The problem with Liverpool is Steven Gerrard

agger hasnt improved the team.......harsh to say the least

you name daniel agger as not adding value to the team why???????

Giving Stevie G more freedom to express himself is probably right but I can't agree with your list of dead wood... Daniel Agger has added more than his fair share of value and has kept Hyppia out of the starting 11 due to his quality. I also feel that we have missed Pennant on the right wing opting to play Benayoun or Gerrard there when both players like to come in rather than stay out on the wings. The team in general seem to be performing well but just dont seem to be able to shift out of 1st gear at times.. and how long should we wait to see Kuyt regain the scoring ability he showed in the Dutch leagues??? January window we need to be shopping for another talented CB, a qulity Right Winger and possibly even another goal scorer as other than Torres nobody else seems to stand out up front.

I am sorry, i have read alot of your articles and i am shocked by the lack of knowledge you portray in them. I shall not be reading any more of these ridiculous articles and have removed www.sportingo.com from my bookmarks.

Agger needs to go??? What on earth are you talking about? The reason we've dropped many costly points is largely down to his absence. How can you say he has added no value to the team? Simply an idiotic statement.

the only thing to say here really is that it's a bit harsh to suggest that Agger hasn't improved the team.

whilst i understand what you are saying the arsenal situation was a completly different one, henry had been captain for just one year, plus the armband was one passed to him when viera left, then we he left it was moved on etc, the armband itself has very little to do with it. however i do agree that the club does need to re-asses the sqaud because it is just not good enough, we have plenty of players of that are good players but very few that are great players, the only players that really need to be kept in the side are mascherano, gerrard, reina and torres, however more players of this ability need to be added. ps daniel agger is a very good player not quite on the above list but almost and is probably the best centre back around for his age

Agger is a fantastic player - one that we have sorely missed. Crouch is a great player but unfortunately he hasn't played much. Before people start whinging about this fact, it is true Crouch was out of favour earlier in the season but before he was sent off he had started to play a lot. He should play more because he becomes a focal point for the team to play off - a constant threat. Something Vorinin and Kuyt just aren't!

Guys, fairly easy to see what the problem is...it's the team as a whole. Yep, Liverpool rely far too much on Gerrard, but the reason they are adrift is not because of him, but because they have drawn silly matches they didn't go out to win! Portsmouth, Birmingham, Wigan to name a few and lets not get started on the record against the top teams. The rotation policy is rubbish if your back up players are not good enough. My mum used to say, buy cheap, buy twice - Pennant, Kuyt, Crouch - Premier League winners...no chance! Go the gunners!

but not as bad as some of the articles you read on this site. While I give some small credence to the possibility that not relying on Gerrard so much might have a positive effect, we have had notable spells in the past where he's been injured and we've achieved more points game on game, the rest of what you're saying doesn't make much sense. Liverpool also have Carragher, a born leader, who seems to boss the team around every game whether Gerrard is playing or not anyway, and Hyypia, who captained the side for the majority of the Houllier reign. Alonso is also captain material IMO. I would also argue that we are now equally reliant on Torres, if not more so. Most of the other top teams don't have more than two players they regularly turn to to dig themselves out of a hole (Lampard, Drogba, Fabregas, Van Persie, Ronaldo, Rooney, for example). One or perhaps two more players of that quality and we'd be there.

I agree with your general ideas (shame you put Agger's name in the list, as people may have paid more attention to the other 99.9% of your argument otherwise). I do wonder if Gerrard has a similar effect to Henry at Arsenal - i.e. they have been a revelation without him. Trouble is, until a player like that leaves, you are never sure what will happen. Could simply be that most of the other players just are mediocre.

Agger has been good and allows the Reds the ability to play further up the pitch. I beliebe his absence has played a key role in LFC's fifficulties.

I was at the Liverpool winning final against Milan and Gerrard had a nightmare of a game.I've seen it many times like in this article that he was fantastic,well he wasn't.If you think i'm wrong look at the Dvd and then tell me i'm wrong.He did score and also made two good tackles on Sergino near the end in the right back position,that was it. Get your Dvd's out and learn and stop saying he was great when he wasn't.

The norwegian wasnt a benitez buy therefore your comments about not adding are insane.... he was there a long time before benitez. and to be honest like gerrard any man that doesnt know what position he will play in from one game to the next is bound to suffer. Aurelio??? no thanks

As a Manchester United Supporter I am neutral on the subject but I must state that the Author is not far from the truth. You will in most probabilty send me packing, to put it mildly, but deep in your harts you know that Rafa, Champons League triumph apart, has not really delivered or taken you to any great heights. Sorry folks he is the one that has to go first. And please do not say that Crouch is a great player because he is not, especially not a Liverpool kind of great player. Liverpool = players such Dalglish, Rush, Hansen, Gerrard, Torres, you know what I mean.

The fact that Orion has placed blame on Gerrard being the issue proves that if you do not have people like this around making ridiculous comments, we would be living in a perfect world. How someone can honestly point the finger at one player and say thats the problem with this football club is beyond pathetic. The problem is not gerrard it is obviously the WHOLE team. 2 games against City and Wigan of which neither team did ANYTHING to be rewarded a point is something people seem to forget. City at their own ground may have well not had attacking players on the pitch. Liverpool that game were far from their best BUT you can at least argue they deserved the points if there was to be a winner. If that was Utd, Arsenal or Chelsea who "snatched" a victory people would have said "thats what champions are made of, you can never be at your best at all times and sometimes you have to grind out a result". Now the Wigan game, im not sure what you were watching but we did enough to get 3 points and anyone who can ho

They way I see it, I agree with the writer. Its not about Gerrard. Its about no one else at Liverpool stepping up. When Liverpool fails, it seems everyone looks to Gerrard to see if he had a good game. Or blame him if he didnt - like commentators used to do with Therry Henry and Arsenal. Now people know Arsenal, Man U etc are not one-man teams. When Rooney/Ronaldo were away, they still managed. Liverpool need fans and commentators to look beyond Gerrard. Other need to step up. Maybe I agree,,,giving other the arm band may have the same effect as it did with Wiliem Gallas - look how it made him better. I say give the band to Masch and see how he does.

honestly say wigan deserved a goal needs to watch the game again. The problem here is not one player called gerrard, it is the WHOLE team. It is very frustrating at times watching liverpool as on many occassions they have chances to score more than they do and pay the price by conceding. The problem here is being clinical. Utd, Chelsea and to an extent Arsenal would have been at least 2-0 up with the same chances before titus bramble managed to score a screaming half volley, the first and last in his career. Granted Liverpool should be scoring and winning against the likes of Wigan at home but there have been several occassions this season alone where opposing teams have done very very little andcome away with something. If Liverpool were clinical then there would be no finger pointing or critism. When do you deserve to win a game and when do you deserve to lose?

This doesn't surprise me - re gerrard the only issue to my mind is why its taken so long to wake up to it - you can't build a team around a player who, for all his virtues, isn't a team player - nor can you build a team around a player who only shows up 10 times a season - how many goals did he score last year in the EPL? or the year before that - he's an impact player who doesn't make a consistant impact - the fact that you hav to go back to 2004 to find a game when he really won it for you singlehanded says everything - sure there's been a few since , one or two but not enough to win a title with - his positional discipline is awful, he haas a tendency to dive into tackles recklessly and his first touch and his respect for possession is not outstanding - RAfa knows this which is why he experiments with Gerard on the wing and so on - however he does drive a team on and the team dosn't play as well with him not central - however if you put him central he lets you down by his inconsistency - from liverpool p

Everyone said Arsenal will die without Patrick Vieira, and then Thierry Henry. Everyone said Man U will die without Eric cantona, and then Roy Keane. So why are we so scared to loose Gerrad as captain? We are not actually loosing him, but making him free to play without the weight of everyone looking to him. I agree. Its time for Reina, Carragher and Alonso to show they can inspire.