Having been the source of so much head-scratching for England managers over
the years, Steven Gerrard is on the brink of solving a serious problem for
Fabio Capello. If Gerrard can establish a role as the main supporting
presence to Fernando Torres in the Liverpool team, a world of possibilities
will open up with England.
Tonight at the San Siro, on what could be an historic night for English
football with a fourth Barclays Premier League club vying for a place in the
Champions League quarterfinals, Gerrard will resume a partnership that has
produced five straight wins for Liverpool, yielding 15 goals. If they aim to
do more than merely defend their 2-0 first-leg lead against Inter Milan, it
is Gerrard and Torres who will again be relied upon to create havoc through
the middle of a makeshift defence, with Marco Materazzi suspended, Iván
Córdoba and Walter Samuel injured and Cristian Chivu and Nicolás Burdisso,
the full backs, ready to deputise as centre halves.
Gerrard's understanding with the prolific Torres has revitalised Liverpool's
season and so rattled Inter
at Anfield three weeks ago that Materazzi was sent off before half-time
for a second bookable offence. Torres feeds off Gerrard's intelligent
passes, Gerrard exploits the space created by Torres's runs to get beyond
the striker and threaten goal. It is a blueprint of how the England of
Capello's dreams would play, but he knows he is short of one key ingredient:
a goalscorer with Torres's immense class.
It is no secret that Capello is auditioning strikers for England's World Cup
qualification campaign. Clearly, unlike his predecessors, he does not see
Michael Owen as the solution. Gabriel Agbonlahor, of Aston Villa, is a
possibility but is inexperienced and untested, while Peter Crouch needs to
make more of a mark in club football before he can seriously be considered.
Capello's initial instinct was to play Wayne Rooney as a striker, but while
the manager has concerns about him in that role, the scarcity of his options
means the plan is far from abandoned.
What he needs is for Rooney to be more ruthless in front of goal, to become
the kind of level-headed finisher that Rafael Benítez bought in Torres.
There is little worth in Gerrard creating six chances per game if Rooney
needs that many to score.
Capello can only have been alarmed at Rooney's success rate in a recent Champions
League match with Lyons. With so few alternatives, however, he remains
the best way forward for England. In every other area he is the equal of
Torres: technique, movement, physical presence. He just needs to learn to
finish. The target must be his performance for Manchester United in the 4-0
FA Cup demolition of Arsenal, when Rooney scored and turned in a display
that Alan Shearer claimed was the epitome of the lone striker's job. Even
Capello applauded him off the pitch. Playing Gerrard behind the striker
would at least allow Capello to attempt to accommodate him in the same team
as Frank Lampard. Gareth Barry could also play, while retaining a semblance
of the shape that the manager first envisaged for his England side.
Gerrard's conversion to this new task is remarkable, considering his
resistance to change under Steve McClaren, the former England head coach.
Perhaps it is symptomatic of the more businesslike relationship he enjoys
with Benítez, the Liverpool manager - to McClaren he was always “Stevie G” -
that he is now open to playing farther forward and enjoying his best form of
the season in partnership with Torres.
Benítez prefers Gerrard behind the striker as it takes away many of his
defensive duties and allows him freedom to roam. In a two-man midfield, the
Spaniard was always worried by Gerrard's tendency to desert his position in
search of the action, leaving space for the opposition to exploit. Capello
is cut from the same cloth. His preference is for two holding midfield
players and two wingers, one to give width and the other cutting inside,
almost as an auxiliary striker.
This may have to be adapted slightly to include Lampard, who would be negated
if used beside Barry purely as a defensive screen, but the Chelsea man
certainly plays a more disciplined midfield role than Gerrard, whose
greatest successes have all been as a marauder, as he did so brilliantly in
the 2006
FA Cup Final against West Ham United. And as he may do tonight if
Benítez is not content to sit back and soak up pressure.
Gerrard has already formed a mutual admiration society with Torres. The
Spaniard described him as “maybe the best player in the world”. Gerrard says
he would not swap his friend for any other striker. Capello must hope that
arrangement is not permanent.
— Many consider Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres to be Liverpool's two
world-class players and, when operating together up front for Liverpool in
recent games, they have dovetailed brilliantly. Predominantly a midfield
player, Gerrard has been pushed forward into the hole, with Torres playing
as the lone striker. With two holding midfield players behind him - Xabi
Alonso and Lucas Leiva filled those holes in Saturday's 3-0 home win over
Newcastle United - Gerrard has the freedom to charge forward without
worrying about defensive obligations. As the link man between midfield and
the front line, Gerrard is busier than Torres but he is liable to enter the
opposition's penalty area as often as his team-mate. Bill Edgar
Inter Milan (0) (2) Liverpool
Last 16, second leg
Kick off: 7:45pm
San Siro
Writers shortlisted
The Times took its nominations for the Sports Journalists’ Association’s
annual awards to 15 yesterday when Simon
Barnes, the Chief Sports Writer, and Martin
Samuel, the Chief Football Correspondent, were shortlisted as Sports
Writer of the Year. Samuel is bidding for an unprecedented hat-trick.
