Steven Gerrard: My Liverpool Story (25 page)

Move Over Madrid

If you look at the players in the Real Madrid team we met in the Champions League this season, it shows what a brilliant performance we produced. Heinze, Robben, Cannavaro, Casillas, Ramos, Raul, Sneijder – and yet they couldn’t live with us. We won 1–0 in the Bernabeu thanks to a header from Yossi Benayoun, a great player and friend, and then battered them at Anfield 4–0. I scored twice.

Kiss Me Quick

There are just some days when everything goes right for the team. We were confident going to Old Trafford because we had just beaten Real Madrid 4–0 in the Champions League, but no one expected us to beat Manchester United 4–1 on their own patch. This was when Fernando was at his peak, scaring the life out of defenders such as Nemanja Vidic and Rio Ferdinand. He equalised and I dispatched another penalty before noticing the Sky cameras nearby and running over and planting a kiss on the screen. The celebration was to wind up the United fans, but also for my daughters watching at home.

Good Things Come in Threes

We produced a spell of football around the March of that season that was as good as anything I can remember in my time. We were swatting teams aside. Good teams as well. Aston Villa came to Anfield and we were on fire. I scored a hat-trick that day, including two more penalties, and finished the season with 24 goals.

Last-minute Winner

There is no better feeling than scoring a last-minute winner. We had been trailing at home against Middlesbrough until the 86th minute when they scored an own goal and I managed to find the back of the net in injury time to seal a 2–1 success. Anfield erupts at moments such as that and the dressing room afterwards is buzzing. Belief is important in any football team and it is games like this, which tilt in your favour right at the death, that allow you to dream and think anything is possible. It proves you should never give up or sulk about things when they are not going your way. There is always time to alter history. It just depends how you use that time.

One Captain to Another

Having inherited the captain’s armband from Sami Hyypia, it was my pleasure to hand it back to him as he said farewell to Liverpool after 10 years of brilliant service. Sami had announced he was leaving the club to move to Germany and this was his chance to say goodbye to the fans. He came on with six minutes left, which I thought was very harsh of Rafa. I kept looking to the sidelines in the game, thinking: ‘When is Sami coming on?’ We had nothing to play for against Tottenham apart from pride and I think that he should have started the game.

The Full Set

Having previously won the PFA Young Player of the Year and Players’ Player of the Year awards, it was nice to complete the hat-trick by being voted the Football Writers’ Association Footballer of the Year in 2009. I am hugely appreciative of the honour, especially when you consider the standard of players in England.

THE MANAGERIAL MERRY-GO-ROUND

Rafa Benitez is the best coach I have played for
. Tactically he is very astute, he undoubtedly made me a better player and I respect him. But I understand why he was sacked by Liverpool in the summer of 2010. Everything felt a mess at that point and it was the right time for a change. Rafa had become embroiled in fights with different people at the club and lost his focus on what his strengths were. His job was to coach the team, it wasn’t to get into political battles and it seemed best for everyone – the club, the players and also Rafa – that there was a break and the slate wiped clean.

We had disappointed that season, finishing seventh in the Premier League and crashing out of the Champions League. It looked like our season could still end with a silver lining as we progressed through the Europa League, but we fluffed the semi-final against Atletico Madrid and ended up watching them lift the trophy.

Rafa could have continued into the new season, but the first sign of a set-back and the atmosphere would have turned poisonous again. That would have been no good to anyone. Again there were whispers that it was the players who said: ‘Push the button. Get rid of him.’ But that just makes me frustrated and angry. It was Liverpool’s board of directors who made a decision they believed to be in the best interests of the club. All the rumours suggesting otherwise simply harm reputations and harm relationships with managers.

OK, so I don’t think I will be going out for a meal with Rafa any time soon, but if he had been in charge on the first day of the following season I would have stood in the dressing room before the kick-off and told my team-mates this was the campaign in which we would achieve something. And from the moment the first whistle went, I would have been giving 100% because it is Liverpool Football Club.

I feared for Roy Hodgson almost as soon as he became Liverpool’s new manager. I feared for him because he was not Kenny Dalglish. I have no doubt that if Roy had arrived at Anfield at a different time in the club’s history, he would have done well. The demands and expectations, the history and tradition at Liverpool make it one of the most difficult jobs in football, but I believe he could have made a success of things with the right support.

But from the moment the club overlooked Kenny as a replacement for Rafa, it was always going to be difficult for Roy. Kenny is the number one hero of everyone at Liverpool: the fans, the staff, the players. He was itching to step back into management, desperate for the chance to return to the club he loves and where he had been so successful previously. I totally understand why there was such a groundswell of opinion among supporters for Kenny and that made things tough for Roy.