Player Focus: Was This a Season Too Far for Gerrard at Liverpool?

It turns out that the biggest obstacle to Steven Gerrard fulfilling his destiny of winning the FA Cup in his final game for Liverpool on his 35th birthday was Steven Gerrard playing in the semi-final.

Perhaps it was unfair to expect him to play a leading role in such a big game when he hadn’t started a match since February 10 (before Tim Sherwood was appointed manager of Aston Villa) and his only football since was 26 minutes against Swansea and 38 seconds against Manchester United. Perhaps it’s unfair even to single him out for blame when so many Liverpool players fell below what was expected of them in the semi-final – according to WhoScored.com’s ratings, Gerrard was Liverpool’s second-best player at Wembley – but it’s inevitable when the build-up to a game has so centred on one player that, for good or ill, the focus should fall on that player.

Gerrard began the game as one of two attacking central midfielders in a 3-4-2-1, then the central creator in a 4-2-3-1 as Brendan Rodgers changed formation midway through the first half. By the start of the second, as Rodgers made another switch, he was at the base of the midfield in a 4-3-3. His short passing was decent – a completion rate of 82%. He even managed two key passes and three shots.

The ghost of the footballer he was still lingers, and yet he never exerted the authority he once would have done. This was not the Gerrard who could grab a game and turn it to his will; often the game seemed to be going on around him, as when Fabian Delph ran away from him in the build-up to Aston Villa’s second goal. Twice in the final 10 minutes he had chances that once, would have had you off your feet in expectation, but here his free-kick was deflected tamely into the arms of Shay Given and his looping header from a Philippe Coutinho corner dropped too soon and was cleared by Kieran Richardson.

Perhaps the hardest thing in sport is knowing when to say goodbye. Gerrard has given a lifetime to Liverpool, has known nothing but playing football for them. He doesn’t want to get to LA Galaxy and find that the fires burn as bright as ever and that he might have had a part to play in a Liverpool title challenge. It must be hard, whatever profession you’re in, to accept that the ability that has given you your standing is diminishing. You want to squeeze every drop from that talent, yet you don’t want to become a liability. There must always be a tendency to denial, to assume that you had one bad game rather than that that game was indicative of a long-term decline.

Gerrard’s figures, though, are stark. His pass success rates are much as they have been throughout his career, even if shots per game are down. But he’s making far fewer tackles and interceptions than in previous seasons – an indication, perhaps, that his sharpness has gone, that he’s not quite getting close enough to opponents to stop them. He is dribbling far less than in previous years: ageing legs won’t allow him to make those driving runs he once did. Average passes per game, crosses and through-balls are down on the past two seasons, something that can’t only be attributable to his changing position.

Very few players manage their exits well, and even those who do are often dogged by the thought that they could have gone on longer – in Paul Scholes’s case to the extent of actually coming out of retirement. Given how last season went, given how close Liverpool were to glory, given how well he personally played, given even the desire to put right what went wrong with his slip against Chelsea, it’s understandable Gerrard would carry on this season but it has perhaps been a year too far – at least for him to be a regular starter.

Perhaps that is best reflected in his WhoScored.com rating: this is the first year in which he will average under 7. For Gerrard, time has run out.

Should Steven Gerrard have left Anfield on a high after an impressive 2013/14 campaign? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below