Liverpool must learn to win without Captain Steven Gerrard

Jose Mourinho has some advice for Brendan Rodgers as he seeks to replace Steven Gerrard. Don’t even try!

The man who attempted to sign the Liverpool skipper three times and refers to him as “my favourite enemy” says: “Steven is impossible to replace with another player.

“If you replace with a player, you replace with one who is not so good.

“You have to replace with a team organisation, with a team philosophy, with a principle of play so you can be successful without him.”

Mourinho knows what he’s talking about. Last summer Frank Lampard left Chelsea, taking with him the club’s all-time record scorer tag and a guaranteed contribution in double figures every season.

The Portuguese worked out a new way of playing, involving Nemanja Matic and Cesc Fabregas as sitting midfielders, and won the Premier League and Capital One Cup.

Lampard’s contribution, immense as it had been since Mourinho arrived in 2004, was not missed. In fact, the team improved without him.

Rodgers worked at Chelsea in Mourinho’s early days there and noted how the new manager’s first move was to make Lampard and John Terry the twin pillars of his side.

He recognised the importance of having the dressing-room’s two most-influential figures buy into what he was trying to do.

When he got the Liverpool job three years ago, Rodgers replicated that strategy with Gerrard and Jamie Carragher.

It worked. Gerrard, in particular, was a key ally off the field and was their best player last season when they almost won the League.

But his infamous slip last April changed many things. No-one will ever admit it, but it was the beginning of the end for Gerrard at Anfield.

He went to the World Cup under the self-imposed burden of costing his club and himself the title. England failed miserably in Brazil under his captaincy.

Luis Suarez the only other world-class player at Liverpool wanted to leave and his departure was made inevitable by his bite.

Gerrard retired from international football but there was no new contract waiting for him at Liverpool, even though he was entering his final year.

Conversations with Rodgers indicated that he was no longer an automatic starter. He was left out of the line-up against Real Madrid in the Bernabeu exactly the sort of occasion he’d been dreaming of during the club’s absence from the Champions League.

His form dropped off. Niggly injuries bit. When a contract was finally offered, he said it was too late. His mind was made up to move on.

Last week former Liverpool skipper and manager Graeme Souness said that the club are making a huge mistake and will regret letting Gerrard leave.

He may be right, but the decision is not the club’s. Gerrard could be at Liverpool next season if he wanted to be.

He could have accepted the reduced role, much as Ryan Giggs did at Manchester United for his final few years, but he decided he couldn’t live with that.

In some ways Rodgers is lucky that Gerrard’s final season was an overall disappointment, both in terms of the skipper’s performance levels and the team’s.

Now he doesn’t have to replace a miracle man. Champions League status has already been lost. Even with Gerrard, the squad is clearly not good enough.

Mourinho is right. No single player could replace Gerrard. And those of similar ability to influence a game are now out of range for a club who can only offer the graveyard shift of Europa League football.

So Rodgers has to do what he is supposed to do best. He has to coach Liverpool into being a better team. He did it last season. He must do it again.

He must also be much better in the transfer market. Another summer of poor investment and Liverpool will be falling rather than rising from fifth spot.

It would be wrong to suggest that Gerrard’s absence will help Rodgers rebuild, but at least neither he nor the players will now be looking around for Captain Fantastic to pull them out of a hole, as successive Liverpool teams have done for over a decade.

The team must stand up for themselves, take responsibility and work out ways of winning without the insurance policy of being able to fall back on a 30-yard Stevie G screamer.

Last night he said goodbye to Anfield. The next time Liverpool play there, he will be in Los Angeles.

That’s a long way for a rescue act. Even for Steven Gerrard.