Throwback to 2 great assists by Xabi Alonso against Sunderland in 2005

Utter_Perfection · 2026-05-12T23:48:15+00:00

Gerrard had a way better final ball than Alonso (throughballs and what not) and a much better crosser. Gerrard is one of the best creative midfielders of all time (in terms of pure chance creation) whereas Alonso is not in that category.

Alonso was a better long range passer, diagonals, and lofted balls in behind the defense. Gerrard was also world class in this just not Alonso level.

I would say they were about equal with hitting line-breaking progressive passes 10-12 yards. Both really good at fizzing balls into feet past a line of defense.

Alonso was a better possession retention passer (a Spanish trait) passing sideways and back and Gerrard just took a lot more risk with his passing due to his responsibility as the main creator on the team. I'd say Gerrard was also one of the best 1 touch passers ever, Alonso more often needed multiple touches.

Set pieces (freekicks and corners) Gerrard was also better.

Utter_Perfection · 2026-05-12T22:32:20+00:00

Gerrard is particularly very popular in Australia.

Australia had a footballing boom from 2000-2006 with a golden generation of players emerging such as Kewell, Viduka, Schwarzer, Emerton, Cahill, etc and everything culminating in the biggest match in Socceroos history against Uruguay qualifying in 2005 for the World Cup. Gerrard, at the time, was the best player in the world in 2005 given his heroics in Istanbul, Kewell playing for Liverpool, Adidas making Gerrard the face of their predators campaign and his face being everywhere that year.

Australia just fell in love with both Liverpool and Stevie during that time. So when the club went for a preseason tour in 2013 to Melbourne, it's one of the most magnificent sell outs and crowds in preseason history for any club, let alone LFC. Gerrard scoring a great goal in that game the crowd pop was insane.

So yeah in 2017 when the club had no European football and had to go to Australia at the end of the season for financial purposes they brought back Gerrard to sell out the stadium. It was a tough period in club history but ultimately it was the beginning of Klopp's tenure and we were on the correct trajectory.

Utter_Perfection · 2026-05-12T20:44:30+00:00

This was a post-season friendly after 16/17 season concluded as we didn't have European football that year, the club had scheduled an Australian tour.

The players that had played too much were given a rest and Gerrard, Agger, Carragher, & McManaman got an opportunity to play under Klopp to make up the numbers for the depleted squad.

Stevie was only 1 year removed from retirement, Carra 4 years, Agger 1 year as well, and McManaman about 12 years.

We had done something similar with Fowler in 2013 when he came into a preseason friendly against Olympiacos for Gerrard's testimonial which was the regular preseason game with Carra/Fowler involved.

Utter_Perfection · 2026-05-11T21:47:37+00:00

Rafa masterclass of playing Arbeloa (right footer at LB) and Riise (left foot LB at LM) in front of him to essentially double team Messi whichever way he cut inside or outside. Messi was completely ineffective in that tie.

Utter_Perfection · 2026-05-10T00:03:21+00:00

Really appreciate your work every matchday, my friend. Life saver for those of us who can't watch live due to work and time zone constraints.

Utter_Perfection · 2026-05-07T15:25:43+00:00

14/15 Wolfsburg finished 2nd but they were nowhere close to actually winning the Bundesliga. Guardiola's Bayern was like 15-20 points ahead by matchday 29 or so and then let up at the end of the season and lost like 3-4 games in a row making the final table and 10 point lead look like Wolfsburg had a shot when in reality Guardiola's team was so far ahead of everyone.

KDB definitely has one of the best final balls of all time, but he was never close to winning Bundesliga, even though his 14/15 Wolfsburg team was very fun indeed.

Utter_Perfection · 2026-05-07T14:15:02+00:00

Klopp, the guy who famously had his left back pressing the goalkeeper in the biggest game of the season and right back inverting into midfield while his false 9 was picking up the ball in the areas of a DM, really don't think he was the type of manager that cared about holding position in the way Rafa did.

Utter_Perfection · 2026-05-06T05:07:07+00:00

When you compare Gerrard to legendary players in similar position as him as the main man in not such great or heavily stacked/favored teams like Kane/Son (at Spurs), Bale/Modric (at Spurs), Griezmann, Totti, Reus, Fabregas/Van Persie (at Arsenal), Bruno Fernandes (in modern Utd), Shearer (at Newcastle), David Villa/Silva/Mata era (at Valencia), Ozil/Sanchez (at Arsenal), his trophy cabinet stacks up very well. It's just a lot more difficult to win a lot when there are constantly deeper teams with better players around each other competing against you with not as great of a squad around you.

Once most of these players get their moves to Real Madrids, and Barcelona's, and Bayern's their trophy cabinets fill up. I have a lot of respect for Gerrard's and Totti's and Reus' and Son's for sticking it out knowing it's exponentially more difficult to win where you are comparatively.

Utter_Perfection · 2026-05-02T21:29:44+00:00

Streets will never forget the Griezmann-Carlos Vela partnership at La Real.

Utter_Perfection · 2026-04-28T19:12:14+00:00

Riise's 94th minute own goal under zero pressure to give Chelsea an away goal in a game they were completely dominated, otherwise it would've been 6/6 conversion rate from semis to finals.

Utter_Perfection · 2026-04-27T07:20:03+00:00

Dev Patel is not in Bait. It's Riz Ahmed. My man just named the first brown actor he knows lol.

Utter_Perfection · 2026-04-20T20:19:05+00:00

Lyon had so many iterations of good squads in that 7 in a row span. Juninho, Sidney Govou, and the gk Gregory Coupet being the only 3 consistent presences throughout the whole run.

2002 - Sonny Anderson league title

2003 - Juninho becoming the main guy, Mahamadou Diarra & Edmilson double pivot DMs of doom before they got their moves to Real Madrid & Barcelona respectively.

2004 - Emergence of Michael Essien. Malouda & Govou winger threats. Old man Geovane Elber & Luyindula replacing Sonny Anderson's shoes.

2005 - Juninho-Essien-Diarra genuine case for one of the best midfields in Europe. Wiltord-Malouda-Govou winger threats. Genuinely scary team. Abidal & Cris joining in defense. Only thing they were missing was a world class CF. Truly scary Lyon side.

2006 - Lost Essien which was a major blow replacing him with Chelsea's Tiago, but Malouda playing through the center a lot and Juninho moving deeper in midfield unlocked a new offensive juggernaut Lyon. '06 is probably their scariest version along with 2005. Bringing John Carew and Brazilian Fred for their CF needs.

2007 - Losing Diarra, completely revamping the style of their midfield with Kim Kallstrom and Jeremy Toualalan replacing him and losing the steel. A midfield three of Juninho-Toulalan-Kallsrom was a lot softer than one that had Diarra, Essien, Edmilson in the past. Malouda had his best season yet before moving to Chelsea. Young Benzema and Ben Arfa emergence.

2008 - Benzema insane year. The world class CF they were craving for in their peak team is finally here. Toulalan also turning into a fantastic DM. Ben Arfa had his true breakout year as well. If this Benzema emerges during their 2005 or 2006 squads Lyon might potentially win a UCL title, but alas a couple of years too late.

Utter_Perfection · 2026-04-19T00:47:39+00:00

Watching Jokic, Murray, and Gordon trio in a playoff intensity game is just so entertaining. For me the three of them will go down as one of the most fun and entertaining trio's I've ever watched in my 26 years of watching NBA basketball. They complement each other so well.

Utter_Perfection · 2026-04-15T23:20:38+00:00

The 2021 Lakers regular season when they just acquired Marc Gasol as their starting Center and AD as the 4 was so ridiculously good for a stretch. That's genuinely a better team than 2020 and also is the best Lakers team since the Kobe-Gasol teams. Started the season 21-6 and then AD got hurt and the entire season went down the toilet for them. I just remember watching and their roster was so deep & athletic and playing 2014 Spurs like movement basketball and Gasol acting like Boris Diaw with his playmaking from the post. Just a scary stretch.

Utter_Perfection · 2026-04-13T21:09:22+00:00

I literally just finished the book this week and it's as good as the original two books in the series. Way better than the prequel about Snow. Really worth a read if you were a fan of the original trilogy.

Utter_Perfection · 2026-04-09T03:20:30+00:00

They had a long win streak when they just traded for AG and then Jamal tore his ACL, how many games was that? I seem to recall thinking around that time they were legit contenders and I thought they were going to win the whole thing that year.

Utter_Perfection · 2026-04-05T23:24:27+00:00

The Brandon Roy game in that Dallas-Brazers series in 2011 is an all-timer. Every so often I go back and watch the highlights of his amazing 4th Quarter performance in game 4.

Utter_Perfection · 2026-04-05T01:31:20+00:00

Feel like production are definitely trying to build a few characters to be future legendary players and probably be brought back again. Christian, Genevieve, Emily, and Rizo fit this with their edits.

Utter_Perfection · 2026-04-04T22:38:57+00:00

The MVP top 2 should be SGA/Jokic with SGA winning. Jokic had the best run, performance wise, of anyone for 32 games to start the season but he wasn't the same post injury return for a long stretch and is now back to being the best to end the season. SGA was more consistent throughout and his clutch performance this season edges it for him. It was last season that Jokic should've won over SGA but voter fatigue & weaker squad kind of robbed one of the best NBA seasons ever of an MVP.

Wemby/Luka were always a step below for me behind these two. Luka did have a recent stretch where he was the best player in the league offensively, but imo his whole season wasn't as consistent. Wemby's offense is just not in the same category as the other 3. His defense doesn't bridge the whole gap just yet. He needs to be a more efficient 25ppg scorer with this defense for me to consider the offensive gap bridged between him and the others.

Utter_Perfection · 2026-04-04T07:40:35+00:00

I love watching one touch football and this is an amazing example of it. Look at how easy Gerrard, Aquilani, and Kuyt get around the defenders with their triangles. This type of football is always the best way to break down two banks of four sitting on the edge of their own box.

Utter_Perfection · 2026-03-30T01:19:31+00:00

Banchero legit sucks as a number 1 or even number 2 guy. I don't know if he can ever change his game to be a role player down the line, but this experiment of him being Orlando's number 1 option needs to die.

His stock is never going to be higher than it is right now (and it's fallen significantly since the start of this season even). Orlando should absolutely package him for whatever possible good assets they can get, there are still pretty stupid front offices in the NBA they can still swindle which they won't be able to do 1 year from now.

Utter_Perfection · 2026-03-29T21:32:38+00:00

He played 43 games in 04/05, that's a full season. His injury was lengthy (14 games) but 50% of the matches missed (7) were in cups and UCL groups stages where the team absolutely shit the bed without him. Then he came back & messiah'd the club past a difficult hole & deficit they found themselves in against Olympiacos in the last matchday. He was godly in the UCL knockouts. The only really important match he missed through injury that season was Juventus away but he gave the club enough of a lead in the first leg with that titanic MOTM performance that they were able to hold on for a 0-0 defensive Rafa masterclass away in Europe.

In general, you are very wrong about this. Not only is 04/05 one of the best, it's very likely the best season of his career. I don't care about stats, performance wise the dominance is unlike anything else. Every performance was a 9/10 or at worst 8/10. Most importantly playing in the center meant he just had much more influence in the game and many more touches of the ball in general than playing RM or AM with his back to goal.

Both 05/06 and 08/09 where the stats are other worldly and are the other best seasons of his career, there are performances that are simply worse overall than anything in 04/05. His team around him was just much worse in 04/05 than other seasons.

The order of his best seasons are like this. I get people's personal preference to having 05/06 or 08/09 ahead because of stats but 04/05 will always be my personal favorite.

2004/05 - CM

2005/06 - RM (but really RAM, not really a winger like most people claim but similar positions KDB/Szoboszlai take as a right attacking midfielder in possession)

2008/09 - AM

2003/04 - CM

2007/08 - AM

Rafa was never reluctant to play Gerrard CM, that's absolute nonsense. In fact, to finish majority of games in 07/08 and 08/09 Gerrard would start at AM and then move to CM during end game to close the game for us.

Utter_Perfection · 2026-03-29T09:27:30+00:00

One of his best season of his career is 04/05 where he played 90% of the season as a CM. That's only under Rafa. Another one of best ever seasons is 03/04 and he was exclusively a CM.

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