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Life presents us with many seemingly unsolvable problems. How do you catch a cloud and pin it down? How do you hold a moonbeam in your hand? How do you respectfully move Steven Gerrard into the twilight of his career without upsetting a loyal fan base or undermining your position of authority in the dressing room? Brendan Rodgers doesn’t have the option of marrying Gerrard off to an Austrian naval captain, but he seems to think he's stumbled upon a potential solution to the question of how to solve a problem like Stevie G.
"I look at Steven and I think he can play as a number two centre-half later in his career," Rodgers said, taking a position that could charitably be called unexpected. "You play against teams where they've got one up [front] and I think he can play as a right-sided centre-half. [He could] build the game from behind. How he passes the ball is as good as anyone in the world, short and long."
Amidst the vast opinions on the subject of Steven Gerrard's Future, Rodgers' suggestion to move the captain to a centre back role is quite possibly a first, barring any discussion on some of the more unhinged LFC forums out there. Gerrard's suitability for the role aside, it's certainly an out there idea given the depth of centre backs available to Rodgers at the moment.
The position Rodgers describes is currently occupied by Kolo Touré and with Touré likely to only play a few seasons for Liverpool, Rodgers could be seeking a replacement for the delightful Ivorian within his own house. It seems odd to go for a player who is older than Touré as a more long term option, but it would be one way to keep Gerrard's leadership available on the pitch as part of a rotating defensive line while Liverpool participate in multiple competitions in future seasons.
"So it's a possibility that he could go on, but it will all be determined by fitness," Rodgers added, given that Gerrard's legs aren't what they used to be. "He is 34 at the end of this season, and I look at his fitness and I look at how he is playing and he is as fit as he has ever been. He is looking after himself. That player he was 10 years ago, dynamic and making those long bursting runs, of course that goes out of your game. Like you see with Ryan Giggs, you adapt and change."
Giggs turned 400 years-old yesterday and perhaps should not be the yardstick by which any player's longevity should be measured. That Giggs seems happy with a reduced role at Manchester United is also a key contributor to his multiple century longevity, and it's hard to see Gerrard's potential future at centre back being anything but a similarly reduced role given the likelihood of Daniel Agger and Mamadou Sakho being Rodgers' primary pairing for the future.
It's one of many options available to Rodgers, and practically speaking it's probably not terribly high on the list of options either. But as DO NOT WANT as this might be for many fans, at the very least it demonstrates Rodgers' willingness to think outside the box when it comes to his players and hopefully that can manifest itself in much more positive ways when Rodgers need a bit of flexibility in his line-up.
