This 700th appearance of Steven Gerrard’s glittering career was the latest evidence of how Brendan Rodgers is building a Liverpool for that fast-approaching day when the captain is no longer at the club. The juncture arrives at the close of this season and while Gerrard is not yet Yesterday’s Man, he becomes ever more peripheral.
A sign of these times was how his presence in this XI as a holding midfielder could be seen as a throwback move by Rodgers, who since a 3-0 defeat at Manchester United on 14 December has preferred Jordan Henderson, the vice-captain, and Lucas Leiva as his central pistons: a selection that has been the catalyst for Liverpool’s best form of the campaign, losing only once in 13 outings after this late, late victory over Bolton Wanderers.
It may seem harsh to bill the Gerrard-Joe Allen combination Rodgers sent out here – and which had minimal effect during a sluggish first half against Neil Lennon’s side – as a second-string duo, especially given the 34-year-old’s fair claim at being the best to ever pull on the famous red shirt. Yet this is what Gerrard and Allen are, the latter having last played in the initial fourth-round encounter with Bolton on 24 January and previously featuring in the league in that dismal defeat to United.
Going into this replay, Rodgers’ side had strung a fine run of form together that featured only one loss – in the Capital One Cup semi-final second leg at Chelsea – since the Old Trafford reverse. That Sunday in Manchester was the last time defeat in the Premier League has been tasted – a seven-match unbeaten sequence in the competition – as Rodgers’s men have gradually clicked into the kind of form that took them close to last season’s Premier League title.
What has emerged is the de facto shape of Liverpool in the post-Gerrard era that starts next season. In this fresh 3-4-2-1 system Lucas and Henderson are the midfield generals, Raheem Sterling and Daniel Sturridge – if he can stay healthy – the prime attacking forces, Philippe Coutinho the chief-supplier of trickery, with Emre Can, Martin Skrtel and Mamadou Sakho in defence, in front of a rejuvenated Simon Mignolet, the goalkeeper.
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While Skrtel was at fault for Eidur Gudjohnsen’s 59th-minute penalty that gave Bolton the lead – the defender brought down Zach Clough – a key move as Rodgers formulated his blueprint was to shift Gerrard from the holding role to a freer detail.
The pace of change engineered since by Rodgers is such that it was telling how his manager rested both Henderson, who was on the bench, and Lucas, who did not even make the match-day 18. While Sturridge’s place sitting down alongside Henderson was due to Rodgers wanting to ease his star striker back following a long injury layoff, the vice-captain and his new midfield partner were being saved for Saturday’s late-afternoon visit to Everton for the Merseyside derby.
Gerrard’s ever-receding status meant it is reasonable to ponder if his starting spot against Bolton means he may not be in the XI for the 224th edition of the Liverpool-Everton squabble.
Given Gerrard’s enduring class and how Goodison Park has proved a happy hunting ground during his 17 years at the club this would still be as much of a shock as his being left out for the Champions League game at Real Madrid this term.
Yet by the time Gudjohnsen put Bolton ahead Henderson had replaced Adam Lallana and it was Gerrard’s place he initially took in midfield as the senior man went out wide.
Only Allen’s departure restored Gerrard centrally and though there had been flashes of the old style – one first-half pass served instantly into Sterling set the striker clear – the greater evidence was of how he is more muted these days, proving ineffective as Liverpool tried to avert being knocked out.
Instead it was left to Sterling and Coutinho, two vibrant symbols of Liverpool’s brave new world, to do what Gerrard could not: score the late equaliser and even later winner respectively, and which ensured Liverpool went through and can still win the FA Cup.
