Steven Gerrard

I've never been sad when a player leaves. I support Liverpool Football Club and the club is bigger than any player and will live on. I don't see the link between all the great things Gerrard did and being sad at him leaving now, because we will still have all them great things to remember. I don't think we should currently be embroiled in an argument about letting Gerrard go, and people campaigning against the club for letting it happen. In the long run, when you think about it, who would that benefit? If Gerrard turns round and changes his mind because of everything being said by the fans and the pundits, will that really benefit the club going forward?

That being said, we should still be reminiscing about all the great times we had, without arguing that they're a reason for Gerrard to carry on playing for Liverpool. In the 18 years I've had my season ticket Steven Gerrard has been one of the best players throughout nearly all of them, a rare achievement in the modern game. I was there when he made his debut as a fresh faced substitute, I was there when he left Barthez stranded with a 30 yard screamer, the day he bagged a beauty against Olympiakos, and the last day of the season in 03/04 when he got a standing ovation every time he came anywhere near the stands because he was brilliant and everyone else in the team was turd.

Over the past few days I have seen a lot of people say Gerrard is the best Liverpool player ever. To me, whether or not he was really depends on how you word the question and what angle you take when answering it. I saw a newspaper ask the question is Gerrard Liverpool's best ever midfielder? If we're talking centre midfield then for me the answer is, quite simply, no. Even in the time Gerrard has played for Liverpool there has been better. Xabi Alonso was a better centre midfielder than Steven Gerrard. There's often an argument that in Gerrard's time at Liverpool he has been so good because he has played in poor teams. This may be the case, but he has never had a shortage of great centre midfielders around him. Gary McCallister and Didi Hamann in the early years, Hamann and Xabi Alonso, Momo Sissoko, or Alonso and Javier Mascherano. And often when two of these other players have been available Gerrard has had to vacate the central midfield role, for example in treble season or the season we finished 2nd in 08/09.

However, for me, this is what defines Steven Gerrard as such a great player. The times he has been asked to play out of position. See, the likes of Xabi Alonso, Didi Hamann and Javier Mascherano might be great central midfielders, but you would never be able to ask them to play right wing in a UEFA Cup Final, or right back to close out a Champions League Final. You could never move them to right midfield, like Gerrard in the 05/06 season, and expect them to score 23 goals. You couldn't ask them to play as a second striker to Fernando Torres, like Gerrard in the 08/09 season, when at the age of 28 he became a revelation in this new position scoring 24 goals and drove Liverpool to 2nd place in the league. And finally, in 13/14 when Gerrard was asked to play as the lone defensive midfielder and again guided us to 2nd place.

Steven Gerrard has often been called a victim of his own brilliance, because he has been asked to play in these unfavoured roles. But for me, this is what defines his brilliance. Last ditch tackles as a right back in extra time in Istanbul, to stop Serginho getting the ball in the box. Becoming half of one of Liverpool's greatest ever strike partnerships when he's not even a striker. This is why Steven Gerrard has gone from being one of Liverpool's greatest ever midfielders, to possibly being Liverpool's greatest ever player. Do I think that Gerrard is Liverpool's greatest ever player? I'll tell you that in 20 years.

All the best, Captain.

@adamheath