http://www.liverpoolfc.tv/news/drilldown/NG159168080313-1413.htm
We've long had superstars and Superman. Lately there's
been superfoods and superbugs. But clearly we can now add
‘superplayers' to the lexicon.
The archetypal superplayer is Steven Gerrard.
There are great players in various guises, but for me, the idea of
the superplayer revolves around their all-round ability, mixed with
their physical attributes and athleticism. It's a concept where
you'd pick the perfect elements as if from a genetics laboratory
experiment. The superplayer could play in almost any position, such
is the wide-ranging nature of his gifts.
These are players who have it all, and can do it all. They can
pass, shoot, score, head, tackle; they are quick, strong, tall and
have a desire to win that lifts them above similarly gifted
individuals who just don't quite shine as brightly.
There have been plenty of great players who don't fit this mould:
Kenny Dalglish, the club's very best, for starters. Not the
biggest, he wasn't really an athlete either. But if you're that
good, that clever, you don't need to be. However, more and more in
the modern game, it comes down to possessing athleticism as well as
skill and intelligence.
If you have a player like Jamie
Carragher, you don't leave him out because he doesn't
quite fit the mould. Not the best on the ball, and not super-quick,
his reading of the game and his desire to win are such that he is
simply a great defender, as he's proved time and again. Sometimes
that's all you need. Same with someone like Scholes at Man United
–– small, not the quickest, can't tackle, and an asthmatic. But a
great footballer over the years. Ditto Fabregas, who's not big and
strong, but can still control the midfield.
Around the league I can spot more examples of the modern
superplayer: Micah Richards, Kolo Toure, Emmanuel Adebayor, Frank
Lampard, Didier Drogba, Cristiano Ronaldo, Rio Ferdinand and
William Gallas. Patrick Vieira was an early example. Indeed,
Arsenal are leaders in the recruitment of powerful athletes who can
also play football, but it's an area that Liverpool are moving into
with impressive foresight.
Another superplayer was introduced to the league this season by
Benítez, and how grateful we are: Fernando
Torres, scorer of an incredible 25 goals from open play
this season. He can do it all, and has an excellent mentality to
boot.
Last summer I argued with quite a few Reds who felt that Torres
wasn't the answer; from understandable arguments that his
goalscoring record was not impressive enough (I pointed out that
both Shearer and Henry had very weak goalscoring records until the
age of 22/23), through to ludicrous suggestions which compared
Torres with with fellow Fernando, Snr Morientes –– as if every
Frenchman called Thierry is going to be as good as Msr Henry.
But for me, Torres, just like Shearer and Henry, was ready to go up
a level or two in the right setting. Torres has skill, strength and
pace. I'd previously felt Morientes had the pedigree and Cissé had
the raw power necessary to succeed in England, but neither had me
as convinced prior to their arrival in the way Torres did. That
said, I expected a bedding-in period that meant he might struggle
at first.
Perhaps due to not being overplayed early on, when the physical
nature takes its greatest toll on a shellshocked individual, he
could adjust gradually –– although he was only put on the bench for
two league games; he missed more football due to two injuries with
Spain. Even now, pundits moronically gasp when he's in the starting
line-up.
It cannot be proved, and hence the tiresome tirades of
anti-rotation theorists, but if Liverpool did lose ground in those
two games Torres didn't start (Portsmouth and Birmingham), then
equally you could argue with more logic (but again not conclusively
prove it) that we are now seeing the best of Torres because he was
sensibly introduced.
Either way, his form has improved from what was already an
impressive start. Seven goals in his first 13 league games was
pretty good; but now he's on a run of 12 in 12. Now he's used to
the demands of English football he can enjoy regular starts, just
like Gerrard, Reina and Carragher. Also having started to adapt,
Ryan Babel is
pushing for the same status.
I'm a big fan of the kind of player Benítez signs. I honestly don't
think any manager –– not even Wenger or Ferguson –– has signed a
better ratio of successes to failures or had more impressive value
for money.
Daniel Agger,
signed in 2006, is the perfect defensive superplayer. Despite him
being quick, I could only fault him for not having the pace of
someone like Micah Richards. But for a young centre-back, Agger has
it all. He can defend on the deck and in the air, and he can take
the ball into midfield and beyond; and if he doesn't run 50 yards
with it, he can pass it there instead. He's also one of the few
centre-backs who can score technically great goals with his feet,
as seen against West Ham and Chelsea last season, while also
scoring a few with his head.
I'm interested to see how Martin Skrtel,
also aged 23, develops. He has the physical attributes –– pace,
height and strength –– and has so far looked extremely assured on
the ball, but without passing expansively like Agger.
Of course, you can't have an entire team of superplayers; they're
just too rare. Much of the time it's about finding combinations to
provide a balance. The combined assets of Alonso and Mascherano
would make for a superplayer; all they lack is the ability to get a
lot of goals. But in a side that contains Gerrard, Torres, Babel
and either Kuyt or Benayoun, it's not a problem.
And there's one more Liverpool player I'd definitely put in the
category, and a surprise inclusion given his position. For me,
Pepe Reina is
the ultimate modern goalkeeper. Perhaps a couple of inches shorter
than would be ideal to be the complete ‘superkeeper', he has no
apparent weaknesses to his game.
Reina's quickness off his line and his outstanding distribution
mark him out as something more than just a goalkeeper; in an age
when keepers can't pick up the ball, a good custodian can keep
possession rather than hump hopeful balls upfield. He becomes the
sweeper.
Lucas, who played very well against Newcastle, looks in the right
mould, but at present it's hard to judge as he's new to England,
and doesn't yet appear to have the physique to be the perfect
all-rounder, despite a willingness to get stuck in and a good eye
for a pass. Babel has the pace, skill, eye for goal and the perfect
physique, but unlike Torres he hasn't got the natural aggression or
defensive nous; that said, Benítez has been working on that side of
his game, as that's what needs improving. He doesn't need to teach
the Dutchman as much about how to attack, which comes
instinctively.
Players like Torres, Gerrard and Babel are those you'd pay to
watch; but you need players like Carragher, Mascherano and Kuyt to
help those you'd pay to watch to shine by providing a solid
platform.
I think there's a lot of guff spouted about players playing out of
position. Any good centre-back should be able to play as a
full-back or holding midfielder. Any good centre-forward should be
able to play on the wing, as should any attacking
central-midfielder. It doesn't mean it'd be their best
position; that's another issue.
But the difference with the superplayer is that he can play ‘two
steps removed' from his natural/optimal position. Torres would be a
phenomenal right-back if he had a season there; of course, why
would you want to do that? Meanwhile, I was at Villa Park and
Anfield getting on for a decade ago when Gerrard had outstanding
games at left-back and right-back respectively.
More than anything, it's when these superplayers combine that the
whole can exceed the sum of already special parts. Part of the
reason Liverpool are improving is that Torres and Gerrard, along
with Babel, have built up an increasingly strong understanding
after six months training and playing together.
Torres' header to Gerrard for the second goal against Newcastle was
so simple, yet so deceptively brilliant: it was just right weight
and angle for the captain to run onto; then came Gerrard's
inch-perfect left-foot pass back to Torres who, like Pele in 1970,
sent the keeper the wrong way without even touching the ball.
Genius. It was a kind of recent perfection that, along with how
they've linked with Babel, has mirrored the best of what Man United
have offered with Tevez, Ronaldo and Rooney.
All this means that Liverpool have a ‘superspine'. Reina, Agger,
Gerrard and Torres are all what I've dubbed superplayers. And
Carragher, Alonso and Mascherano, while not quite the all-rounders
of the other four, are still top-class, and arguably world-class
players.
All I hope is that now the new elements of the team are settled in,
and with Agger nearing full fitness, the Reds can continue to go up
a level. All of these superplayers are aged between 23 and 27,
while Babel and Lucas are just 21 and perhaps capable of making the
step up. Maybe in a year or two we'll be talking about a
superteam.
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