Brendan Rodgers: Steven Gerrard is one of the best passers in the world

Steven Gerrard

Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers revealed to Jamie Carragher that he had been thinking for a long time about changing Steven Gerrard’s position and role in his midfield.

Gerrard, 33, has been used in a much deeper midfield role in the past few weeks and has put in varying performances. From a shambolic opening 45 minutes to a wonderful game against Everton, Gerrard seems to be growing into the role.

Rodgers believes he has what it takes to succeed in that position.

“I’ve had it in my mind for a while, to be honest, because I’ve looked at Stevie [Gerrard] over many years and the brilliant player that he’s been for this club,” he said to Carragher on Sky Sports.

“But I also thought he had other attributes and as he became older, obviously you change and some players will decide to move on and quit and go into the media, and some will maybe want to stick it out and be on the field.

“I just felt with him that this is a guy who’s one of the best passers in world football who’s game intelligence and understanding over many years of playing has grown.”

He added: “I’ve always spoke to Stevie on it and it was just about the timing really. It wasn’t whether I would do it or not – it had to be at the right time and it had to be around the players that could make it work. I thought the Everton game the other night was a real pivotal game for him in that position because, as I said, when you play as a two and a one in midfield, it’s slightly different because you cover one side and even though some people are talking about him playing deeper, he still had that licence to go. But when you’re that single pivoting player in midfield and you’ve got two advanced players in the corridor in front it’s a totally different role.”

Gerrard played the role to perfection as Liverpool beat their city rivals 4-0 at Anfield just over a week ago.

“I thought he was brilliant the other night. I text him after the game, after watching about three o’clock in the morning, saying I thought his positional play was superb in the game and that reading of the game.”

Rodgers then went on to push Gerrard to become one of the top players in Europe in that role, a la Andrea Pirlo and Xabi Alonso.

“It was a performance that has really shown me that over these next couple of years, he’s a player that can really be a standout player in European football in that position.”

At Liverpool, only Lucas (808) has attempted more forward passes than Gerrard (801) this season.