of Didi Hamann was crucial, but it wasn't Didi who took the game by the balls offensively and made something happen. it was Stevie who scored a 12/15 yard header into the corner to make it 3-1. it was Stevie who drove into the box and bought (yes, he dived) a penalty to help get us back to 3-3. it was Stevie who filled in on every position on the pitch to try and help get us over the line.

if his Liverpool career had ended on that night, really, his legacy at Liverpool would be pretty secure.

he could've gone to Chelsea, and arguably, for himself, he should have. he'd have won more trophies. he'd have played under the greatest manager (along with Fergie of course - steady on you Utd fans waiting to pounce :pac:) of the modern era. but he stayed, for whatever reason. some will say the burning effigies frightened him into it. i think that's a bit silly. i'm sure he was taken aback by those nutcases, but it won't have decided it for him at all. he chose to stay loyal, and keep performing for his boyhood club.

again, he drags us to an FA Cup; a trophy we had no right to win given the West Ham performance that day. but through sheer will, he got us to penalties (while following Liverpool, i've never let out a yelp like the one I let out when he scored the 35 yard volley), and we ended up winning. i believe no other player in world football at that time could have dragged Liverpool to the trophies he dragged us to.

he formed a deadly partnership with Torres. funnily enough, despite these years probably being his best, he didn't win a trophy during that time.

over the years, the man has dragged us through more games than I can remember. if there is ever a man that deserves the title of legend it is he.

i haven't even mentioned the amount of times he put Everton to the sword, and as some Utd posters have pointed out, he was always the main one that worried them when Liverpool faced off with Utd.

now people will point to his steady decline. i have to scoff. people point to how well Giggs and Scholes, for instance, continued to play into their mid 30s. well, Fergie knew how to handle them. there were many times Giggs and Scholes couldn't go for a dozen games in a row; he knew it. so rotated accordingly. Gerrard has not been afforded that. he's been mismanaged quite a bit in his later years IMO. last season he had a world class strike force stretching the play so he had all the room in the world to use his passing range. he also had Henderson beside him doing his legwork. this season he's been exposed, and his weaknesses, many of which come from getting older, have been accentuated. he still has a vital role to play, particularly if he's played further up the pitch. he can still do things more explosively than most.

look at how Frank Lampard has looked in his role at City.

i hope this is his decision. i hope he's doing it because he just really wants a change of scenery at the end of his career, and not because the last while may have convinced him that he can't contribute really positively to the team. if he's somehow been convinced of that because he's been overplayed and/or been played in a position he shouldn't be, well then that would be a tremendous shame.

Istanbul.
FA Cup Final 2006.
Olympiacos.

they'd be my top 3 moments. not surprising, but there you go.

he's probably the first real Liverpool legend that I've properly grown up watching.
i remember his debut.
i'll be around for his last game.
i'll have seen his whole career.

we'll be waiting a long, long time to fully replace him, if we ever can.

we thought Suarez was going to be a miss? his contribution to the cause was somewhat tangible. the hole that will be left by Stevie in the team, at training, on match day, just around the place, can't really be measured.

he's just about the most recognisable player in the Premier League, never mind just Liverpool.

he's a legend, and will go down as such.

next season's Anfield will be a strange, strange place.

I reckon Liverpool fans, including myself, really won't know what we've got until it's gone.

AdamD

The logic of 'the more opposition fans hate player X the better he must be' really doesn't wash. Joey Barton, Shawcross, Ramires, Wilshere etc. all must be world beaters in that case.

ThunbergsAreGo

Great post slickric, sums it up

Donnielighto

niallo27 wrote: »

The equaliser against West Ham in the cup final was my favourite goal. I was right behind it. I didn't realise how far out he was at the time. Magic player. You can probably judge how good a player is by how much he is hated and going by this thread he is right up there as one of the best in the world.

This isn't really true though is it? Aguero, top striker, plays for city, loads of utd fans rate him. Same with Scholes for plenty of fans. Who hates henry or zola?


I do think that it seems to many people that he was a bit selfish and that reflects poorly on him. His decision making wasnt always the best though and he did back himself when other options were available, something you want in a striker but not in a midfielder. I think that's reflected in the fact that he was at his best in the second striker role and attacking right midfielder where you have more licence to be selfish.

(selfish in this case isn't really a bad trait when that far up the pitch but it did impact on game control when played as a CM)

niallo27

niallo27 wrote: »

The equaliser against West Ham in the cup final was my favourite goal. I was right behind it. I didn't realise how far out he was at the time. Magic player. You can probably judge how good a player is by how much he is hated and going by this thread he is right up there as one of the best in the world.

Yes, and that's why Joey Barton is regarded as one of the best the E.P.L. has ever produced.

J Mysterio

Nice one SlickRic.

Donnielighto

Donnielighto wrote: »

This isn't really true though is it? Aguero, top striker, plays for city, loads of utd fans rate him. Same with Scholes for plenty of fans. Who hates henry or zola?


I do think that it seems to many people that he was a bit selfish and that reflects poorly on him. His decision making wasnt always the best though and he did back himself when other options were available, something you want in a striker but not in a midfielder. I think that's reflected in the fact that he was at his best in the second striker role and attacking right midfielder where you have more licence to be selfish.

(selfish in this case isn't really a bad trait when that far up the pitch but it did impact on game control when played as a CM)

You are ignoring the elephant in the room. Upwards of 90% (rough guess) of epl fans are (glory hunting ) Liverpool or utd fans and therefore they slag each other etc. Personally I know about 5 Arsenal fans, 1 city fan and no chelsea fans (Chelsea were nothing when I was growing up)

Of course (unfortunately) a thread about a Liverpool/Utd player will be polluted with hate as the vast majority of posters follow either team.

Good post Slick.

I'll miss Gerrard for sure, but will I miss the current 2014/2015 Gerrard

Honestly, probably not a whole pile (if a decent player is brought in..)

bad2dabone

Well he’s been a magnificent player and a legend for Liverpool.

All the best to him.

J Mysterio

SlickRic wrote: »

now people will point to his steady decline. i have to scoff. people point to how well Giggs and Scholes, for instance, continued to play into their mid 30s. well, Fergie knew how to handle them. there were many times Giggs and Scholes couldn't go for a dozen games in a row; he knew it. so rotated accordingly. Gerrard has not been afforded that. he's been mismanaged quite a bit in his later years IMO....

...he still has a vital role to play, particularly if he's played further up the pitch. he can still do things more explosively than most.

look at how Frank Lampard has looked in his role at City.

i hope this is his decision. i hope he's doing it because he just really wants a change of scenery at the end of his career, and not because the last while may have convinced him that he can't contribute really positively to the team. if he's somehow been convinced of that because he's been overplayed and/or been played in a position he shouldn't be, well then that would be a tremendous shame.

This is basically my final thoughts on his leaving. I wonder is he half leaving because of Rodgers insistance on playing him in that bloody controller role and how that could ultimately damage him as a footballer and taint his legacy.

He still has plenty to offer, just maybe not in a Rodgers team

Donnielighto

rarnes1 wrote: »

You are ignoring the elephant in the room. Upwards of 90% (rough guess) of epl fans are (glory hunting ) Liverpool or utd fans and therefore they slag each other etc. Personally I know about 5 Arsenal fans, 1 city fan and no chelsea fans (Chelsea were nothing when I was growing up)

Of course (unfortunately) a thread about a Liverpool/Utd player will be polluted with hate as the vast majority of posters follow either team.

I dont know, some players just rub up opposition fans the wrong way for some reasons. There are some top pool players utd fans wouldnt have an issue with, (alonso, hamann, carra etc.) I'm sure there are utd players that are fine to other clubs' fans and yet others who are reviled without strong reasons (rooney and evra?)

niallo27

AdamD wrote: »

The logic of 'the more opposition fans hate player X the better he must be' really doesn't wash. Joey Barton, Shawcross, Ramires, Wilshere etc. all must be world beaters in that case.

Why would anyone hate Wilshire or Ramires. Do any fans really hate Barton. To be really hated you need to be successful and ruin opposition fans days out by scoring unreal goals and brilliant performances. The reason the players you mentioned are not hated is because they are nothing players bar Ramires.

Blatter

niallo27 wrote: »

Why would anyone hate Wilshire or Ramires. Do any fans really hate Barton. To be really hated you need to be successful and ruin opposition fans days out by scoring unreal goals and brilliant performances. The reason the players you mentioned are not hated is because they are nothing players bar Ramires.

El Hadji Diouf was hated :pac:

Donnielighto

Donnielighto wrote: »

I dont know, some players just rub up opposition fans the wrong way for some reasons. There are some top pool players utd fans wouldnt have an issue with, (alonso, hamann, carra etc.) I'm sure there are utd players that are fine to other clubs' fans and yet others who are reviled without strong reasons (rooney and evra?)

Do people actually hate an opposition player though?

Dislike surely. Barton and Terry are probably two that stand out for me as dislikable chaps. Would I hate them ? No

Off the ptych I probably wouldn't have much time for 99% of footballers. Just enjoy the game they play. Couldn't care less if I never met another footballer in real life, bar a couple of Liverpool/Ireland players.

niallo27

Would Suarez nearly have melted this forum so many times if he was ****e.

Blatter

Blatter wrote: »

El Hadji Diouf was hated :pac:

That's probably true!

niallo27

niallo27 wrote: »

Would Suarez nearly have melted this forum so many times if he was ****e.

Oh no, this could get ugly!

Liam McPoyle

SlickRic wrote: »

my 2c on Gerrard.

i've heard a few too many people over the last 18 hours or so try to belittle Gerrard's stature as a player. it's fúcking nauseating. the man is, quite literally, only second to Kenny Dalglish as the greatest icon and player the club has ever had. Only Billy Liddell would come close, and none of us are old enough to have experienced those days.

yes, he didn't win the Premier League. I don't believe it's a travesty though. that would be ridiculously sentimental. the teams he played with weren't quite good enough. arguably only the teams of 08/09 and 13/14 ever had a realistic shot going into the season.

in his early years, right up to Istanbul, he was a superb box-to-box midfielder. He could run, tackle, pass, shoot, and perhaps most importantly, and the real sign of a special player, he could come up with that moment of inspiration when nobody else could. in Istanbul, yes, the introduction of Didi Hamann was crucial, but it wasn't Didi who took the game by the balls offensively and made something happen. it was Stevie who scored a 12/15 yard header into the corner to make it 3-1. it was Stevie who drove into the box and bought (yes, he dived) a penalty to help get us back to 3-3. it was Stevie who filled in on every position on the pitch to try and help get us over the line.

if his Liverpool career had ended on that night, really, his legacy at Liverpool would be pretty secure.

he could've gone to Chelsea, and arguably, for himself, he should have. he'd have won more trophies. he'd have played under the greatest manager (along with Fergie of course - steady on you Utd fans waiting to pounce :pac:) of the modern era. but he stayed, for whatever reason. some will say the burning effigies frightened him into it. i think that's a bit silly. i'm sure he was taken aback by those nutcases, but it won't have decided it for him at all. he chose to stay loyal, and keep performing for his boyhood club.

again, he drags us to an FA Cup; a trophy we had no right to win given the West Ham performance that day. but through sheer will, he got us to penalties (while following Liverpool, i've never let out a yelp like the one I let out when he scored the 35 yard volley), and we ended up winning. i believe no other player in world football at that time could have dragged Liverpool to the trophies he dragged us to.

he formed a deadly partnership with Torres. funnily enough, despite these years probably being his best, he didn't win a trophy during that time.

over the years, the man has dragged us through more games than I can remember. if there is ever a man that deserves the title of legend it is he.

i haven't even mentioned the amount of times he put Everton to the sword, and as some Utd posters have pointed out, he was always the main one that worried them when Liverpool faced off with Utd.

now people will point to his steady decline. i have to scoff. people point to how well Giggs and Scholes, for instance, continued to play into their mid 30s. well, Fergie knew how to handle them. there were many times Giggs and Scholes couldn't go for a dozen games in a row; he knew it. so rotated accordingly. Gerrard has not been afforded that. he's been mismanaged quite a bit in his later years IMO. last season he had a world class strike force stretching the play so he had all the room in the world to use his passing range. he also had Henderson beside him doing his legwork. this season he's been exposed, and his weaknesses, many of which come from getting older, have been accentuated. he still has a vital role to play, particularly if he's played further up the pitch. he can still do things more explosively than most.

look at how Frank Lampard has looked in his role at City.

i hope this is his decision. i hope he's doing it because he just really wants a change of scenery at the end of his career, and not because the last while may have convinced him that he can't contribute really positively to the team. if he's somehow been convinced of that because he's been overplayed and/or been played in a position he shouldn't be, well then that would be a tremendous shame.

Istanbul.
FA Cup Final 2006.
Olympiacos.

they'd be my top 3 moments. not surprising, but there you go.

he's probably the first real Liverpool legend that I've properly grown up watching.
i remember his debut.
i'll be around for his last game.
i'll have seen his whole career.

we'll be waiting a long, long time to fully replace him, if we ever can.

we thought Suarez was going to be a miss? his contribution to the cause was somewhat tangible. the hole that will be left by Stevie in the team, at training, on match day, just around the place, can't really be measured.

he's just about the most recognisable player in the Premier League, never mind just Liverpool.

he's a legend, and will go down as such.

next season's Anfield will be a strange, strange place.

I reckon Liverpool fans, including myself, really won't know what we've got until it's gone.

Excellent post Sir, well played indeed.

While Im no fan of Gerrard, quite the opposite in fact, its difficult to think of a player that I was consistently fearful of when lining out against United so credit where credit is due.

He sacrificed individual success for the sake of staying with the team he adored, for that alone he should be admired.

bucketybuck

I suspect Gerrard wouldn't be leaving now if he had been handled properly this past two years. He shouldn't be a regular starter, and you only have to look at Lampard to guess the impact Gerrard could make as an impact sub. He could easily have seen his career out at Liverpool if his gametime was managed properly like Giggs/Scholes were.

Osmosis Jones

bucketybuck wrote: »

I suspect Gerrard wouldn't be leaving now if he had been handled properly this past two years. He shouldn't be a regular starter, and you only have to look at Lampard to guess the impact Gerrard could make as an impact sub. He could easily have seen his career out at Liverpool if his gametime was managed properly like Giggs/Scholes were.

Everyone can see that, I'm sure he can too, maybe he doesn't want to spend the majority of his time on the bench.

bucketybuck

Osmosis Jones wrote: »

Everyone can see that, I'm sure he can too, maybe he doesn't want to spend the majority of his time on the bench.

He's 34 years old and it seems very obvious that he isn't up to the pace any more, I would say he needs to be realistic about his abilities at this stage.

To be honest, I'm not sure he will be all that successful in the MLS if he goes there, I don't think he has the intensity for 90 minutes in him any more, no matter what league he is in. Would still be a fantastic impact sub though.

AdamD

niallo27 wrote: »

Would Suarez nearly have melted this forum so many times if he was ****e.

Probably more to do with his behaviour than his football...

niallo27

AdamD wrote: »

Probably more to do with his behaviour than his football...

Yes but my point is would people have cared if he was ****e. Why was Gerrard disliked so much. He never went out to hurt people are attacked teammates etc etc. He was a great pro.

Donnielighto

niallo27 wrote: »

Would Suarez nearly have melted this forum so many times if he was ****e.

His ability gave him a platform that is true.

Turtyturd

niallo27 wrote: »

Yes but my point is would people have cared if he was ****e. Why was Gerrard disliked so much. He never went out to hurt people are attacked teammates etc etc. He was a great pro.

He wouldn't pass the ball.

Will I Amnt

niallo27 wrote: »

Would Suarez nearly have melted this forum so many times if he was ****e.

Ashley Young gets a lot of hate for diving, if he started biting people and all that craic you can be sure the forum would go into meltdown too.

A lot of the very best players the league has seen had unlikeable traits to go with their talent. I never bought the line that people only hated him because he was very good, he just happened to be very good.
I've never had much hate for Gerrard myself and he's been a better, more important player than Suarez by a country mile.

Shanotheslayer

My 2c on Gerrard:


Saw him live score a hat-trick against us (Everton) in Anfield. Hate the Cnut, but what a footballer. Unbelivable.

Walked out of that game and said ''Bleh ****e result but fck it, saw Gerrard live''

2nd best player I ever saw live after Coleman obviously :P

phenom

bucketybuck wrote: »

He's 34 years old and it seems very obvious that he isn't up to the pace any more, I would say he needs to be realistic about his abilities at this stage.

To be honest, I'm not sure he will be all that successful in the MLS if he goes there, I don't think he has the intensity for 90 minutes in him any more, no matter what league he is in. Would still be a fantastic impact sub though.

I don't think any player that moves to the MLS is really looking to be successfull tbh, Money of course is going to be a main factor

Shanotheslayer

Donnielighto wrote: »

. Who hates henry

90% of this forum.

Corholio

Shanotheslayer wrote: »

90% of this forum.

I think that's more to do with the pain he will inflict upon peoples ears with his 'analysis' once he's on Sky.

Hulk Hands

'Hated because he's so good' is such a laughable argument. That explains why Augero and Henry were generally liked alright. Or to put a United/Liverpool turn on it, why Scholes, Reina, Hypia, Van Der Sar are generally respected and the likes of Diouf, Young and Nani got torrents of abuse when they played

niallo27

Hulk Hands wrote: »

'Hated because he's so good' is such a laughable argument. That explains why Augero and Henry were generally liked alright. Or to put a United/Liverpool turn on it, why Scholes, Reina, Hypia, Van Der Sar are generally respected and the likes of Diouf, Young and Nani got torrents of abuse when they played

No one gives a **** about them players. They were laughed at most of the time. Why was he hated so.

Iused2likebusts

bucketybuck wrote: »

I suspect Gerrard wouldn't be leaving now if he had been handled properly this past two years. He shouldn't be a regular starter, and you only have to look at Lampard to guess the impact Gerrard could make as an impact sub. He could easily have seen his career out at Liverpool if his gametime was managed properly like Giggs/Scholes were.

The problem with this is liverpool didn't have sufficient quality in their squad to allow this to happen.

Talib Fiasco

No offense to our Robbie and Henry but if they can have very successful careers in the MLS then there is no stopping Gerrard to not have similar success.