EVERYONE’S entitled to their own opinion, so let me ruffle some feathers with my view on the retirement of Steven Gerrard.

Fans, players and the media have all waxed lyrical about the midfielder’s achievements and skill.

I don’t disagree on his talents but I do doubt his greatness.

He had spectacular moments: late goals, dragging the Reds from defeat to victory, and at times becoming a real-life Roy of the Rovers.

But the claim that, in his prime, Gerrard could walk into any Premier League side is nonsense.

Gerrard wouldn’t make the Arsenal invincibles nor the Manchester United treble-winners. He might make the bench.

To Liverpool fans, Gerrard was captain fantastic. He could do it all. Attack. Defend. A deep-lying playmaker, box-to-box midfielder, you name it, he could do it.

But the greatness in those top teams was the balance, players complementing each others’ skills.

And that’s not to mention their tactical discipline, something Gerrard never had.

Gerrard’s indiscipline is what led Rafa Benitez to start playing him in different positions. He knew Gerrard would go wandering in search of the ball and leave his midfield partner alone — Didi Hamann and Xabi Alonso were deployed behind him to patch up that hole.

Ironically, it was Hamann’s performance in the 2005 Champions League final which helped raise Gerrard’s profile.

Gerrard’s performance that night in Istanbul has taken on mythic status. But watch it again and you’ll be shocked by the reality.

His mistakes led to Milan’s third goal. Yes, he pulled a goal back for his side, but Hamann nullifying Kaka allowed Liverpool to get back into the game. The octopus-like Jerzy Dudek saving everything Milan threw at him, including two penalties in the shoot-out, was arguably more important than Gerrard’s contribution.

But it was the local boy who drew the plaudits, making for better headlines the following morning.

But don’t forget that the match finished 3-3 — and Milan should have won.

The scoreline is interesting, being exactly the same as the 2006 FA Cup final. Gerrard stole the headlines with two spectacular goals but he was outplayed by Nigel Reo-Coker and Carl Fletcher.

Gerrard could not stop the pair or West Ham generally from doing what they wanted.

Obviously, Gerrard could not and would not be expected to do it all himself. But that’s what he is being praised for.

But pundits passed off his poor performance. Robbie Fowler once said: “Steven Gerrard is playing passes to players who are not where they should be.” Which is ludicrous. Gerrard frequently misplaced passes, but they looked great when he pulled them off.

His “Hollywood” passes sum him up — more myth than fact.

But everything had to be about Gerrard. He had to steal the show and excuses were made for him that he was surrounded by sub-par players.

That is insulting to all the excellent footballers he shared a pitch with — Alonso, Hamann, Danny Murphy, Gary McAllister, Lucas Leiva, Luis Suarez, Fernando Torres and more.

They were the ones who got the best out of Gerrard, especially Torres.

The Spaniard excelled with the Englishman behind him but it works both ways, Gerrard reached another level supplying Torres with goals. That is often placed in the footnotes of the Gerrard tale.

And then there is Frank Lampard. England managers tried to play them together in midfield and it was never going to work, both indisciplined in their own way.

Lampard was an orthodox box-to-box midfielder, needing defence behind him. Gerrard could defend but would get bored when England were losing and try to make himself the hero of the match.

To get the best from them would require one on the bench or a switch to a diamond formation.

A 4-3-3 at the 2003 World Cup — Owen Hargreaves as the holding midfielder, Paul Scholes as the deep-lying playmaker and either Lampard or Gerrard box-to-box — there would have been more balance and it would have allowed one of them to repeat club success for their country.

Instead we had to sit through several tournaments where England played the dysfunctional duo together, with fans heaping the blame on Lampard.

Gerrard will go down as a Liverpool legend and one of their greatest ever players. But as a “great” footballer the picture is much more mixed.

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