Has Steven Gerrard reached his sell by date?

Steven Gerrard, club captain, driving force and inspiration and without doubt not just my favourite player in Liverpool football history, but my favourite player period.   It always been my assertion that he is pound for pound the greatest player in the history of LFC, yes and that even includes Kenny Dalglish.

It is far too easy to say that King Kenny played in great Liverpool teams, therefore it was easier for him to shine and be part of a successful team than Gerrard.  That would be seeing things at too simplistic a level as Dalglish arrived at Anfield under pressure as the replacement for another Liverpool icon Kevin Keegan and over the next decade proceeded to bestride European football in a legendary period which saw the club win the European Cup 3 times in 7 years.

His legacy in the British game is so profound that 27 years after his retirement (in a final season in which he scored the winning goal to clinch the League Championship at the age of 36), his name is still spoken in reverential terms.  In team containing great players, as Ray Kennedy, Terry, McDermott, Ronnie Whelan, Ian Rush and the indefatigable Graeme Souness among others he was the standout player.

Gerrard has played with top players.  Fowler, Owen, Alonso, Torres, Mascherano, Hyppia and now the brilliant Suarez in tandem with Daniel Sturridge.  But, he has never played in a Liverpool side blessed with an abundance of talent, hence the magnitude of his performances over the years and never ending commitment to the cause.

He had the ability to turn games on his own, which is the big difference between him and Frank Lampard and why Mourinho cast admiring glances towards the England captain over the years and why Bayern Munich tried to acquire his talents in the close season.

Steven Gerrard

His performances against Olympiakos and in the Champions League final of 2005 are part of Anfield folklore, but for me it was his performance in the final during extra-time that marked him down as a modern great.  Faced with a surging Serginho, Gerrard almost out on his feet defended with stoicism and intelligence to negate the threat.

I guess that’s why some are openly questioning whether the Liverpool captain should be an automatic choice because his pace, not understandably as sharp as it once was and his movement looking somewhat impaired as apparent against Villa makes him to many a shadow of the formidable player he once.

Has Gerrard earned the stripes to have others do his running for him?  He is still the best passer in the team by a substantial margin as we saw in the same Villa game when he moved further forward to replace Coutinho and almost instantly sent a glorious ball through to Suarez which lead to the penalty which he himself dispatched.

Gerrard still retains in richness of quality an effectiveness which most players will ever possess at their peaks and although he has lost pace, through a succession of injuries, and as such the ability to do those famous lung bursting runs on a consistent basis, Brendan Rodgers still sees him alongside Suarez, as an intrinsic component of team.  Those late runs as he proved in scoring England’s winner in the World Cup qualifier Poland to send them through to the World Cup Finals.

I believe if he is to go on being that player for Rodgers, Gerrard has to have the players around him to give him the time and room to operate, especially if he plays in a deeper role, in the same way that Xabi Alonso functions for Real Madrid or Tom Huddlestone with even less pace operates for Hull.

The crux for me is whether Liverpool have the quality in midfield to determine whether to play Gerrard in a more strategic fashion.  Yesterday apart from Henderson and debatably Alberto, he was the only centre-midfielder available for selection.

If he plays for an hour in some games, the last 30 minutes or plays in the deeper role or in the hole, Gerrard, I believe, still has something to offer as we could see by the way he seamlessly slotted into the centre-half position while Skrtel was off getting repairs yesterday at Bournemouth, but as much as he is Mr Liverpool time moves on and the manager must be prepared to recognise when he should be rested.