His capacity to play his natural game at club level is diminishing. His capacity to do so in a (fucking astoundingly competitive) tournament two years down the track should be regarded with acute skepticism by any non-scouse observer. And he's not such a magnificent player that he should be put in the side with faith that he can adapt and maintain his usefulness: he still has to prove that he can do that at all for Liverpool.
It's a fucked-up inverted victory lap.
I have greater problems with Terry, whose turning circle by that stage will be comparable to the post-iceberg Titanic.
And I'm not saying this with the ascendancy of ClevGod in mind, because it is clear even to me that the boy has a long goddamn way to go. But picking Gerrard for a World Cup without a continuing belief that he can physically dominate the middle of the park seems like a dumb, reticent, stodgy, Hodgson-to-the-core gesture.
