Liverpool FC News: Stoke City Let Down Proves Reds Not Ready for Primetime

Mr. Steven Gerrard, you are wanted by Liverpool supporters, immediately.

Liverpool went into the international break on the highest of highs. The moves by boss Kenny Dalglish to get younger seem to have worked a treat in the first couple weeks of the season. 

Upon return, the Reds laid an egg at a place I am convinced is cursed. Liverpool just can't bring back results from Stoke City at the Britannia Stadium. It is enough for you to ponder having a seance on the ground before their next meeting. 

Stoke City controlled the pace and measures of last weekend's fixture. The one thing that was missing was Steven Gerrard. 

The Reds' skipper is out with a groin injury, promising to return shortly. Word is that he is progressing quickly and should be able to help Merseyside club shortly. 

His leadership was the ultimate detriment in a fixture that saw the Reds shadow Stoke City's game plan rather than impose their own. That, above all else, is the reason they are yet unfit to breach the top five of the EPL.

Gerrard would have controlled the ball, and with it, the pace of the game. Liverpool wouldn't have had to rely on last-minute heroics from Luis Suarez that never came.

At full strength, the Reds are a scary outfit, flush with talent from top to bottom. Without their skipper, they are a middling club, and Stoke City have just revealed it. 

Even with Peter Crouch now in tow, Stoke City will soon slide to a position more in keeping with reality. I am confident that Kenny Dalglish will employ new measure that will have Liverpool back in the limelight of the EPL.

He can get more minutes for Sebastian Coates, employ more Craig Bellamy and maybe even switch the formation.

There is only one thing that will make this side elite though, and that is returning some leadership to the pitch.

That is where Steven Gerrard comes in.