“What wrong with Liverpool?” lamented a Liverpool fan after his club drew with Wigan, making four points dropped in the last two games. “What’s wrong with Steven Gerrard?”

“That,” I told him, “was exactly the problem.”

Liverpool are too reliant on one man – Gerrard. They need him to provide the leadership as well as the impetus to their entire endeavour. To be fair to Stevie G, in the big games he has never failed them, and his most glorious statement to that effect was in Istanbul when he single-handedly hauled Liverpool by their bootstraps from the brink of defeat to be European Champions. If ever a football achievement deserved the award of the Victoria Cross, that was it.

‘Liverpool need to take away the captain’s armband from Gerrard. Give it Jose Reina.’


Gerrard is to Liverpool what the Katana Sword is to a Japanese Samurai. Without him, Liverpool have no soul. But such reliance has also at times proved Liverpool’s undoing over a season-long campaign. Gerrard is fantastic when it comes to the crunch, but can look ordinary during routine games. His influence is so great that Liverpool tend to falter when he has an off-game.

Without him on the field, the current expensively assembled Liverpool squad lack a leader. Who else is there? Jamie Carragher? No. Sami Hyypia? No. Xabi Alonso? No. Fernando Torres? No. They are all are good players in their own right, but not one of them is capable of leading and inspiring great performances from those around them.

In the past, I have suggested Gerrard be relieved of his captain’s armband and been met with a barrage of criticism. The fact is I am not condemning Anfield's very own Superman. Rather, I see a need to make others in the Liverpool ranks step up. An over-reliance on one man is just not good for the team. Arsene Wenger found that out. Sir Alex Ferguson found that out. And even Jose Mourinho found that out last season. All did something about it, making others around their captain more accountable.

Not Rafa Benitez. What’s worse, Benitez has done nothing to identify and cultivate the next generation of leaders at Liverpool. Whereas other managers – Wenger for one – have passed the captain’s armband around to great success, Benitez seems reluctant to disturb the hierarchy at his club, which would be fine except instead of treating Gerrard with reverence, the manager treats him like a water-boy. He continually plays him in awkward positions, like midfield-anchor, wide-right, in the hole etc. so he can accommodate other – perhaps lesser – players. To my mind, that’s just so disrespectful of his prized asset.

I still hold the view that in order to progress, Liverpool need to take away the captain’s armband from Gerrard. Give it Jose Reina. Force the goalkeeper to take responsibility for his team and maybe that will stop him making the occasional rash and silly judgments. Allow Gerrard freedom from responsibility to express himself in midfield in the way Wenger has allowed Aleksandr Hleb to flourish.

Maybe then we’ll see a better Liverpool who are not constantly looking to Gerrard for redemption, and where the likes of Torres can step up. In fairness, the Spaniard is already proving his mettle, but Liverpool cannot progress from a one-man team to a two-man team. That’s a miniscule step for a club with Liverpool’s pride and tradition. They need to be an 11-man team and, in this respect, Rafa needs this transfer window period to re-evaluate his players. John Arne Riise, Harry Kewell, Jermaine Pennant, Dirk Kuyt, Peter Crouch, Momo Sissoko, Daniel Agger and Andriy Voronin haven't added value to the team and all need to go.

The next generation of the Rafa-lution needs to be brought in. Among them, someone who can challenge Stevie G for the captain’s armband and for the soul of the club.

Are Liverpool too much of a one-man team? If Gerrard's not the problem then tell us what is.