Who was the better player, Souness or Gerrard?

Steve Snedden said:
I think Gerrard had plenty of great games but The CL and FA Cup were special in as much as he almost single handedly dragged his team to victory.

Souness, under Paisley made Liverpool tick. He imposed himself on the game week in week out and controlled almost every aspect of probably Britain's greatest club side.

Liverpool may have continued to win trophies under Fagan and Kenny Dalglish but they never replaced Souness (certainly not with McMahon).

Despite losing staunch points, I loved Dalglish the player but he needed Souness as much as Rush needed Dalglish.

Souness is only second to Paisley in terms of importance to Liverpool 77-84.

I also think the fact that Gerrard was more recent and TV coverage was more abundant helps his case.

I think Gerrard was a great player but just not Souness.

Very few have ever been or will ever be. There is no shame in that.
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I respect your opinion mate.

Love them both.
 
Begbie's Moustache said:
He wouldn't have put up with an average Liverpool side and indeed got out when he thought he should, same as he did at Spurs. I think that's the difference between them.

Gerrard very nearly did it (to Chelsea) but clearly, something held him and thus his career, back.
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Souness left Liverpool fot one thing, money, he stated as such when he was asked why he was leaving.
 
Big Joke New said:
The question you have to ask here is would Souness have got 114 caps for England? I don't think so somehow.
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I think the question you need to ask is had Gerrard played during the period Souness did would he have got half as many caps for England ?

probably not as International football was so few far and between back then, as an example 45 of Gerrard‘s caps were in meaningless friendlies. With the odd exception most of England’s highest caps are from the 90s onwards. England played almost 180 games during Gerrards career. There will not be many English midfielders that made their debut around the same time as Souness with more caps than him.
 
RobGer said:
I've liked Liverpool since the black and white tv days especially midweek Euro nights where they had many brilliant comebacks before both Souness and Gerrard. GS and SG were supreme midfielders but when watching SG with Liverpool and admiring his tremendous performances I never thought that he could be considered the better. My thoughts if a younger Souness was playing in Istanbul they wouldn't have needed such a fantastic comeback from 3-0 down;)
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I've tried to find the video where the st johns ambulance man,just walking round behind the goal back heels the ball back on to the park and keeps walking,even the commentator remarked on it,they just played and tore apart a good Notts Forest side that night 5-0 I think it was!
 
Too young to have seen Souness, but Gerrard was regularly in UEFA Team of the Year squads, he was in the Ballon d'Or top 3 as well before.

In the mid 00s he was arguably the best midfielder in the world at one point.
 
They'd probably both say each other. Both world class, along with Gazza. How fortunate we've been to have them in various capacities.
 
It's Gerrard for me. Souness played in the best team in the world at the time for Liverpool. Gerrard stayed his whole career at Liverpool when they were sh*te outwith a handful of seasons during that time and he still dragged them to a CL win, another CL final, a Uefa Cup win and countless domestic cups (when winning them actually were a bigger deal).



Have you ever seen a bigger mismatch on paper in your life in a European Final than that?
 
Steve Snedden said:
It's Souness.

Gerrard is remembered for a couple of special games and some great strikes but I don't think people really appreciate just how good a player Souness was.

I don't think it is even as close a debate as people are making out.

It's interesting that Fergie thinks it is Graeme. I wonder who Dalglish would choose?
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What??
Gerrard is remembered for a couple of special games and strikes?

Christ mate I think you are being a bit harsh on the gaffer here. He had a lot more than 2 special games ffs.
 
MarkWalters11 said:
What??
Gerrard is remembered for a couple of special games and strikes?

Christ mate I think you are being a bit harsh on the gaffer here. He had a lot more than 2 special games ffs.
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Sorry, I'm not being clear.

The point I was trying to make is that I don't think there are comparable games that you would describe as "the Souness final"

Gerrard was a great player.

I just think Souness was better.
 
Funnily enough, 5 years ago the vast majority of the forum would have had Lampard above Gerrard - I’m fairly certain this question would have yielded a similarly one sided response back then.
 
Great question. Answer, I don’t know.

The perfect midfield combination though, as one poster has already said.
 
Souness was quality when he was playing for Rangers during the 86/87 season, if that was him late in his playing career, can only imagine what he was like in his prime.
 
Really tough call,Souness was probably world class but he also had better players around him than Stevie G ever did.
Stevie G reminded me of a thoroughbred the way he got around the pitch,he made so many recovery tackles because of his pace,something that magnificent as Souness was he didn't really have.You could argue that his style of play meant he didn't need it.
I would love to have seen Stevie G in the Souness era.
I think we should be happy to have both of them associated with our Club.
 
Leopold said:
He says Liverpool would have potentially won those trophies anyway.

Gerrard literally dragged an average Liverpool side to trophies.

It’s a valid assessment.
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That's a pretty daft argument though. You take one important player out of a successful team and it changes the whole dynamic. It's not as if folk can just assume Liverpool would have easily found another player with Souness's skill, determinations and leadership.
 
SuperRanger said:
They were both winners and outstanding midfielders.

But if you could only choose one in your team, who would you have, Graeme Souness or Steven Gerrard?

Souness:

Tottenham Hotspur
Middlesbrough
Liverpool
Sampdoria
Rangers

Gerrard:

Liverpool
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Gerrard but not by much.
Gerrard was best of his generation, Souness was top 3 with Glen Hoddle and Bryan Robson in his generation
 
Gerrard might have had more technical ability but other teams had their own stars who could compete with him - Lampard, Scholes etc.

Souness just wouldn't allow that to happen. Whether it was through football skill, some sort of dark arts, or just the sheer force of his personality Souness ruled football games like nobody I've ever seen in British football. Whatever the occasion required for his team to win, he provided it. Which ever team was on the ball and wherever it was on the pitch he absolutely dominated most games. And every opponent knew it. He was the guy all the hard men avoided kicking because the retribution was downright brutal. He was a footballing psychopath with no emotional hindrance to blunt his edge.
 
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