Gerrard - great captain or just a great player?

[Will]

After the CL final I thought 'if only we had Gerrard', but thinking about it, he didn't get his team playing well in the cup final, he just bailed them out. Plus of course West Ham are hardly Barcelona. So any great player would have been of use really, though I suspect being down to 10 men would have been handy to have Gerrard's work rate etc...

People have been going on about Gerrard captaining England, but he didn't get his Liverpool team mates playing well against West Ham, so maybe people are being blinded by the fact he bailed them out... On the other hand Pires at his best used to get the entire Arsenal team playing well, making sure everyone got a touch of the ball etc, but you don't tend to think of him being captain material, even though he captained Marseille (possibly to keep their star player happy...).

So you could argue Pires would make a better captain, even though he's not exactly in the mould of Adams or Keane. Although rallying the team and mental strength are important too...

[nick_anarchy]

i hope he playes as this 2ns striker at the world cup , with his shootin and the way he plays we shouldnt have any problsm upfront

[Will]

There's talk of Rooney being fit for the first game or something, as long as they don't rush him back... I just hope Walcott gets a decent run out!

[nick_anarchy]

no chance , hes ahead of time with the foot but no chance on him makin the 1st game
if we get past the group stage and i think we can play germany aint it ? he will be ok for them , thats if sven wants him

[djfase]

Just a great player if you ask me.

Terry is a great captain, as was keane and vieira. They are motivators and inspirations.

No chance of walcott getting a start, maybe a sub appearance in the final group game if we are winning.

But yes sounding good about rooney, just dont rush him, he is our key

[french_og]

I'm not sure i would want Gerrard up there with his back to goal, i much prefer is driving runs from midfield and in the thick of the action dominating the game.

Also regarding Gerrards captaincy - if a player on that team can not raise their game when seeing Gerrard giving 110% and playing his heart out for his team then they should not be on the pitch.

[Will]

Maybe not, but they often are! Gerrard often bails out Liverpool, whereas a great captain should be demanding the entire team plays well rather than bailing them out all the time. I don't think it's enough to simply set a good example, you have to rally the team and demand they do better, otherwise you may as well let Beckham captain England (and he's not much cop).

A capatain is meant to be the managers representative on the pitch, not a virtuoso, that's what a star player does... And they rarely if ever make good captains!

[Numeric]

it's not fair to critisise Beckham's captaincy of the England squad, he was pretty much the only reason England got to the last World Cup...

[french_og]

And all the players look up to him and respect him.

And at International Level on that pitch there are players like Terry, Gerrard, Neville and Campbell, just because they have not got the armband will not stop them acting like captains on that pitch.

[Miksta]

it's not fair to critisise Beckham's captaincy of the England squad, he was pretty much the only reason England got to the last World Cup...

Now he is over payed/over rated has been who moved to another club that has won nothing with him there, he should of stayed in england.

[french_og]

You obviously don't watch much Spanish football as he has been Real's best player this season and has the most Assists in La Liga. During his 3 years at Real he has had 6 managers and 3 Presidents. You can hardly blame him for not winning anything.

[Miksta]

sorry *bows down*

[nick_anarchy]

You obviously don't watch much Spanish football as he has been Real's best player this season and has the most Assists in La Liga. During his 3 years at Real he has had 6 managers and 3 Presidents. You can hardly blame him for not winning anything.

very true

[Will]

You obviously don't watch much Spanish football as he has been Real's best player this season and has the most Assists in La Liga. During his 3 years at Real he has had 6 managers and 3 Presidents. You can hardly blame him for not winning anything.

Has he really had 3 presidents? I thought it was just Perez and whoever it is now... Real Madrid are turning into a joke, they need to get their act together and bring some stability to the team.

[Traxx]

Great player & a great captain. Dont know how anyone can say he isnt a motiviator or a inspiration to his team mates & others.

[Will]

It just occurred to me that people were going on about him being a great captain after a great individual performance and him as a player and captain should be differentiated... I mean you have to agree that the rest of the team didn't play well, just Gerrard. I mean Arsenal were 2-1 down against Wigan and then Henry scored a hat trick, people went on about what a great player he is, but no-one said he was a great captain.

No-one can deny he's a great player, and a match winner like Gerrard, but no-one seems to rate him as a captain, yet they have a lot in common in many ways. People say Arsenal and Liverpool are one man teams, they both captain their teams, but Gerrard gets lauded as a great captain, whereas no-one says Henry's a good captain. There's a bit of a discrepency there methinks!

[nick_anarchy]

tbh i dont think henry is a leader in the way of a captain , he was made captain as hes bigger then the club and u wanted him to stay .. hes not the same as pat , adams etc yes the ypung players look up to him only as hes a shear quality player , its even been stated on tv and in games hes not one to run around shoutin , and keepin his players motervated , gerrard does this , keane did it , pat , adams they did it ...as much as i like him hes not in the same captain class at gerrard

[Traxx]

It just occurred to me that people were going on about him being a great captain after a great individual performance and him as a player and captain should be differentiated...

People havent just been saying he's a great captain since the cup final for fuks sake. Its been said he'd make a great captain long before he even got the armband. Now he is i think he's doin a fine job & deserves the praise he gets.

[Will]

Well ok, people were saying he should be England captain too though. I'm not saying people should recognise Henry as a great captain, I don't think he is one, but it just seems strange that a great individual perforamnce from Henry and people say he's a great player and a great individual performance from Gerrard and people say he should be England captain. I mean if the entire Liverpool team played well they would surely have seen off West Ham without too much difficulty.

[french_og]

All I ever hear is people saying Gerrard is a great player never hear people mention much about captaincy but i think he leads Liverpool well and in general over the course of the season is a great Captain.

When Gerrard puts a performance in like he did Vs West Ham of course they are going to say what a great player he is because it was moments of individual brilliance.

Not sure if he should be the next england captain with Terry being probably next in line but if it was Gerrard then i don't think there would be many complaining.

[phantomdj]

Gerrard cannot do what he does without the support of the team.... he has freedom to roam because of the players around him.

As for the Henry - Gerrard debate, well there have been many games where Henry was not interested.... Seldom can you pick a game where Gerrard will not run his heart out.

Anyway, different players and different roles.....

As for West Ham... it was the FA Cup final.... Do you expect them to roll over?

[french_og]

This is a stupid thread really - Gerrard awesome player, great captain enough said.

[Traxx]

Agreed.