I've said this before, but Rodgers couldn't have done worse to bring the best out of an aging Gerrard. The deeper he plays, the more his deficiencies are accentuated. At this age, we need to start using him as an impact player in the final third, which has always been the strongest aspect of his play. In a good team, Gerrard playing in the final third will still get you 15 goals a season, and I can say with full confidence that he'll have this ability for another 2-3 years. People underestimate just how good a player he is technically or in terms of final-third intelligence.
Drawing him back deep is fucking retarded. He hasn't played there since Houllier's era, and even then Ged used to prefer having two of Hamann, McAllister and Murphy sitting (with Gerrard as the third midfielder), and he's never had the patience or dare I say the skillset to be a tempo-creating player. It's like trying to teach an old dog new tricks. Doesn't work, and it'll achieve nothing for the team or for Gerrard.
Unfortunately, this has almost become a blind-spot, and we're seeing him play there week after week, and consequently a weak, dysfunctional midfield.
The best managers sort out the spine first - Rafa did it - converting Carra to full-time centre-half and buying Alonso. Ged did it buying Henchoz, Hyypia and Hamann. Even Kenny managed it decently in his first six months, dropping Carra - getting the Agger, Skrtel partnership going, and putting together a functional midfield of Lucas-Spearing-Meireles (different matter that he completely destroyed it last season). Rodgers hasn't shown any signs of addressing it. His midfield, week after week, has been piss poor, and he's not really shown any sign of rectifying it. His only midfield signing has been Allen, who I really rate, but is NOT a 'spine' player. If anything, I see him as a luxury playmaker in the Nasri, Ramsey mould. He has, of course, been seriously handicapped by Lucas' injury so I've cut him slack till now, but he's had alternatives - like for instance throwing Henderson in the holding role, pushing Gerrard and Allen further up, and bringing Şahin (who, I do believe, is a 'spine' player) back to his natural position. He's done none of those, and it's seriously frustrating me now. The key to a consistent team is a regularly functional midfield, and we never see it.
When that's compounded by the thinnest attacking force in recent history, and a central defence that's struggling to replicate last year's form, you really can't expect anything more than the turgid shit we've been served so far.
I'm sort of perplexed by the split opinion on the forum in re: the quality of the squad and Rodgers' performance so far. It's absolutely right to say that in terms of value for money, our squad is piss poor. It's even right to say that in terms of absolute value, our squad is nowhere near good enough to get a top 4 squad.
But it's also completely right to say that in absolute value terms, our squad is well good enough to be in the top 6 position. It was my one of my two gripes with Kenny last season (the larger one being his horrendous performance in the transfer market) - that a squad with top 6 potential finished 12 points off it. If Rodgers does the same, I'll have a pretty serious issue with him as well. I WILL cut him slack because he's had none of the financial backing Kenny had, and he hasn't really squandered money in the transfer window (yet). But the idea of getting a new manager wasn't really to get our transfer policy back in place, but to (a) get the best out of the squad and (b) set a new, consistent pattern of play throughout the club, and currently Rodgers isn't doing either.
