Retirement drawing closer: how should Liverpool manage Steven Gerrard?

With retirement on the horizon for the Liverpool skipper, Steven Gerrard, questions have to be raised as to how Brendan Rodgers will manage him over the coming seasons.

Now Liverpool are in the Champions League they have to prepare for there to be many more games on their fixtures list, with many being slotted in around Premier League matches.

A recent report by Anfield Index showed that the probability of Liverpool playing around 54 matches next season is very likely, dependent on how many games are added on from the Capital One Cup, FA Cup and Champions League. With this stated, it has to be said that the skipper no longer has the youthfulness to compete in every game that Liverpool play, but how many could he feature in?

With the arrival of new defensive midfielder Emre Can, Liverpool can start to prepare their team for the eventual retirement of the skipper. However, until then it may be wise for them to rest Steven during the smaller games against the teams lower in the league, and bring him out against the bigger teams such as Manchester City or Chelsea, where a big, strong and experienced player may be needed in the centre of the park. It is no doubt that even despite his age, he is still one of the best midfielders in the league, and even made it into the Premier League team of the year at SkySports last year. Not only that, but Gerrard also managed to get the most assists out of any player in the Premier League last season, totalling a respectable 14, 1 more than the now departed Luis Suarez. These statistics show that even though the skipper is now 34 years of age, he is still a top top player.

The last time Gerrard played 54+ games in one season was way back in 2002/03, whereas in the last 4 seasons he has averaged 34 games per season. The likelihood is that he would rather be saved for the Champions League matches, as it is a competition that he has been longing to get Liverpool back into for many a season now. However, he may also push to feature in as many Premier League games as possible seeing as last season he had his first real taste of a title race for many years. With Liverpool ever improving, who could blame him?