RAWK Goes into Meltdown 2014/2015 - The "We go again" Edition

For new Manager, a RAWK suggestion was Kenny overseeing Stevie. But anyway...

Ah so after a while the optimistic squiggle does start to drop if you're playing shite.

Three points against Palace vital for the real table and for this one.
 
Not in the slightest.

Gerrard hasn't been world class? He's probably one of the two greatest players ever to play for our club. His form from 2003-2009 would have seen any side in the world bite your hand off for him. Unless you only consider Messi and Ronaldo world class (which you clearly don't) then Gerrard certainly was and was one of the best two or three players in Europe.

He was a great player but no.
 
Not in the slightest.

Gerrard hasn't been world class? He's probably one of the two greatest players ever to play for our club. His form from 2003-2009 would have seen any side in the world bite your hand off for him. Unless you only consider Messi and Ronaldo world class (which you clearly don't) then Gerrard certainly was and was one of the best two or three players in Europe.

Gerrard was on the fringes for a long time but he never good enough to be 'one of the best two or three players in Europe'. Hell at no point was he the best player in England, never mind Europe.
 
He was a great player but no.

Gerrard was on the fringes for a long time but he never good enough to be 'one of the best two or three players in Europe'. Hell at no point was he the best player in England, never mind Europe.

At his peak (which I consider to be around 2004-2009) he was easily one of the best three players in his position in Europe. Overall, I'd say he was in the 'world class tier' during that period. Not one of the best three, but certainly up there with the best.
 
Caf does under-rate peak Stevie a little bit. Scored a lot of annoying goals, shooting was sensational.
 
Not in the slightest.

Gerrard hasn't been world class? He's probably one of the two greatest players ever to play for our club. His form from 2003-2009 would have seen any side in the world bite your hand off for him. Unless you only consider Messi and Ronaldo world class (which you clearly don't) then Gerrard certainly was and was one of the best two or three players in Europe.
That never happened. Whilst I agree with you he was probably world class, he was never anywhere near being one of the best players in Europe.
 
Caf does under-rate peak Stevie a little bit. Scored a lot of annoying goals, shooting was sensational.

Not deny he was great but top 3 players in europe, c'mon mate. I can name 3 midfielders who were all better in his era:

Zidane, Nedved, Viera could probably name more too, and these are only midfielders.
 
Not in the slightest.

Gerrard hasn't been world class? He's probably one of the two greatest players ever to play for our club. His form from 2003-2009 would have seen any side in the world bite your hand off for him. Unless you only consider Messi and Ronaldo world class (which you clearly don't) then Gerrard certainly was and was one of the best two or three players in Europe.

:lol: Are you seriously saying that Steven Gerrard was as good as the likes of Ronaldo & Messi? Your statement simply reinforce me saying that scousers way overrate their players.

Again, I think the CAF had lots of argument before of what constitutes "World Class". Some would say that World Class = players that would make the world First XI, some have lower standards that World Class = top 3 players in their respective position.

For the sake of this argument, I'll take the "top 3 players in their respective position".

The best years of Stevie Me's career is during 05/06 to 10/11 season, so I would also take players around this time.

His best years coincide with the fading of 2 of the best MF of the generation, Zidane and Roy Keane, so these 2 players are not in consideration.

Players that I would take in MF over Stevie Me:
1. Ronaldinho
2. Xavi
2. Iniesta
3. Scholes
4. Fabregas
5. Ballack

Is Stevie Me near this of players? Yes. There's a lot to like about him as a player. But like I said in my post, what he lacks is the football intelligence that separates world class players from "nearly world class" players like him.
 
Not in the slightest.

Gerrard hasn't been world class? He's probably one of the two greatest players ever to play for our club. His form from 2003-2009 would have seen any side in the world bite your hand off for him. Unless you only consider Messi and Ronaldo world class (which you clearly don't) then Gerrard certainly was and was one of the best two or three players in Europe.

Completely off your rocker there mate. Maybe in moments but consistently? Gerrard was a huge let down at times and it wasn't just a one or two match thing.
 
Stevie was UEFA Club Footballer of the Year in 2005 (presume this is about the European competitions performance) but the Ballon d'Or voters still preferred to have Frank Lampard in 2nd with Gerrard 3rd, as has been said. So they're clearly mad.

Loads of 'prettier' footballers but SG was highly effective at what he did. And would have won more in a better team - and been more rated as a player if that had happened. (You don't have to be a tremendously intelligent player to be 'effective' either). I'd take him over Cesc Fabregas all day long in my XI.
 
Behind Lampard. Does that mean Lampard was better?

No. Owen won it and he wasn't the best player in Europe. What being in the top three clearly shows is that he was one of the best footballers in the world at his peak and arguing that he was one of the best three is no where near as ridiculous as it's being made out to be.
 
So Owen won it, but was not the best player in Europe. Lampard ended up in 2nd place, but that does not mean that he is the better player. Gerrard finished 3rd and thus showed that he was one of the best players in the world.
 
No. Owen won it and he wasn't the best player in Europe. What being in the top three clearly shows is that he was one of the best footballers in the world at his peak and arguing that he was one of the best three is no where near as ridiculous as it's being made out to be.

:wenger: Wait so that surely makes Owen one of the best footballers in the world at his peak too then surely, and Lampard no?
Infact doesn't that mean they were both better then Stevie G at his peak too?
 
So Owen won it, but was not the best player in Europe. Lampard ended up in 2nd place, but that does not mean that he is the better player. Gerrard finished 3rd and thus showed that he was one of the best players in the world.
:lol:
 
So Owen won it, but was not the best player in Europe. Lampard ended up in 2nd place, but that does not mean that he is the better player. Gerrard finished 3rd and thus showed that he was one of the best players in the world.

Sounds about right.
 
So Owen won it, but was not the best player in Europe. Lampard ended up in 2nd place, but that does not mean that he is the better player. Gerrard finished 3rd and thus showed that he was one of the best players in the world.

One of the best. You might not all agree that he was the third best (in fact you clearly don't). It's not absolutely ridiculous to make a claim that he was though is my point. Owen and Lampard were clearly two of the best footballers in Europe too.

Wait so that surely makes Owen one of the best footballers in the world at his peak too then surely, and Lampard no?

Of course and I never disputed that did I?
 
I'm a bit surprised about what can be seen as some kind of negative historical revisionism on here when talking about Gerrard in his peak. Yeah, it's a United forum so you shouldn't expect many glossy reviews of rival players but still. He's been a thorn in my United supporting side for as long as I can remember, even though we experienced all that success during his peak years. I used to envy them Gerrard a lot despite, as mentioned before, we showed that we were perfectly capable without him. He was for years perhaps the one player I felt we lacked post-Keano. He was a brilliant player which reputation was further enhanced by the ridiculous amount of Hollywood goals he scored.
 
One of the best. You might not all agree that he was the third best (in fact you clearly don't). It's not absolutely ridiculous to make a claim that he was though is my point. Owen and Lampard were clearly two of the best footballers in Europe too.
Well, I dont agree that Gerrard ever was one of the top 3 players in the world at any point in his career though he might've been top 3 midfielders at some point.
 
:wenger: Wait so that surely makes Owen one of the best footballers in the world at his peak too then surely, and Lampard no?
Infact doesn't that mean they were both better then Stevie G at his peak too?

And of course Suarez wasn't recognised in this years Ballon D'or so clearly he was useless this year.... Goes to show that these awards mean nothing in connection a players ability - the point you was making Cassidy
 
Well, I dont agree that Gerrard ever was one of the top 3 players in the world at any point in his career though he might've been top 3 midfielders at some point.
04/05 he was the third best. Or rather his CL heroics made him the 3rd best, his league performances that season were forgettable. I'd also put him down as arguably the 3rd BPITW in 08/09, though that's if I were an extremely biased Liverpool fan.

Being as objective as I can be I'd say Gerrard only had 2 seasons in his whole career where he was anything resembling one of Europe's finest players.
 
At his peak (which I consider to be around 2004-2009) he was easily one of the best three players in his position in Europe. Overall, I'd say he was in the 'world class tier' during that period. Not one of the best three, but certainly up there with the best.

That's a different conversation though, Barney said best three in Europe, not best three in his position in Europe, which is still debatable. He probably had two seasons (04-05 and 08-09) where he was comfortable in the top 3 in his position but otherwise I'd say he was hovering below a revolving cast of players who were inarguably better in any given season.
 
Meanwhile, in RAWK news, there's a lot of pining for Rafa in the Napoli thread:

I really hope they get rafa back, he was a bigger joke than rodgers. After Rafa they will bounce back and want dalglish before pinning for rodgers again.
 
Meanwhile, in RAWK news, there's a lot of pining for Rafa in the Napoli thread:

The "I love Rafa" quote just sounds like brick in Anchorman.


Rodgers out, Rafa in. Please let it happen. Imagine the comedy value!
 
That's a different conversation though, Barney said best three in Europe, not best three in his position in Europe, which is still debatable. He probably had two seasons (04-05 and 08-09) where he was comfortable in the top 3 in his position but otherwise I'd say he was hovering below a revolving cast of players who were inarguably better in any given season.

Who was this cast that were inarguably better? You don't finish 3rd in the balon d'or unless you're clearly one of the best in Europe!
 
I really hope they get rafa back, he was a bigger joke than rodgers. After Rafa they will bounce back and want dalglish before pinning for rodgers again.

Yes, he won us a CL, had us in the final of another, had us constantly in the latter stages of the competition, won an FA cup, had us in the champions league in all but one year, etc. What a joke!
 
Yes, he won us a CL, had us in the final of another, had us constantly in the latter stages of the competition, won an FA cup, had us in the champions league in all but one year, etc. What a joke!
And then he started the decline, cracked up on live television, led Liverpool out of the top 4 and left you rotten after alienating Alonso. He did well, then he completely lost it.
 
I actually think Rafa's a gent, and a decent manager - it's the RAWK hero worship I find funny, because it's often over-the-top.
 
Balotelli assist

He does make a truly proper run that was incisive and well angled that drug (dragged, probably) Cahill into the position he was in for him to eventually deflect it in
.
 
Not in the slightest.

Gerrard hasn't been world class? He's probably one of the two greatest players ever to play for our club. His form from 2003-2009 would have seen any side in the world bite your hand off for him. Unless you only consider Messi and Ronaldo world class (which you clearly don't) then Gerrard certainly was and was one of the best two or three players in Europe.

I think you got proper confused Barney. Gerrard was the one who was verging on world class, Lucas was the other guy in your midfield.