Steven Gerrard

TOMKINS: WHY GERRARD IS TOP TRUMPS 三月 7, 2007

TOMKINS: WHY GERRARD IS TOP TRUMPS
06 March 2007 

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When people talk about the best player in the world, they often mean the most skilful. But being a top footballer is about so much more than that.

It’s always hard to say anyone is ‘the best’ in a complex team sport like football. Especially when so many different disciplines are involved. For instance, how do you compare a defender with a striker?

You can measure the quality of a golfer by his handicap, because he doesn’t have to interact with, and rely on, other players. Even the best footballers are reliant on their teammates. And the aim is not simply personal glory, but the greater good of the collective.

Players in the English league rarely get their deserved recognition in terms of worldwide accolades. The extra work-rate and commitment required in England, and the sheer intensity of the matches, makes it harder for the players to excel all season long and then light up a World Cup or European Championship.

In particular, Thierry Henry and Steven Gerrard have deserved more recognition than has come their way. Some players can stroll through a season then have a couple of good weeks at a major championship and win all the plaudits. But guys like these two excel for 10 months of a gruelling season.

Gerrard, in particular, has come good on the big occasions for his club, scoring in almost every cup final in which he’s played, and instrumental in winning the most recent two. And these were two games in which he shifted between central midfield, just off the striker, right midfield, and right back.

Gerrard has done well for England, and had some great games, without ever quite reaching the heights expected. This is often used against him (the same was said of Kenny Dalglish and John Barnes). But for me that is more about team dynamics, and a lack of cohesion and balance with the national team, than any deficiencies to Gerrard’s game.

These days international football is not, on average, a step up from the multi-cultural Premiership. Most domestic clubs field teams of internationals, and a lot of these are from the elite countries like France, Germany, Spain, Brazil, Holland and Argentina. I don’t see how playing Macedonia is a leap in quality.

International football is different in style from the Premiership, but the Champions League is not. I sense that Gerrard will struggle to do what he did to AC Milan because England don’t put their trust in him in the way Liverpool always have. He’s not their ‘go to’ man. And yet you can’t tell me that there are many better international teams than the AC Milan side of 2005.

Stevie G will be 27 by the start of next season, and therefore entering what is traditionally seen as a player’s prime. It’s clear he’s not a kid anymore (how time flies). I, for one, am fascinated to see how he develops in the next couple of years. Providing he doesn’t lose his pace and power prematurely (and but for injuries there’s no reason why he should), there are new levels he can reach through experience; especially as he learns more from the manager about the tactical nuances of the game.