gerrard, one of the greatest modern footballers

[8ace]

Steven Gerrard is to release a book about his career at Liverpool Football Club. As of yet, the book has no title.

 

[Soulman]

Most of the greats of the modern game have numerous domestic leage title medals though.

Well i suppose that Gerrard could also have got a few domestic titles, Chelsea were after him in 2004, Real Madrid wanted him, Fergie would have signed him but knew he had no chance, but he stayed at Liverpool in an average team for the most part.
Interesting to see what players that have actually played think......Zidane for one.

http://www.theguardian.com/football/2009/mar/13/zinedine-zidane-steven-gerrard-liverpool

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

Not if they spent their career at Liverpool.

You can't base someone's greatness on what might have been. He's good but it's ludicrous to suggest he's one of the modern greats.

 

[supaseagull]

You can't base someone's greatness on what might have been. He's good but it's ludicrous to suggest he's one of the modern greats.

Very much this!

 

[Working class pride]

You can't base someone's greatness on what might have been. He's good but it's ludicrous to suggest he's one of the modern greats.

Great is Ronaldo. Very very good bordering on the world class is Scholes. Box to box english midfielder is Gerrard.

 

[Soulman]

You can't base someone's greatness on what might have been. He's good but it's ludicrous to suggest he's one of the modern greats.

Obviously you know better HT, but.
Zinedine Zidane believes Liverpool's Steven Gerrard is currently the best player in the world, eclipsing Lionel Messi of Barcelona and Manchester United's Cristiano Ronaldo. The former France and Real Madrid midfielder saw Gerrard score twice against his old club in the Champions League during the week and said teams need players like Gerrard to be the "engine room" for the flair players to thrive, comparing the Liverpool captain to his former team-mate Claude Makelele.
"Is he the best in the world? He might not get the attention of [Lionel] Messi and Ronaldo but, yes, I think he just might be," Zidane said. "If you don't have a player like Steven Gerrard, who is the engine room, it can affect the whole team.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

Well i suppose that Gerrard could also have got a few domestic titles, Chelsea were after him in 2004, Real Madrid wanted him, Fergie would have signed him but knew he had no chance, but he stayed at Liverpool in an average team for the most part.
Interesting to see what players that have actually played think......Zidane for one.

I hear what you're saying but as I mentioned above you cannot base greatness on what might have been. Sadly he played in an under achieving Liverpool team so we will never really know. To me a great is an indisputable player like Messi, Ronaldo, Xavi, Neuer, Müller etc who have all reproduced their goods time and time again, played in the biggest games and racked up the medals. I'm not suggesting he's rubbish, just that he's not at the real top of elite football.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

Obviously you know better HT, but.
Zinedine Zidane believes Liverpool's Steven Gerrard is currently the best player in the world, eclipsing Lionel Messi of Barcelona and Manchester United's Cristiano Ronaldo. The former France and Real Madrid midfielder saw Gerrard score twice against his old club in the Champions League during the week and said teams need players like Gerrard to be the "engine room" for the flair players to thrive, comparing the Liverpool captain to his former team-mate Claude Makelele.
"Is he the best in the world? He might not get the attention of [Lionel] Messi and Ronaldo but, yes, I think he just might be," Zidane said. "If you don't have a player like Steven Gerrard, who is the engine room, it can affect the whole team.

And I'm not sure you can base greatest on one persons word/throw away comment either.

PS Zinedine Zidane also thinks Qatar is a great place for a World Cup.

 

[Soulman]

Fergie was a fan.

 

[Mo Gosfield]

I hear what you're saying but as I mentioned above you cannot base greatness on what might have been. Sadly he played in an under achieving Liverpool team so we will never really know. To me a great is an indisputable player like Messi, Ronaldo, Xavi, Neuer, Müller etc who have all reproduced their goods time and time again, played in the biggest games and racked up the medals. I'm not suggesting he's rubbish, just that he's not at the real top of elite football.

Agree with that.
It drives me mad to hear the word ' great ' used far too often. It does a disservice to those that truly deserve the title.
( ' Great '...." of remarkable ability, genius, intellectual or practical "....OED )
Great footballers come round once or twice in a generation, if you are lucky. The same with managers, the same with any sport. The truly great players are talked about 50 years later over the fireside, fathers telling sons, sons telling mates. Post war, IMHO, these are the great footballers to have graced the world stage....Matthews, Finney, Puskas, Edwards, Di Stefano, Garrincha, Pele, Eusebio, Moore, Charlton R, Banks, Yashin, Best, Beckenbauer, Mueller ( Gerd ) Cruyff, Platini, Zoff, Maradona, Ronaldo ( Brazil ) Zidane, Ronaldo ( Portugal ) and Messi.
Just over 20 players...thats all....the elite group....above the rest....up in the stratosphere.
Behind this group are some powerhouse names, lots of them.
Gerrard is not amongst them.

 

[pauli cee]

As modern footballers go a model professional,no divorces, no affairs, no major car crashes, never missed a drugs test, never shagged someone's wife other than his own and never bit anyone. We will not see his like again. Mind you, he was a failure.

Erm.....that's obviously not mentioning the many other 'rumours' then......

 

[bobby baxter]

Or massively over rated ?
personally id rather have scholes in a brighton shirt when in hyis prime than gerrard. But then thats just my opinion

For me...one of the greatest England players, ever.
If he had either moved clubs in his pomp or played in the Liverpool teams of Dalglish, Rush and Hansen, this debate would be unnecessary, his ability couldn't be questioned.

 

[Justice]

His nickname in Liverpool is 'Mr Hollywood pass' which is quite funny they also call Steve Bruce tele head

 

[albionite]

Do people think he's better than Lampard? I remember Gerrard and Lampard could never fit in the England team together so well, so I always preferred Lampard to make the starting eleven.

 

[vegster]

Erm.....that's obviously not mentioning the many other 'rumours' then......

He did steal an European Cup one night.

 

[A mex eyecan]

Agree with that.
It drives me mad to hear the word ' great ' used far too often. It does a disservice to those that truly deserve the title.
( ' Great '...." of remarkable ability, genius, intellectual or practical "....OED ).

I agree with you about that, but when you get football pundits such as (ex) Hansen who week in week out described virtually every touch of a ball as being 'sensational' it's no wonder virtually every aspect of the game, match or players are massively over egged.

 

[JBizzle]

I always think the hype around Gerrard is very misplaced. Don't get me wrong, he's a very good footballer and has had some stellar moments in his career (the goal against the Galatasaray in the CL, the goal against West Ham in the FA Cup, winning the CL etc) but if e were, say, Welsh, he would in no way be given this level of lip service.

His leadership ability for Liverpool was excellent and, on many occasions, inspirational and this combined with his "English-ness" and him staying at Liverpool career has been the primary driver of his "legend".

For me:

- he was a decent passer of the ball, but worse than say, Scholes and Fabregas
- he could see a long pass, but was often wildly misplaced (prompting commentators to state repeatedly that it was "so unlike him") and nowhere near as proficient as Beckham
- he was prolific from midfield but less so than Lampard
- he often tried to do everything. sometimes it worked (West Ham FA Cup Final) sometimes it didn't (most England games)

In all, he's had a great career and deserves respect and sure, he may have achieved more had he moved to Chelsea or Madrid, but in the Top 5 or perhaps even 10 Premier League players? Nah. Not for me.

Also, could people stop calling him a one-club player please? He's leaving Liverpool to GO TO ANOTHER CLUB!

 

[Gregory2Smith1]

Souness,Keegan and Dalgleish were better players and that's just Liverpool players

throw in Gazza,Worthington,Bryan Robson,Hoddle,Brooking and Tony Currie

not sure where he'd feature in an all time British list,top 25 I'd thought (forgot Becks,although another overrated player in my view)

Gerrard or Scholes,I'd go for Gerrard,but I'd pick all of the above before Gerrard

 

[Goring Gull]

Do people think he's better than Lampard? I remember Gerrard and Lampard could never fit in the England team together so well, so I always preferred Lampard to make the starting eleven.

Snap but this could also been down to my dislike of anything Liverpool

 

[W.C.]

Or massively over rated ?
personally id rather have scholes in a brighton shirt when in his prime than gerrard. But then thats just my opinion

Both fantastic players.

Both did very little in England shirts.