After watching Liverpool enjoy a hard-earned 2-1 win at Stamford Bridge last weekend over Chelsea, there was one overriding feeling with the way the Blues defended – no organisation. That lack of organisation lead to two goals from the opposition which could easily have been stopped. They say the buck stops with the manager but what about the captain? Once again John Terry struggled to keep up with the pace and looked very shaky indeed. If that was Chelsea of 2005, you can guarantee the back four would have been marshalled well by Terry and his former defensive partner Ricardo Carvalho – not any more.
You get the feeling that England’s elder statesman of the former (laughably titled) ‘Golden Generation’ are coming to the end of their peak and are now at the tail end of their careers. This list of the so-called ‘Golden Generation’ includes the following: Terry (as we’ve touched on), Frank Lampard, Steven Gerrard, Michael Owen and Rio Ferdinand. These are all players of a similar age – late 20s-early 30s – all of whom have had glittering careers at the top of game but are now facing up to the fact that their best years are long gone.
Michael Owen, once England’s ‘wonder boy’ and touted as the new Robbie Fowler (high praise considering Fowler’s incredible scoring record), started his career with a bang but is now a firm bench warmer at Champions Man United. In the last two years plus, he’s started only six league games amongst a clutch of substitute appearances. He proved he still has the master’s touch with a superb double against Leeds United in the League Cup this season but at 31, his impact on the game isn’t what it was.
Liverpool talisman Steven Gerrard, now in his fourteenth season at Anfield, is finding it difficult to get a good run of games in the first team. He has suffered a number of injuries throughout this calendar year and without his presence in the side on a regular basis it has been left up to other players to carry the torch for the Reds, a la Luis Suarez and Charlie Adam – both of whom have stepped up to the plate this season.
Ferdinand and Lampard are players who have both served their clubs well since signing in 2002 and 2001 respectively. This season, though, has provided them with mixed fortunes. Lampard had to endure spells at the start of the campaign out of the starting XI and questions were raised about his future. He’s since come to the fore, enjoyed a spell in the side and scored a few important goals. As his age catches up with him though, his impact to the Chelsea cause isn’t as influential as it once was. Likewise, Ferdinand, who has endured a tough start to the season – encapsulated in the 6-1 defeat to neighbours Man City at Old Trafford, a game in which Ferdinand looked an absolute shadow of his former self. The once so assured defender with such a calm head is, much like Terry, struggling to keep pace with the young, quick forwards now that are now plying their trade in the top flight.
These are all players who played in the same England side at the World Cup in 2006, players that have served the Premier League well and players who can be delighted with the success they’ve had at the very highest level. Is, though, the intensity and pace of the British game beginning to catch up with them? Exciting British players of the likes of Jack Wilshere, Tom Cleverley and Daniel Sturridge are starting to show their worth and put their elders in the shade with their exciting and energetic performances. Is it time for Terry & co to step aside? It’s over to you, Fabio.
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