GERRARD IS FINISHED AND RODGERS NEEDS AN EXIT STRATEGY

At thirty-four years of age and with his abilities in rapid decline, it is about time for Steven Gerrard to accept a backup role at Liverpool. If not, manager Brendan Rodgers needs to come up with a way of removing him from his starting eleven.

D. Ray Morton, 25th September 2014.

Brendan Rodgers has done his best to incorporate Steven Gerrard into his vision of this new Liverpool but how long can it last now?

When Brendan Rodgers took over at Liverpool, he knew the time would come when two Anfield stalwarts, Jamier Carragher and Steven Gerrard, would have to walk off into the sunset. Carragher retired from the game gracefully, bowing out when he knew he would have no significant role in Rodgers' possession-based game. How could "Carra" excel as a ball-playing defender in a team run by the man who had previously made Swansea City the Premier League's surprise possession-bossing team? He weighed up his options and stepped aside and now enjoys his role as an analyst for Sky Sports.

With Steven Gerrard, Rodgers would not have it so easy. He changed the team's playing style opting for a more direct, counter-attacking game. This fell in line with what some of the players were used to under previous managers and it also appealed to the Liverpool faithful who prefer a rapid pass-and-move game above a more methodical "tiki-taka"-like approach. In order to do this, Rodgers deployed Gerrard in the deep-lying playmaker role, the "quarter-back" that sits in front of the defence, sweeps up and looks to set up attacks with long diagonal passes to pacey wingers.

For most of last season, it worked a charm. Liverpool racked up enough goals to ignore their leaky defence line and came very close to winning the Premier League title before finally being pipped by Manchester City. Of course, the key moment in this late collapse was the now infamous slip against Chelsea in which Gerrard hesitated in possession, fell and allowed Demba Ba the clearest of one-on-one opportunities. The Senegalese scored and Liverpool's title challenge was as good as dead.

The "slip", an image that may haunt Gerrard forever

This terrible moment for the Liverpool captain was followed by an equally terrible World Cup. Gerrard was ineffective as England finished bottom of their group. Unsurprisingly, he retired from the international game concentrating on keeping himself as fit as possible for Liverpool's current campaign. It has not started well. Liverpool have lost three times in the league already and the optimism brought about by their shock second place finish last time out has subsided. With Daniel Sturridge out injured and Luis Suárez shipped off to Barcelona, the Reds look more like contenders for a Europa League spot rather than getting in to the top four.

Rodgers has to decide when to cut the chord. Steven Gerrard is not the "evergreen" Ryan Giggs who managed to fool a lot of professionals into thinking they can play on until the age of forty. Giggs operated in a reduced role for years under Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United. He accepted that but chipped in with some important performances nevertheless. The feeling is not there that Gerrard can do a similar thing for Liverpool. Giggs always played in teams that had several stars, several match-winners. Even in his very prime, there was always two or three other players around him of equal, or possibly superior, talent. When Gerrard was at his very peak, aside from perhaps Fernando Torres, he was the star of the show and the man the Anfield crowd expected to change games. Those days are over.

Liverpool appear to have a lot of problems right now and as the season wears on, it will only get harder. Tougher games in the league, the domestic cups and the Champions League are ahead of them and only through rotating Gerrard and diminishing his key role can Liverpool manage to get through this season feeling they have done something productive.

HAVE CHELSEA SEWN UP THE EPL ALREADY?

Chelsea avoided defeat and tormented their greatest challengers for the Premier League title on Sunday. Despite conceding late on, you get the feeling that this will be José Mourinho's year and the other sides are noticing it too. Here are some thoughts on this weekend's matches in England and on the continent.

Frank Lampard may have reluctantly saved Manchester City's skin at the Etihad but Chelsea fans should not be upset as avoiding defeat and dampening their opponents' spirits was key

Chelsea manager José Mourinho must be a rather pleased man. Pleased, that is, in spite of his former player, Frank Lampard, denying him a win at the Etihad in the Blues' visit to Manchester City. Thing is, a victory would have sealed the Premier League title race shut. A draw is fine, however, especially the manner in which it was achieved. City were desperate and even resorted to weak criticisms of their opponents after the game. Manuel Pellegrini insisted that Chelsea play like Stoke! A classic case of sour grapes, the Chilean perhaps frustrated at the signs that this City side has lost that bit of hunger that delivered them the league title last season.

Manuel Pellegrini's post-match comparison of Chelsea and Stoke was both outdated and inaccurate

Onto Manchester United. To anyone that watched it, my words here will not even begin to describe the autrocity that befell them. Cruising to a 3-1 away win at little Leicester City, United's woeful defence conspired to throw away a commanding lead and ended up losing 5-3 in what was arguably the most entertaining game of the season so far. Attacking play ruled the roost and United's attempt to put the game away fizzled pathetically. Young Tyler Blackett was screamed at by captain Wayne Rooney after conceding the equaliser. Rooney had been the one who lost the ball to set up the goal. His confidence damaged, Blackett was later sent off for a professional foul in the penalty area, one of two United conceded on the day. It was a mess all-round, credit Leicester, as Louis van Gaal appeared shell-shocked answering questions post-match.

Tyler Blackett's confidence must be crushed after being screamed at by Wayne Rooney, giving away a penalty and getting sent off. A bad day at the office overall for the youngster

Liverpool also lost out. This time to West Ham at the Boleyn Ground. Without Daniel Sturridge, they are missing something and the players Brendan Rodgers has signed in order to cover the Luis Suárez void are hardly filling their fans with confidence. Good manager that he is, some feel he got a tad lucky to have inherited the world class Uruguayan and perhaps only achieved last season's second place finish thanks the transitional nature of the campaign where many top teams changed managers.

Bubbles in your face: Brendan Rodgers will have to rethink things after going down 3-1 at West Ham

Tottenham flopped in front of their own fans in a very AVB-like performance in their 1-0 defeat to West Bromwich Albion. It was back to sterile possession, moving the ball slowly from side-to-side without any real aggression. This pattern of play is still rooted in the Spurs squad despite two managerial changes since André Villas-Boas was shown the door.

Mauricio Pochettino showed more passion than his players at White Hart Lane on Sunday

North London rivals Arsenal had more joy when they put away plucky Aston Villa thanks to a barrage of three goals in the space of no more than seven or eight minutes. Mesut Ozil was back to his best playing in his preferred central role though many will still write him off as a flat track bully no matter how Arsene Wenger portrays him.

Mesut Ozil and Danny Welbeck did enough to keep their critics quiet against Aston Villa

 

Across Europe, there were goals galore in Spain as clásico rivals Real Madrid and Barcelona both recorded high scoring victories away to Deportivo and Levante respectively. Real won 8-2 thanks to a storming hat-trick from Cristiano Ronaldo and Barca notched up five and kept a clean sheet in a game where Lionel Messi starred in something of a playmakers' role despite missing a penalty. In Italy, Juventus showed they are still the team to beat despite a change in management. They visited Milan at San Siro and came away with a 1-0 win thanks to a Carlos Tevez strike.

Lionel Messi has become creator-provider...penalty misser under Luis Enrique in his deeper playmaker role

 

Without Champions League or internationals and only minor cup competitions to be competed in this mid-week, this gives teams an ample opportunity to refresh and rethink now that the major European domestic campaigns are starting to take shape. We are not too far off October, the month before the sack race. Giddy up!