Liverpool’s lynchpin: Gerrard and Torres are no longer the most important players on Merseyside
Monster Masch
In the waning minutes of the last night’s match at Anfield, Liverpool skipper Steven Gerrard took a moment to look skyward. Eyes closed and body worn, Gerrard was probably wishing that at that very moment Liverpool’s European magic would wash over him one more time so he could pull his team-mates out of a hole the size of the the River Mersey and back into their quarter-final tie with Chelsea. But it wasn’t meant to be.
On a night where Chelsea couldn’t miss, the once confident Liverpool looked completely out of synch on the one stage that has truly felt like home over the last couple of years. The usual cagey matches between the two sides was turned into a shootout that looked more like a training ground practice session at times — the match featured multiple missed opportunities from both sides (Drogba missing pointblank on two occasions) and some horrendous possessions/marking from Liverpool — than a Champions League quarter-final.
In a match where possession was so critical, Liverpool (shockingly) found it quite easy to hold on to the ball, finishing the match at a very respectable 59 percent. But as in most matches, you have to look a bit deeper to see that the quality possessions were far and few. Numerous times supporters watched as Fabio Aurelio and Lucas — amongst others — were pushed off the ball without a fight. For a match that had so much pressure riding on the first leg, too many players seemed to shirk at the prospects of putting Chelsea to the sword after an early Fernando Torres goal.
As the game progressed and Chelsea scored their third goal, it became extremely apparent that whilst Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres may be the two most recognised players on the Liverpool squad, neither of them is the most important. I’ll let you digest that sentence for a moment.
Sure, Gerrard has pulled out some of the most important and improbable goals any of us have ever seen in our lifetime, but when the skipper has pulled up with the occasional knock, Liverpool have found a way to carry-on without him. The same could be said for Fernando Torres who’s been our for week’s at a time. Both players are indispensable to the club, yet Rafa always finds a way to plug the hole in their absence.
The same could be said for the rest of the squad sans one position — and that one position happens to be the biggest cog to Rafa Benitez’s squad. A once outlandish thought has now become official: Javier Mascherano is Liverpool’s most important player.
Ask most Liverpool supporters who they’d expect to be the captain after Gerrard and the answer would almost certainly be Jamie Carragher. But ask them who they’d choose after Carra and the answer seems to without a doubt be Mascherano.
A look at Mascherano’s past anitcs on the pitch paints a picture of a crazed player who would do anything for his club. He’s gone after refs, stood up for his team-mates on multiple occasions, and has played the role of Rafa’s pitbull perfectly. But whilst he’s done all these things over the years, the one thing he’s done better than anyone — including Gerrard — is keep the squad together as one cohesive unit.
It’s no surprise that the holding midfielder position is one of the most important roles in Rafa’s formation. Mascherano not only has to help thwart attacks from the opposition, he also has to make sure that he gives the midfield enough confidence to push up and know that they’re covered in the process. His sense of his position on the pitch and work rate are rivaled by only Chelsea’s Michael Essien. It’s no surprise Real Madrid were tracking him for a role in their squad next season.
Looking at Liverpool last night it was apparent that they missed Mascherano more than any other player. Lucas is a servicable replacement for Mascherano, but in a big match atmosphere the Brazilian still has a long way to go before he gains the killer instinct. Whilst Liverpool’s lack of quality possessions and crisp passing could be placed on the whole squad, it was very clear that they missed the Mascherano glue that seems to keep them together. They didn’t boss the pitch as they had previously against Aston Villa, Manchester United and Real Madrid, pushing players off the ball and controlling the possession with pinpoint passing. They missed all of those things against Chelsea.
There’s a reason Anfield sings his name out to the tune of “Seven Nation Army” by The White Stripes. Whilst the lad may be one player, when he’s on the pitch he plays with the grit and determination of an entire army. Liverpool supporters love him for that, and they wouldn’t have it any other way.
Lucas is Rafa’s excuse for when Liverpool bottle the season!
It’s good to see Mascherano get this sort of recognition though. Maradona sees something in him, can’t be too wrong can he?
But Liverpool are still a one-man team you know, and it ain’t Mascherano
Lucas is a disgrace and not worthy of wearing the liverpool shirt. The sooner he leaves the better. When he players its already 11 v 10 as he is so crap. It’s time to give Jay spearing that chance in his absence.
Lucas do us all a favour, LeivUS LucARSE forever…..
Mate, I support all of our players. I understand Lucas isn’t playing well at the moment, but we need to give him our full support no matter how he’s playing. If he’s playing for my club I give him the benefit of the doubt. He’ll turn it around (I hope).
@ Ahmed – I know, I know. Stevie is the main man at Liverpool and always will be so long as he’s at the club. But seeing how shambolic we looked at the back without Masch made me see how very important he is. If he’s not the most important player at the club, then he certainly is option 1A!
To say Chelsea couldn’t miss is a bit stupid, I counted plenty of opportunities for them that didn’t result in goals, methinks somebody needs to remove themselves from their bubble.
I agree wholeheartedly with this article…. our 2 most important players that keep the midefield turning are definitely Masch and Alonso. Thankgod he (Alonso) didn’t leave in the summer is all I can say.
Gerrard and Torres are our gamebreakers, guys who can turn the game on it’s head but those 2 in the guts stop and distibute respectively.
Spot on!
Without mach we are open to good teams. When the going was tough against chelsea, he is the one man on the pitch that would have picked us up a level.
This will be evident when we turn it round at the bridge
@Liam: Mate, the comment wasn’t meant in the LITERAL sense. It was made to imply that Chelsea were really on form in the match. So I’ll get out of my bubble when you get out of your “literal” bubble
All this proves is that liverpool are an average side, who’ve had a good few weeks and have been found out. Thank god Manuel has signed a new contract. Lol.
I might put Reina ahead of Masch as the next captain.
The moment you see Useless Leiva on the sheet you know you’re in trouble. I can’t recall a single outstanding game… or even not bad game from him.
Throw Dossena on and Useless suddenly looks like Pele! Did you see how many times he lost the ball after coming on? I’ll tell ya how many times…. “every” Lol! My incontinent grandads got better ball control than him!
I’m with the earlier call for Jay Spearing. He’s a Scouse pitbull with the same hunger as Jav. just bloody use the lad Rafa!
In times like this you know Rafa’s cursing missing out on Barry. As much as I didn’t wanna see him at the club anyone out there doubt that we would have lost if he was in instead of Useless Leiva?
I hate lucAss… He makes me puke… WTF with the ball-giving.. I really hate him.. Time and time again he contributes zero and get on the first team. Why not put Babel? Babel as a central midfielder is better than Useless although babel is a winger. I dunno but LucAss has cost us so many games. Alonso Gerrard torres were marked so we need someone to make chelsea worry and who do we have? Lucas? A clown wearing a liverpool shirt, that’s what he is…
q mate, make that 11 clowns.
@Russell Wall: Touche
Oh well, 1 loss and the house is falling down, Liverpool may be about to go into a bad period like United after the latest media build up and tear them down routine.
mark moore, who are you? are u a manuseless fan? Or chelsucks fan?
mark moore, even if chelsea wins, are they gonna beat barcelona. fat chance.
I’m a bit surprised see Mascherano get the credit he deserves so early, he reminds me of Dietmar Hamann when he was at Liverpool in the way that not many people recognised his importance even after coming on against AC Milan in Istanbul.
I wouldn’t say I’m Lucas’ biggest fan but somehow I get the feeling he’s not playing in his best position – you don’t get to captain the Brazilian U20 team unless you have something to offer.
i think liverpool should sell lucas away. i was wondering why in the world did rafa benitez go after lucas leiva instead of anderson, who — i hate to admit — is miles ahead in terms of tenacity, skill and game.
we need to get a better backup at left back for insua. dossena and aurelio are serious liabilities. the chelsea game — did anyone watch the two duds play? goodness gracious me … they were awful, and were responsible for one turnover too many.
if the kuwaitis come, and i do hope they come since my american brethren can’t afford to and are too cheap to do anything constructive, then i hope that they do 5 things:
1. sack rafa benitez and replace him with one who understands to shut up and not put unnecessary pressure on his team; who understands that being stubborn about tactical idealologies equals to being a moron because you adjust your team defense to the opponent’s threat rather than insist blindly on sticking with a zonal defence which has conceded 2 more set-piece goals than the other top4 clubs (which makes it the most shaky) and not blame the players for conceding after the fact
2. spend some money and buy some decent players rather than go cheap each time and come up just a little short … and by that i mean get a real solid cover for mascherano (barry, or move the woefully inept at finishing dirk kuyt to defensive midfield since he works so hard and should thrive in that position), get another finisher from the continent (eto’o – so what if he is expensive? it is called kuwaiti money …. or try to buy daniel sturridge), get an offensive midfielder with good technical ability (perhaps diego or a schweinsteiger), and get a giant (john carew) as an alternate strategy player;
3. trade reina for casillas. improbable, but if you remember the look of casillas, i think that may have proved to be a defining moment in his career where he simply understood there and then that he will never achieve more with real when teams like liverpool and barca are constituted they way they are;
4. find some way to get henry, since he did after all say he would play for liverpool if he weren’t a gunner. well, at least try …
5. build the stadium.
Wow, some of you are just fools.
Ty, stick with reality for a while and then see what ideas you can come up with.