Is Steven Gerrard irreplaceable for Liverpool?

After May 2015 Liverpool FC will say goodbye to their captain of eleven years, their talisman and perhaps their greatest player; Steven Gerrard. Brendan Rodgers is the manager that has been entrusted in having to replace a man who has been a mainstay of the Liverpool side for over a fifteen years. Steven Gerrard wasn't just a player that could be relied on, he was a player that took games of the highest value by the scruff of the neck and won them himself. The Champions League final of 2005, the FA Cup Final 2006, a a hat-trick from the bench against Napoli are just three examples of Gerrard taking an average Liverpool side to heights well beyond expectations and performing time and time again on the biggest stage.

Clearly of fantastic technical quality, immense work-rate and first-class leadership qualities it is perhaps his ability to do everything that makes him so hard to replace and so hard to compare to other players. He doesn't have the metronomic passing abilities of a Xavi or a Andrea Pirlo. He isn't the silky smooth playmaker such as Zinedine Zidane or Kaka. He was never the defensive midfield stalwart like Claude Makelele or Genaro Gattuso. He wasn't even quite the box-to-box masters like Roy Keane and Patrick Vieira. He was in a class of his own, capable of playing anywhere across the midfield and being the best player of that midfield. Capable of scoring goals, creating goals, covering the defence and dictating the pace. He is not the master of one trade, but should that take away from what he was? He is so hard to qualify because he was so good at everything. There are few players to have ever played that could make up a pretty decent outfield ten on a football field. He has played pretty much everywhere but centre back for Liverpool and even then Brendan Rodgers hinted that he might use Gerrard there in the future. 

Beyond his obvious talents as a footballer, Gerrard brought something to the team and the club that is impossible to replace. The last of Liverpool's "scousers" with Jamie Carragher, Robbie Fowler, Steve McManaman all retired and players like Martin Kelly and Jon Flanagan ravaged by injuries. He was the beating heart of the team and embodied the club. Fans felt he was one of them and because of that affection for Gerrard is like that of no other player. The Liverpool fans have loved others, like Fernando Torres and Luis Suarez, they have great affinity for Xabi Alonso and Luis Garcia. None of this compares to the sheer adoration Liverpool fans have for Steven Gerrard and will continue to have for him. There were difficult periods where it looked like Gerrard would turn his back on the club. But the club, player and fans moved on from these incidents. Nobody has ever questioned Gerrard's commitment to Liverpool since. At the club, as a team he has won: the Champions League, the FA Cup twice, the League Cup three times, the UEFA Cup and two European Super Cups. Individually he came third in the Ballon D'Or in 2006, was the FWA Footballer of the Year in 2009, PFA Player of the Year in 2006, PFA Young Player of the Year in 2001, was named in the UEFA Team of the Year in 2005, 2006 and 2007. He has won the Premier League Player of the Month award more times than any other player with six awards, the latest in March 2014. 

Liverpool FC have some great young players in central midfield who will dream of being the next Gerrard such as Jordan Henderson and Emre Can, but the likelihood is that their careers will not be half that of Gerrard and their influence on Liverpool Football Club not even get close. Steven Gerrard will be talked about by Liverpool fans for the rest of their lives, every next big thing will be compared to and come short against the club legend. Never will Liverpool see a player so capable of dragging them through big games, so fantastic a footballer and be such a symbol of the city as a whole. Steven Gerrard is truly irreplaceable because what he brought simply does not exist within another right now. His footballing talents could conceivably be replaced but the whole package, that will be the Holy Grail that Liverpool will be searching for forever.

Nice write up. I doubt Henderson will reach Gerrards level but he does have the potential to become a regular like him in the starting lineup. He has already played 135 matches for Liverpool since joining in 2011 which is no easy feat to do.

His quality isn't irreplaceable, but Gerrard at Liverpool is irreplaceable. He has won so much, offered so much to that club I can't see any other Liverpool players or youngsters living up to what he gave for that club in this next generation or so. Unless Liverpool can get a really big name if they get back into the Champions League, then maybe in terms of quality. But he is irreplaceable really.