Liverpool’s Corner: Absolutely Hate Steven Gerrard, Newcastle Downed By 6 Facets Of The Bugger

By Akarsh Sharma
13 years Ago

‘Deja vu, afterAi??deja vu‘Ai??is perhaps the most appropriate way to describe Liverpool’s past decade. Just when we were made to believe that the club had freed itself from the shackles of dependency on their beloved Scouser, the bugger returned with a mission to haunt his fellow Reds.

And haunt them, he did.

How can you not hate the guy? Time and again, he serves up a reminder of Liverpool’s inadequacies, delivers a promise of a false bright future and exposes the lack of progress made at the club every step of the way.

Steven Gerrard is not only Liverpool’s driving engine, but a perpetual safety net and a booster. Formula one drivers remain within striking distance and wait for the home stretch to boost themselves into an overtaking manoeuvre. Similarly, everything Liverpool do is almost calculated based on Gerrard’s future return.

“We’re just off fourth place; wait till Gerrard comes back.”, “Imagine Suarez with Gerrard.”, “A decent performance without Gerrard. I’ll take that.” – all too familiar?Ai??A Liverpool team without the comfort of a returning Gerrard is unimaginable, or rather, too scary to imagine.

AAi??little over a year back, Steven Gerrard ai??i?? a second half substitute – dismantled a strong Napoli side all on his own; the kind of rescue act he has made his own. On their very first visit to Anfield that night, Liverpool’s owner John W. Henry and his wife Linda Pizzuti discovered they are justAi??miniature figures in the land of Steven Gerrard.

Deja vu, that night.

Since then, though, ‘Captain Fantastic’ has been through turbulent times, initially during Roy Hodgson’s era where maintaining form was a bleak possibility and later, due to injuries that have restricted Gerrard’s availability in driving King Kenny’s wagon. Naturally, questions were raised regarding the impact of Gerrard’s fitness on his game and whether his role at the club would soon be reduced to one of an occasionally-starting mentor to the young guns.

And just when even the king of Liverpool was desperately searching for answers,Ai??Gerrard decided to announce his return in a way that led to supporters sporting an ear-to-ear grin, pundits looking for words from Messi’s kitty of superlatives, Anfield to regain its lost voice and led irtually every other Liverpool player to take a hard look at themselves.

John Aldridge was right. Before the Newcastle game, he virtually dismissed the significance of who partners Gerrard in the centre. Who cares? You could play Poulsen in there and Gerrard will even make him look like a semi-decent player.

After failing to capitalize on the dominant performances against United, Swansea, Norwich and even Blackburn Rovers, the 1-1 scoreline at the hour mark against Newcastle was all too familiar for any Red at Anfield. Worse still, this performance – unlike the series of performances preceding this game – hadn’t even merited a win for an hour.

Liverpool, devoid of Suarez’s creativity, had struggled to make chances in the first half and were being thoroughly dominated in the second, with over 65% possession surrendered to Newcastle.

In came Gerrard, out went Adam and the whole complexion of the game changed. In just over half an hour, Steven Gerrard swept the floor with every other player on the pitch, rolling back time and transforming a potentially glum end to 2011, into a celebratory beginning to 2012.

He encapsulated every possible dimension of what Liverpool have been craving for throughout the season, showing on his way why he is the reason Torres was valued at A?50 million and why Carroll may just stand a chance of Anfield survival in the face of adversity.

True professional

First, being a true professional, Gerrard spent no time mucking around. Against Blackburn Rovers, his immediate task was to zip in a free-kick and he did it with much aplomb, delivering it right onto a Liverpool head.

On Friday night, he again wasted no time inAi??acclimatizingAi??to conditions, dictating the pace of the game right from the word go. You wouldn’t have been silly to think he had been starting matches all this while. He knows what that armband means, and he values it like it should be.

Motivating mothership

Second, the mothership had arrived, and the little ones responded in kind. One of the best leaders of the modern era, Gerrard’s magnificent ability to transmit confidence and raise the levels of his teammates and supporters was at show on Friday night.

Over the next few years, even a little drop in his form could well be compensated by what he does to the confidence of the whole team. In Gerrard’s presence, as Vuckic noted, Liverpool’s famous twelfth man gave them a major buzz that was missing throughout the night.

Vision and Pass!

Third, his ability to pick out a pass is second to none. Charlie Adam’s absence and Gerrard’s presence basically lifted the passing game two folds against the Toons. Adam has lacked a cutting edge throughout the season, relying on the likes of Suarez for creativity in and around the box and restricting himself to mainly picking out passes (lately, rather inaccurate ones) from the deep.

Gerrard was not only able to lend much-needed variation into Liverpool’s passing, but also did it much quicker than Adam, who has an annoying tendency of taking an extra touch in order to set himself up for a raking pass. Gerrard’s sublime pass to find Carroll, just five minutes after coming onto the park, epitomized his vision and execution.

Brilliant crossing

Fourth, Gerrard’s crossing ability put all Liverpool wingers to shame. Somewhat exposing Dalglish’s frustrating trend of playing left-footed Downing on the right and right-footed Bellamy (or Maxi) on the left throughout the match, Gerrard did what he does best.

He stuck to the basics, made a yard or two of space and zipped in a cross as early as possible. He hit the only target he had in the box, time and again. Just when Andy Carroll had started drooling in anticipation of a feast of service, the full time whistle blew.

Majestic movement

Fifth, he is the heat that kicks all the molecules into action. Perhaps, too much literal chemistry in that previous sentence, but chemistry on the field is what he brings with him. In his presence, the team’s movement was sensational.

Though Henderson takes the credit for assisting Gerrard’s goal, it was the captain’s brilliant movement that created the opening. Liverpool’s captain had already started his bombardment into the box when Bellamy released his pass towards Henderson, illustrating a knack of thinking two steps ahead. His run told Henderson where to pass before the young midfielder had even received the ball. Due to Gerrard’s vision and reliability, the team’s overall movement went up a notch with players like Bellamy and Carroll knowing that a decent run is more likely to be spotted, picked and thus, rewarded.

A striker’s finish

Sixth, the elusive finish. This six-letter word riles up Liverpool supporters more than the four-letter one starting with the same alphabet. Perhaps, the best sight of the night for any Liverpool supporter was Gerrard’s finish.

While pundits may have claimed that he took an extra touch and should rather have crossed, they ignored the fact that Carroll had made no space at all for Gerrard to pass into. And make no mistake about it, the finish was intentional – under the keeper, without any hesitation. Gerrard is one of the best goal-scoring midfielders and with only 5 goals coming from the whole of midfield this season, he could ease the pressure on the whole attacking contingent.

Zizou wasn’t spouting nonsense when he picked Gerrard as the world’s best, two years ago. A bit far-fetched perhaps, but you’ll have to dig deep to find a more complete midfielder in the modern era.

It took Gerrard a little over 50 mins – twenty from the Blackburn game – to better Charlie Adam’s (A?7m)Ai??passing, Andy Carroll (A?35m) and Luis Suarez’s (A?23m) finishing, Downing’s (A?20m) crossing and Henderson’s (A?16m) movement. Don’t bother summing up. With good reason, Merseyside claims he is a priceless asset.

2012 will definitely be Liverpool’s year! Or at least, that’s what he manages to make us believe, again and again.

Hate him, absolutely hate him, for causing this recurring glimmer of hope.

——

Categories: COVER STORY, Editor's Pick, English Premier League, Liverpool FC
Tags: Liverpool FC Steven Gerrard

True professional

Motivating mothership

Vision and Pass!

Brilliant crossing

Majestic movement

A striker’s finish

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