Steven Gerrard News Archives

This weeks postbag sees a letter from one of the most influential players in English football. Soccerlens is very proud to be chosen as a sounding board by this particular individual.

Dear Soccerlens,

I am a twenty-seven year old footballer who has achieved nearly everything it is possible to achieve in the game. I am a veteran of sixty-five caps for my country and I am a loyal one club man for my beloved club.

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Peter Reid talks to Soccerlens about who should take the England captaincy, why Rooney is the best player in the Premiership, and getting one over Graeme Souness.

Peter Reid was the kind of player you’d want to have in your team. Passionate, committed, full of drive and a never say-die-attitude that saw him gain thirteen England caps, as well as helping Everton to two league titles, the FA Cup and European Cup Winners Cup.

That style’s transferred off the pitch where he’s still full of passion and drive, both during his time as manager of Sunderland, Leeds, and Manchester City and now in his latest role – as England manager.

No, we’re not breaking a world exclusive here. Reid hasn’t taken over from Fabio Capello. But his task is no less daunting – he’ll be managing a team of England legends over three matches this summer, televised on ITV4, starting with a match up against Scotland legends managed by his old Merseyside adversary Graeme Souness at Southampton on Thursday and we caught up with him as he made his final preparations.

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Yes, we’re back to that age old rivalry between the Red-Men from Liverpool, and the Blues from London, the Angels of the North against the Arseholes of the South. So here is a very Liverpool view on why we will beat Chelsea, and then see Fergie in the final in Moscow.

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It’s that time of the season when the player of the season awards start being handed out. It’s also the time of the season when us fans argue about who has been the best player in each of the positions. It is unlikely that any two fans would select an identical ‘team of the year’ but for the purposes of debate and ‘friendly’ discussion I thought I’d have a go at putting my ideas on paper.

I have selected a squad of twenty-two from which I will select my final Premier League eleven. I just know that the players I select will be hugely proud to be recognised by me, a man who all the top players listen to. Mmm.

I’m going for a good old fashioned 4-4-2. Not because it is the only way to play but because it makes it easier to put down on paper!
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Like last season, Ronaldo is a strong favourite for winning the Professional Footballers’ Association players’ player of the year and the PFA young player of the year awards.

Here’s the full list of nominations:

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Rafael Benitez has demonstrated how to best utilise Dirk Kuyt effectively in the last 10 games that Liverpool have played. Whereas before Kuyt was an auxillary striker he now plays out on the right wing.

In the 4-2-1-3 (and NOT 4-2-3-1) formation that the manager employed the team has won nine, drawn one and lost one of the last eleven games in all competitions. With these set of results have come some very impressive perfomances, none more so than the derby win against Everton. Furthermore, Gerrard’s ‘best’ position has also been solved. The understanding between Torres and Gerrard has developed to such a point that they have become one of the most dangerous attacking partnerships not just in England, but in Europe as well.

However the key point of this article is to highlight how the use of Kuyt on the wing has helped the team achieve a better balance. Attacking and defending have been improved upon hitherto slackness. With Babel and Kuyt on the wing Liverpool carry more goal scoring threat in the team. That is the key reason why Jermaine Pennant has been unable to figure in the squad, let alone the first eleven while Benayoun along with the other two aforementioned players have.

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All bets were off two weeks ago but since returning from Portugal’s friendly defeat to Italy Cristiano Ronaldo has looked a pale shadow of the world-beating uber-confident star that lit up the Premiership’s last six months. After a frustrating Manchester derby and an insipid display in Lyon (he missed the 4-0 Arsenal wrecking) – could randy Ron be overtaken in the sprint finish for the personal accolades this season ?

Contenders……..ready!

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The Champions League finally got back underway on Tuesday night, with the round of 16 kicking off with the first four first-leg ties. Here are the highlights (and lowlights) of last night’s action.

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Liverpool 2, Inter Milan 0.

Before kick-off, that scoreline would been considered unlikely - but as hoped by Liverpool fans, Rafa’s men rose to their next European challenge and produced as good a display as could be hoped for (considering the buildup) to beat 10-man Inter Milan 2-0.

The scoreline hardly tells the whole story though.

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Just when Liverpool fans thought things couldn’t get any worse the side with the worst away record in the Championship arrived at Anfield in the fifth round of the FA Cup. With Liverpool sitting fifth in the Premier League, three points behind their city rivals Everton, and with a particularly tough draw in the Champions League against Inter, currently eleven points clear in Serie A, having not lost a game, this game had the increased significance of representing Liverpool’s best chance of winning something this season.

Although Rafa Benitez continued with his policy of squad rotation and left out Gerrard, Torres and Reina, arguably their three best players, he still selected a side that should have been easily good enough to see off the Barnsley challenge.

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Update - Second Leg Preview: Internazionale v Liverpool - Reds and Nerazurri prepare to paint San Siro with the colours of Europe.

Update - First Leg Match Reports: ‘Inter have it all to do as Liverpool finally find the killer touch‘ and
‘Liverpool overwhelm Inter with aggression, tactics and simulation‘.

The last few seasons have seen Inter Milan take a stranglehold over the rest of Italian football, as the Nerazzurri have won back to back Scudettos in the last two seasons, along with back to back Coppa Italia trophies in 2004-05 and 2005-06.

This season has been no different, as Inter appear to be well on their way to a third straight championship, and are in the Coppa Italia quarterfinals.

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27 year-old Liverpool captain and midfield player Steven Gerrard is widely tipped to be the captain of Fabio Capello’s new England team. He is regarded as an automatic choice for the national side and as one of the World’s best players.

Does Gerrard justify the hype?

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After 3.75 million votes were cast by 277,985 users, the uefa.com Team of the Year 2007 has been revealed last week.

After much thinking and a lot of videotape viewing (mostly Champions League matches probably), the UEFA writers have come up with 60 nominations, which were then submitted to the general public of the uefa.com website. Users were asked to select eleven players and one coach to make up the Finest team of 2007.

Now, unlike awards such as L’Équipe’s All-Star Best XI of 2007 (voted by journalists) this award was made by popular vote, so even if you don’t agree with the selections (and I’m sure none of you will 100% ) know that this team was chosen democratically. Nevertheless, feel free to give your 2 cents (and fire away your insults) in the comments section.
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“Soccer is a world made of numbers”. A phrase which would make any mathematician proud, with the eternal claim that you can find mathematics anywhere.

And where better to find numbers than Goal Totals: the International Federation of Football History & Statistics (IFFHS), the famous (and often criticized) organization that chronicles the history of football, has just published its World’s Top Goal Scorer of 2007 ranking.

No, the results are further from probably anything you may expect.

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It’s the end of the year. A popular time for various press publications to make “Best Of 2007″-type rankings.

The Times (UK) did the Best 100 movies of 2007, the New York Times the 10 Best Books of 2007, mCalcio.com the Reuters (RNPS) Best Sports Pictures of 2007 (oh what a shameful plug from my part), and Time Magazine the Top 50 Websites of 2007 (no I don’t think Soccerlens is in it, and neither is mCalcio for that matter ).

Meanwhile newspapers like The Sun, or magazines like FourFourTwo, have been making Top 10 rankings all year long really (see Top 10 EPL Entertainers, Top 100 Footballers, or Richest Players/Club Owners of the EPL, among others).

So, it’s time for French sports newspaper L’Equipe to join the others, and name its All-Star XI Football Players for 2007. Premiership fans will be pleased, because the team is dominated by English-based lads.

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Anytime two of England’s biggest clubs face off, it makes for a must-see occasion.

But, today’s match at Anfield between north-west rivals Liverpool and Manchester United isn’t the only big ticket in England this weekend, as on Sunday, London rivals Arsenal and Chelsea battle it out at the Emirates Stadium.

Both clashes shape up to be pivotal in affecting the early-season standings, as the EPL’s ‘Big Four” are currently 1-4 in the current league table.

Arsenal - 37 points
Manchester United - 36 points
Chelsea - 34 points
Liverpool - 30 points

Aside from their excellence domestically, all four sides have qualified for the round of 16 in the Champions League for the third time in four years, with Manchester United and Chelsea topping their respective groups.

First billing goes to the showdown between the Reds and the Red Devils, and so without further ado, let’s kick off the preview of the match.

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Only a few spots in the round of 16 have been decided in Groups A-D of the UEFA Champions League, as at least one spot in each group will come down to Matchday 6.

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Before Tottenham Hotspur star Dimitar Berbatov began to sing Juande Ramos’ praises, the speculation surrounding whether he would stay or go swirled with rumor, one of which was that Manchester United were top of Berbatov’s January transfer window wish list. It’s no contest that this season Manchester United is performing much stronger than Tottenham, and because Berbatov is widely known as their marquee player, a rumor surrounding his eventual transfer is, to some degree, to be expected.

The perception generally is that clubs like Manchester United, Arsenal, Liverpool, and Chelsea are the big clubs in the EPL – and selective big club status necessitates rungs of smaller clubs. Because Berbatov’s form seems to be so strong (stronger than this season’s Spurs, in toto), the natural progression seemed to be well on its way: Berbatov was moving from the Spurs and up into the powerhouse of the North where he belongs. Whether this sets itself out of newsprint and into an actual contract has yet to be determined, but it is just the most recent example of what can look like a proverbial chicken or the egg question for football fans. Can a player ever be(come) bigger than their club? Or does the issue just boil down to dollars and cents?

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Yes, I’ve said it before: it’s ‘Top 100 Ranking’ time. Fresh from publishing their Top 100 footballers list last month, English magazine FourFourTwo just released their a list of the Richest players and club owners of the English Premiership, sort of a “2007’s Billionaire’s club” if you will. As the editors eloquently put it, the key message of this year is that “British football is getting richer, and the rich are getting richer“.

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Liverpool captain, Liverpool legend, England vice-captain (and legend-in-making) and the standard-bearer of English morality and ethical behavior, one Steven Gerrard, has many fans.

Indeed, despite his insistence that ‘people like Carvalho are ruining the game’ (the implication being that the English fight fair and not dirty like those scumbag foreigners), he is still one of the most respected players in the Premier League (by his peers as well as the massive Liverpool faithful).

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Imagine this scenario:

You have a very good right-sided player, a great defensive midfielder and another good CM. You are offered the chance to swap your good right-sided player for the best CM in the world, at no cost. Accepting the deal means that one of your good central midfielders will go to the bench and you’ll have to play your back up on the right who isn’t quite as good as the player you’re swapping. What do you do? You jump at the chance, knowing that the jump from very good to world-class is much bigger than the fall of from very good to decent.

That’s exactly what Liverpool did this summer when they moved Steven Gerrard back to the inside. Gerrard was a very good player on the right for Liverpool, but he’s not quick enough, doesn’t provide enough width and doesn’t beat players one on one enough to be a great right-sided player. He is, however, a great central midfielder.

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The fact that Terry came back so quickly after a knee injury (a big risk considering how important he is to Chelsea) and is willing to lead England out for a meaningless friendly is worth respecting. It’s an even bigger deal that Frank Lampard is willing to go one step further and take painkilling injections for his broken toe so he can play for England.

Chelsea, and Chelsea fans, should be proud to have these players pulling on the blue shirt. And while I’m not big fans of the two (dammit, it’s the United bias), I respect them for showing so much dedication for England as well.

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I’ve always found Steven Gerrard and Wayne Rooney to be similar characters - tremendously gifted, central to their respective teams, highly regarded by their peers and irresistible to watch on the pitch.

But are they really that similar?

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Steven Gerrard - Liverpool and England talisman - has hit out at Rafa Benitez after Liverpool’s 4-1 win over Arsenal.

He’s particularly distressed at Rafa’s decision to keep him on the right wing.

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These two marvelous midfield Maestros would waltz their way into any team in Europe, but are both inconsistent on the international scene.

Following on from Ed Harrison’s argument that these two superstars of the premiership should not be guaranteed a starting place in the England line up, which one of these players would YOU pick should McClaren leave one out to give the team more balance?

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Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard should no longer be considered as automatic choices for England’s midfield. While their performances for their clubs are usually first rate that has never been the case when they play for England.

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There are some players who habitually dive and then get called on it - Cristiano Ronaldo, Arjen Robben, Robin van Persie, to name a few.

There are others who are saints but resort to diving at their most desperate hour - Thierry Henry and David Beckham.

And then there are those who spit on their status as heroes and respected sportsmen and resort to diving every now and then. These are heroes who unite opposing fans, who are self-righteous to a fault and preach about fair play and honesty.

These are people like Steven Gerrard.

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After our new author JAFL inadvertently sparked off the customary Friday controversy by telling Liverpool fans that they won’t win the Premiership this season, one of the threads talked about “who had the better players” between Manchester United and Liverpool.

As a result of that discussion, here is my pick of a starting 11, a manager and 7 (1 keeper, 2 defenders, 2 midfielders, 2 strikers) bench players for a combined team from the two clubs. I’m a Manchester United fan, but I will do my best to be objective.

Criteria for picking the team:

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Twice Steven Gerrard has taken the time to condemn foreign players diving in interviews. In one instance he stated that, if he saw a team-mate diving he’d say to them “WE don’t do that here. Cut it out�? and that he “jumps off his sofa�? when he watches football at home and someone dives.

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Who is better - Liverpool’s Steven Gerrard or Chelsea’s Frank Lampard? That where this discussion turned to, and since it has been such a contentious point for both sets of fans (plus England fans), let’s find out…

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