Player Focus: Gerrard Offering Liverpool Defence Too Little Protection

After Steven Gerrard had bent in the free-kick that gave Liverpool the lead in Saturday’s Merseyside derby, he ran away with one hand cupped to his ear. The message was fairly clear: where’s your criticism now? “I can take constructive criticism, but people go one step further and say you are finished and can't run anymore," he said afterwards. "So it was nice to remind people that, at the age of 34, I can still play, I can still run and I am still around and I can still compete with the best players around.”

Which is true and simultaneously not true. It seems revealing that Gerrard picks out running as the aspect that proves he can still cut it at the highest level. Running has defined Gerrard: throughout his career he’s been busting lungs to get back to make a vital challenge or to get forward to score a vital goal. As a holding midfielder, though, running is not really a priority. It has been the curse of Gerrard throughout his career that he has been self-defined as a box-to-box player, a modern day Bryan Robson, at a time when midfield roles have become more specialised.

Last season, Liverpool conceded 50 goals in 38 league games, only the eighth best record in the division. This season, they’ve already let in nine in six games; also the eighth best record. In part that’s down to an inability to deal with set plays, but there is a more fundamental problem (that may lead them to concede set plays).

Individual defenders have been heavily criticised and understandably so. Mamadou Sakho’s future at the club is in doubt after he left Anfield before Saturday’s derby on finding out he had been left out of the side, but at least by doing so he made sure he wouldn’t needlessly clatter into one of his team-mates following a lack of communication.

But there is also a more fundamental structural problem, one that goes beyond the naïve insistence that Liverpool are an attacking team. The issue could be seen also at the World Cup when England had more possession than Italy and Uruguay and created more chances than either, but were undone by shoddy defending. And that is that the back of midfield is not offering the centre of defence sufficient protection. It’s not a simple issue, and it may be that if Gerrard were part of a more defensive system he could thrive at the back of midfield but he alone does not offer a defence sufficient support.

To a large degree, that is a matter of positioning. It certainly isn’t a matter of running. A hint of that is given by the fact that Liverpool, as a team, have made just 12.3 interceptions per game this season, the fifth lowest figure in the Premier League. That’s a statistic that requires unpacking – it could, of course, simply be that Liverpool haven’t had much defending to do; so it’s telling that of the four teams to have made fewer interceptions, only Everton have conceded more goals than Liverpool.

Is Gerrard to blame for that? It’s startling that he has made only 0.5 interceptions per game this season, which isn’t even in the top 50 for central midfielders in the league. It’s even more startling that he makes only 1.8 tackles per game – the joint-35th best for a player in his position. A pass accuracy of 87.4%, with an average of two key passes per game, is good and he has scored two goals, one of which was a penalty. But those are figures for a more advanced midfielder.

Gerrard may be running as well as ever, he may be playing wonderful passes, but he simply isn’t winning the ball back enough for a holding midfielder. That means either he has to adjust his game, or Brendan Rodgers needs to stop asking him to perform a role for which he doesn’t seem equipped.

Do you think Gerrard offers enough protection to the Liverpool defence? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below