A mere blip? Or is Steven Gerrard now on the slide?

Back when I was in primary school (about half a decade ago when nobody outside of England knew who Manchester City were) there was this kid called Shaun Perry. When it came to lunchtime football, there was not a more committed player on the playground. Unfortunately for Shaun, the poor lad had no understanding of the game whatsoever. Whenever the ball came to him, he would just shoot it really hard in whatever direction he was facing.

Being mere prepubescents, lunchtime football was the pinnacle of our day and we decided that the least damaging position to play Shaun in was as a defender (we would have played him in goal but that’s where we stuck the two fat lads!). Of course, with Shaun being Shaun, he approached the task enthusiastically if not completely bizzarely; every time the opposition would get into our box, he would position himself on our goal line with the view to blocking any shot that got past our ‘keeper.

Many times, he would take a shot right in the face (or worse) and while nobody can fault him for his bravery, he didn’t understand that a hero is not always required. Sometimes doing the sensible thing (in Shaun’s cause it would have been to actually close down the attacker to prevent the shot altogether) is what is needed.

Another trademark of Shaun’s was to go in recklessly on any opposing team’s player. It didn’t matter if we were 3-0 up and cruising or stuck in a 1-1 stalemate, Shaun would always go in needlessly on anybody within close proximity of him and thus would often give away needless fouls. Sure he stopped the attack but overall his actions caused more harm than good.

Seeing Steven Gerrard a few days ago against Ukraine reminded me of good old Shaun. The tireless work rate and enthusiasm that has become synonymous with Steven Gerrard was there, but this was mixed in with the poor challenges that one would associate with Shaun Perry; the late foul that got him sent off in the dying embers of the game was another example of Shaun-esque behaviour.

Obviously Steven Gerrard has been world class for a decade now and I’m not one to go and make a knee-jerk reaction just because of his poor start to the season. Liverpool need him, England need him and as an England fan, I need him! I very much hope that he will continue to be a key figure for both teams for ages yet but I do fear that at 32 years old, Gerrard will only get worse. Of course as of right now to compare him to a playground footballer is unfair but if his performances continue to drop then who knows? Both his club and country can cope without him but the saddest thing about Gerrard’s decline would not be seeing him replaced but the fact that a true legend of English football is dimming.

This is the man, lest we forget, that led Liverpool to Champions League glory in 2005. This is the man who grabbed the famous game against Olympiacos by the scruff of it’s neck at a time when it looked more likely that Liverpool would be eliminated. Everybody remembers the words of Andy Gray as Gerrard’s rocket flew into the back of the net ‘Oh ya beauty! What a hit son! What! A! Hit!’ as Liverpool took their first giant leap towards becoming Kings of Europe. But more than that, this is the man who has graced English football for almost a decade and a half and to lose him would be to lose one of the finest players of this generation.

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