and end up a goal or two down not long after kick off. A Race-inspired comeback was nearly always on the cards." Perhaps the failures at Liverpool over the past few years are to blame; Gerrard has often been forced to try to win games single-handed. The cost, though, has been his development as a player. He is not a midfielder who slots happily into a system but needs a system to be built around him. With England, that simply isn't possible. He doesn't hold his position but always goes chasing the ball; at the World up in South Africa he was supposed to operate on the left but again and again appeared in central areas. Perhaps as age has begun to sap his pace he has begun to adapt to be able to play a deeper role, as he did in Stockholm - although even there it was notable that once the game turned Sweden's way he offered his back four little support. The sense persists that he is a player capable of great performances but his lack of tactical nous prevents him from being considered a truly great player. To adopt Shane Warne's line about Monty Panesar, Gerrard may have played 100 matches for England, but he has played the same match 100 times. The failure is on England's part, as always when it comes to their best players. Hoddle a technical maestro, Barnes the same, even Le Tissier, Gazza to a lesser extent etc have all been