Steven Gerrard: My Liverpool Story (6 page)

Shadowing a Master

Gazza was coming towards the end of his career when I came up against him, and he was obviously not as good as he was in his prime. But just to say I had been on the same pitch as an England hero was unbelievable. He actually caught me with a sly elbow off the ball in the game, which was out of order, but because it was him I let it go! I would have liked his shirt, but I was too shy to ask for it at that stage of my career. There have been times when I came across him after this tussle. When he was at Everton, he was on the pitch after one derby when we were doing a warm-down and he came up and had a chat. He just said I was a good player and that I should keep doing what I was doing. Then he added with a smile: ‘And don’t do what I do.’

Get In There!

This is probably one of the worst haircuts I have ever seen, but thankfully my shooting was better. I have a good record against Newcastle which overshadows the fact that one of the worst moments of my domestic career came against them. I had just got into the team when we played Newcastle at Anfield in December 1998 (the season before this photo comes from) and I was taken off at half-time just 20 minutes after I had come on as a substitute in the first place. Being brought on and off in the same match is one of the biggest insults to any footballer. I felt terrible. I will always have good memories of Gary Speed and was deeply shocked by his death. I never worried about playing against him when he was in his own half because he kept everything simple, but he had this special ability to run off your blind spot in and around your own penalty area. You would think he was just there, under your control, then the next second he’d head one in the back of the net. A few managers have told me off for that when I played against him. I was guilty of ball watching and then, bang, Gary would punish you with a goal.

Now You See It . . .

There is a strong passion inside me to try and stop Manchester United being successful. They are one of Liverpool’s biggest rivals after all. But that doesn’t dilute the respect that I have for their players.

I understand the pressure they are under every week to perform and to win trophies. When you have been as successful as they are, you cannot help but acknowledge what they have achieved.

For Ryan Giggs to have played for so long at the very top of his profession is both amazing and a tribute to his hunger and his talent. He is someone I admire immensely.

Up, Up and Away

Heading is an element of my game I have had to work on. I was small when I was younger and my heading only really started to improve when I had my growth spurt. Whereas tackling and shooting came naturally to me, my aerial strength has definitely developed during my career. I have a natural spring but it’s something that I had to bring to my game in order to be an all-round midfielder in the Premier League. When you consider that the most important goal I have scored for Liverpool (against AC Milan in Istanbul) was a header, I must have done something right down the years.

Keeping Up With the Pace

Arsenal has always been a difficult game and in the early days, especially, Patrick Vieira summed them up. In the FA Cup Final in 2001, he wiped the floor with me at times, but overall I felt I held my own in my battles with him. I wouldn’t prepare any differently for a game against Arsenal to one against Bolton or Blackburn, for example, but I knew I would have to play to the maximum come Saturday afternoon. Everyone in a Liverpool shirt would have to, otherwise we would lose. One of the most difficult opponents I have ever faced was the Arsenal ‘Invincibles’ team of 2003–04. They were like a machine. Big, strong and better than most of the teams in the Premier League in every department.

THE TREBLE SEASON

There were some mornings before training started
, and the banter between the lads hadn’t started flying, that if a camera caught me I’d just be gazing around the dressing room at the talent we had: Michael Owen. Jamie Carragher. Robbie Fowler. Jamie Redknapp. Gary McAllister. Danny Murphy. Sami Hyypia. I could go on and on.

I didn’t realise we would do quite as well as we did in 2000–2001, a season that became defined by ‘The Treble’, but I had an inkling that we would compete at the top. It was easy to see the quality that we had in every position, but Gerard Houllier underpinned that by the mentality he was creating.

Professionalism was our watchword. Training was always played at a really high tempo and was very intense. No one wanted to lose a game against their mates, let alone Manchester United or Arsenal on a Saturday afternoon.

People talk a lot in football about having a ‘winning mentality’. It is something that is difficult to define, more of a feeling than anything else. Basically, you have so much confidence and trust in the players around you and the manager and coaching staff that you start going into certain games knowing what the result is going to be even before it has kicked off. And, even if the match doesn’t start well, or go well at a certain point, you have the confidence and belief that it can be turned round and the momentum tipped back into your favour.

At Liverpool, I’ve had that feeling a few times. For a spell under Rafa Benitez, I would be training on a Thursday or a Friday and I knew what the score was going to be on the Saturday. I won’t name clubs because that is disrespectful, but I knew we would win and I knew what would happen. It was like that under Gerard that season.

Sure, we lost matches, but the feeling of togetherness that we had meant our campaign never unravelled. Gerard had a saying: ‘Good teams don’t lose twice on the run.’ So we didn’t and our season got better and better, exceeding our wildest expectations.

Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium will always carry happy memories for Liverpool. For a time it seemed like it was our second home.

From the first time we went there in February 2001 to face Birmingham City in the League Cup Final, we had more good times than bad.

It was tight that day and after Robbie Fowler scored early in the match, we slackened off too much. We had been massive favourites going into the match and maybe we thought the result was going to be a foregone conclusion. Darren Purse equalised from the penalty spot in the last minute of normal time and then a shoot-out ensued in which our goalkeeper, Sander Westerveld, emerged as one of Liverpool’s heroes.