The Heart of the Matter

People seem to love the word ‘world’, even if they don’t appear to respect it very much. So much so that the word ‘world’, used adjectivally, is rapidly becoming one of the most abused words in the world and if you don’t believe that, consider for a moment how many ‘world’ class players the England squad is supposed to contain.

One thing virtually everyone agrees about, however, is that Steven Gerrard is a ‘world class’ central midfielder – and in that particular job description ‘central’ is very much the operative word. Which makes it deeply ironic that he has been required to spend so much time, both for club and country, doing something else, banished to the fringes, deeply frustrated and deprived of the right to play where he is at his best.

But all that may be changing. Very, very slowly. You see, the central midfield at Liverpool has been occupied by Sissoko and Alonso (regardless of the fact that neither is in Gerrard’s class) and an injury to the former has obliged the Liverpool manager to make a change. Naturally, his first thought was to draft in Bolo Zenden, a player with substantial experience of playing in wide positions, rather than disturb Steven Gerrard, a specialist central midfield player who does not wish to acquire experience on the flanks.

Then quite unexpectedly, Gerrard was given his chance. For some unaccountable reason the Stubborn Spaniard selected his world class central midfield player to operate in, believe it or not, central midfield. A real ‘Eureka Moment’ – or whatever the Spanish is for ‘eureka’.

For Gerrard it was bliss. He seemed liberated, inspired – but in reality it was simply a case of being unleashed to do what he does best. Even allowing for a little rustiness, he controlled the centre of midfield and Liverpool were the better for it, yet somehow you sensed that the manager who so reluctantly gave him the opportunity was secretly willing him to fail so that he could be proved ‘right’.

That would be strenuously denied of course, yet if it were so then it would represent stubbornness, selfishness and myopia reduced to absurdity. And since Liverpool failed to win that boring game against Middlesbrough, you wonder whether the result (or lack of it) might at some point be held up as firm evidence that Gerrard belongs on the fringe, rather than at the heart, of the action.

What should be said is that Liverpool have very good players and need to make better use of them. It would help if they were deployed according to their strengths and not constantly rotated to the point of giddiness and confusion. What they need most is confidence and the warmth which comes from a manager who genuinely believes in them. All of them.