Liverpool poser: How long is Benitez prepared to be undermined by Gerrard?

I was only talking about the same thing to a pal a few hours ago. Totally agree with you. throws his toys out of the pram far too often, never supports Rafa in the media. he needs to be molly coddled and told how great he is all the time, he is a great player but not a great man in my book. I don't think Rafa would be too upset if he handed in another transfer request, I would miss him greatly as a player but captain fantastic he is not, and I think the other players rely on him too much and dont take enough responsibility themselves. Think Rafa would rather spend the money on players who fit his system. Valencia never had any superstars. It would also be interesting to see how steve plays in a team that doesnt revolve around him...look at Henry at barca.

"For me it's Stevie Me and Captain Useless" you undermined your poor theories with crass comments like that mate.

I agrre with your article, he is a top quality player and has doen alot for the club but it really doesnt seem like his heart is truely in it at times. If u believein, like i certainly do, that body language tells alot, u watch stevies in any match, shoulders hunched head down, always frowning, The fee we would get for a 27 year old that could easily be spent on 2 world class wingers and a striker, like alves, ben arfa, ivan rakitic, or matias fernandez would be worthwhile. I think it would be of great benefit to our great club. In addition Rafa is due alot more respect than he has been shown. He is the man to lead us to glory, and sadly without gerrard that is much more likely. YNWA JFT96

Apologies for the spelling above am late for work.

"For me it's Stevie Me and Captain Useless" you undermined your poor theories with crass comments like that mate.

Thanks Sportingo for re-editing the article good on ya!

I really think that this article should have called why I dislike Steven Gerrard. For someone has been a supporter for over 17 years, there was really no basis for your argument about Steve undermining Raffa. The summer he claimed that he was leaving, was at the end of the summer and summer in which affairs at the club was up in the air. Resigning Steve should have been our priority that summer and it took till the end of the summer to sign him. Any professional wants his future sorted. You mentioned that he had his head in his hands at half in Greece, dont think that you can say that there wasnt one player in that dressing room at halftime that didnt feel dejected. You mentioned Raffa give the players optimism: "THATS HIS JOB!" as manager. You compare Steve to great liverpool captains and true Liverpool legends, captains and players that have done tremendous things for the club and when Steve G does leave this club, he too will be remember as a great liverpool captain and Liverpool legend. During this season's bad stretch, there are time when Steve hasn't played up to his standard, but in fairness no one in the team has played constantly well all season. That's is why the team is where they are! I admit that there is no one player bigger than the club and the club will go on once he retirements (or moves on) but if there is any supporter that truly, honestly believe that Liverpool would be a better team without Steven Gerrard, should really rethink the impact that he makes not only on the pitch but off it as well throughout the season.

But I dont think Rafa ia as ruthless as you say. To sell SG would anger a huge sector of the fans, especially if results did not go our way after the change. SG would have to want to leave and make it clear that he did. However you cannot drop all of the blame of our poor season on SG. The boss is always ultimately responsible and Rafa's buys (apart from Torres and perhaps Babbel) have not born fruit. Rafa cant match Wenger and certainly not Ferguson when it comes to picking players. The fall from grace of JAR and Alonso plus the long injury of Agger has been devastating. We have no reliable goalscoreers other that FT and SG. We have fallen further behind the big three and that cant all be blamed on SG.

Sorry to say but the summer he put in the transfer request was early July barely a month after Istanbul. A manager and a captain are motivators of any team like Keane/Ferguson, Wenger/Adams come to mind in recent memory as well as our own Hughes/Paisley, Shanks/Yeats are just some who inspire players and encourage them which at times he fails to do just as Benitez has his faults in certainly hasn't been helped with Gerrard's attitude which i dislike, outside football he is probably a decent bloke but i don't him on that level so that is that. With his biography i took a pinch of salt with what he mentioned as its easy to protray a perception behind the pen of a ghost-writer.

Mada Faka, i have been saying this on the Liverpool fansite i am registered too for ages. Considerining some of love in with Gerrard on Sportingo, i thought i would give my own perspective on him. Not everyone will agree, but considering you stooped to the low that you have in writing your comments, i would consider you just a typical common idiot.

This could be another Henry thing, cause if he goes it would lift a cloud off of liverpool and they would be able to not need to rely on him and become better as a team/unit, as opposed to I'm the captain pass the ball to me or ill get mad and throw a tantrum. just a quick comment though on the article this seems like its a Rafa Vs Gerrard article, so i pose the question who would you orefer to stay Rafa or Gerrard?

i agree wit the fact that a club is bigger thsn any player including gerrard but no one ever mention that a club is bigger than a manager too! But its always the manager that takes the decision. SO here we are wih another topic!!