Liverpool FC Forum

[adayinthelife]

Skipper Steven Gerrard talks to Liverpoolfc.tv about our weekend clash with Arsenal, the injury crisis at Anfield, our Champions League hopes and much more...

Liverpoolfc.tv: Steven, what's the mood like in the camp following the defeat in Monaco?

Steven Gerrard: We're a little bit down. I thought we were hard done by with the result. It was a difficult game to play in, the pitch wasn't very good and I don't think either team deserved to win. The fact we lost to a goal like that was frustrating.

You never looked like you were going to concede a goal'.

No. They didn't create a lot of clear cut chances. They looked dangerous now and again but we thought we contained them well. We were organised and solid and so to lose the game to a handball was a real blow.

At least you know a 1-0 win against Olympiacos will be enough to take you through. Is that a scenario you'd have settled for at the start of the group games?

I'm sure we would have done. It's going to be a big night. The fans and the players will all be up for it. Hopefully we can get a few players back because we have some injuries at the moment and we could do with getting a few of them back.

How important is it that you have home advantage?

It's a massive thing for us. European nights at Anfield are always special and the crowd usually push in a few goals for us. The Roma game a few years back is a great example because when we were one goal up I'm sure the crowd pushed the second goal in. If they give us the same support as they did that night then hopefully we can put in the same performance and get the result we all want.

With the injury problems you've got at the moment, how big a boost will it be for the club if you qualify for the next round of the Champions League?

Everyone is talking about injuries and the problems we've got but you can either sulk and think about them, or forget about them and get on with what you've got. There'll be opportunities for other players and hopefully as the weeks go by we'll get back to full strength and things will improve. It's not all doom and gloom. If we can beat Arsenal at the weekend and then stay in the Champions League things will be looking a lot brighter.

How important is it for the players to stick together now and remain optimistic?

We have to stick together all the time, that's what the manager has said from day one. He wants us to be together, to fight and be united. When injuries or suspensions come along you have to be together and to fight more than ever. We all have to take the responsibility of putting in that little bit more.

As captain, do you have an extra responsibility to make sure the players stick together?

The senior players in the squad who are fit, like Sami Hyypia, Jamie Carragher, Didi Hamann and myself have got to keep the troops together and make sure we drive on. Hopefully we can keep getting good results and that the physios and doctos can work miracles and get players back a bit quicker.

Looking at the fixtures you've got coming up, these injuries couldn't have come at a worse time for you could they?

Every game is a big game. We're still in all the competitions and we have to go into the games with what we've got and do our best. I've never experienced injuries like it in one position. I've been at the club when we've had injuries in different positions when we've been forced to bring a few youngsters in but to have three or four centre forwards out when you've only got five is difficult. Everybody has got to keep fighting and keep trying their best.

In the summer you said you wanted to see progress at the club this year. Is it difficult to assess the situation now because of the injuries?

I'm not thinking about myself. While I was out injured I saw signs that the club were moving forward. I'm happy with the coaching staff that they've brought in. I like what I see and I'm confident that these people can improve the team and take us forward. Just because we've had a couple of injuries and results haven't been as we'd have liked doesn't mean I'm starting to think we're not making progress. I'm confident that we are.

How much are you looking forward to this weekend's game with Arsenal?

It's a massive game. They're a fantastic team with some great individuals. They're having a bit of a rocky spell at the moment so maybe it's a good time to play them. Once the whistle goes we'll forget about our injuries and the players who are picked have to go and try to get the right result for Liverpool Football Club.

How highly do you rate the Arsenal side?

They're still the best in the country, definitely.

You've often spoken of our admiration for Patrick Vieira - do you think you've reached his level yet?

It's irrelevant really. It's not important to me. All that matters is how I'm playing and what my form is like. I've had a bad injury and I'm trying to find the form I was showing before I got injured. There are great midfielders all over the country and Patrick is definitely one of them. I enjoy playing against him. He's a nice player off the pitch and a good player on it. We've had some good battles and I'm sure Sunday will be no different if I'm selected to play.

If you beat Arsenal how much of a lift would it give everyone?

That's what we need at the moment. We are struggling with injuries and if we get a win it'll give everyone who's fit a big boost. Then when another week goes by we'll maybe get a few players back. Confidence is a bit low so if we get a result on Sunday it'll give everyone a massive lift. Winning will bring the confidence back.

On a positive note you're back to fitness now. How are you feeling?

I'm not 100 per cent. I feel good in training but I just need games now to get my match sharpness back. Against Middlesbrough and Monaco I felt a little bit out of sorts. I feel at about 60-70 per cent right now but hopefully I can get to 100 per cent over the coming weeks.

[Redrider]

Good interview, he sounds in a positive frame of mind.

[The_Rock]

Rafa, Gerrard & Hyppia speak on the match against Olympiacos.

http://www.football365.com/news/story_134908.shtml


Anfield trio make Kop appeal
Wednesday November 24 2004
Bet On Football with Totalbet





Rafael Benitez, Steven Gerrard and Sami Hyypia have appealed to the Kop to inspire a reprisal of Liverpool's great European performances when Olympiacos visit Anfield next month for a critical Champions League match.

The manager, club captain and former skipper believe the crowd can propel Liverpool to the victory which it is imperative they achieve to stand a chance of reaching the knock-out stages.

Benitez is set to be without strikers Djibril Cisse, Milan Baros and Luis Garcia, but he said: "It will be difficult but we can do it. At Anfield with our supporters behind us and the team playing well, we can achieve anything. We do not seem to be getting much luck at the moment, do we?"

And Gerrard backed up his manager, stating: "We can do it at Anfield, with the fans behind us.

"It was a bitter blow to lose the way we did in Monaco, but we can turn that around on our own ground."

Hyypia added: "We now know we need to win at home and that will get us through against Olympiacos. We can do it.

"We need to score early, we must go at them. It is what we did a couple of years ago in a similar situation when we needed to beat Roma. Hopefully we can do that again."

[Ciggy]

Gerrard will not shrink again from the leaving of Liverpool
By Matt Dickinson
Our correspondent believes the England midfield player will head for Chelsea
 
THE longest of goodbyes continues tomorrow when Steven Gerrard lines up for Liverpool against Arsenal. The Scouser’s soul began drifting out of his boyhood club when he went to the brink of joining Chelsea in the summer and, although there were some sinister reasons for his failure of nerve that time, nothing, surely, can detain him at Anfield when this season draws to a close.
By May it will be 15 years since Liverpool won the championship, 21 years since the last of their four European Cups and when it comes to medals on the table, top players do not trade in any other currency. Chelsea, Arsenal, Manchester United and Real Madrid are whispering in Gerrard’s ear that they are great clubs without him — with him bossing the midfield, the trophies are certain to follow.

Gerrard will be 25 by the end of the season and the quicker the game becomes, the more the top players seem to be on the down slope by 30. The midfield tyro could spend a couple more years waiting to see if Rafael Benítez can take Liverpool any higher than fourth. It is — it was — time to go.



“I’ve not been happy with the progress the club has made and for the first time in my career I’ve thought about the possibility of moving on,” Gerrard said in June. And the progress since? Well the manager has a Spanish accent rather than a French one. And Benítez has made a high-class signing in Xabi Alonso.

These are testing times for those who sit on football’s most celebrated Kop. The top of the table is so far off that they have stopped looking and even if they did glance upwards, the view would be blocked by mocking Evertonians, with David Moyes’s overachievers nine points in front.

Whatever happens against Arsenal tomorrow and away to Aston Villa next week — and the dependency on Neil Mellor as the main striker does not suggest six points — Liverpool will travel across Stanley Park on December 11 trailing their rivals. By then, they could have been dumped out of the Champions League, unless they can beat Olympiakos in the climactic group match by a two-goal margin.

Six months into his reign is not the time to be drawing definitive conclusions about Benítez, but the talents that brought him the Spanish title and Uefa Cup with Valencia are taking longer to come to the fore than many had expected. He has been cursed with injuries in attack, but sympathy would come more easily if he had not showed indifference to keeping Michael Owen.

Watching from the sidelines for the past two months after a broken metatarsal, Gerrard cannot have been persuaded that he made the right decision to spurn Chelsea. “I’ve gone with my heart,” he said, but it was heavy with turmoil.

Gerrard did everything apart from sign on the dotted line at Stamford Bridge this summer, even handing in a transfer request, which cannot have been easy for a Liverpool supporter. He watched his first game at Anfield as a six-year-old, when Jan Molby scored a hat-trick of penalties against Coventry City. The tickets were supplied by the club, the first of the inducements to make sure that he followed heroes such as John Barnes and Peter Beardsley.

He has been on the books for 15 years, but with an air of stagnation around the last days of Gérard Houllier’s reign, Roman Abramovich made him an offer that he could not refuse. At least it seemed that way, until Gerrard returned from a disappointing Euro 2004 to find out that his family had received threats that could not be dismissed lightly. And so came the press conference at which he said that he was staying , gazing wistfully elsewhere.

On the field, the captain’s commitment to Liverpool has not been doubted before or since, but as the season goes on, Gerrard’s mind will surely drift to his next destination. He can have no doubt about United’s intentions after Sir Alex Ferguson’s revealing comments six months ago. “If you were looking for the player you would replace (Roy) Keane with, it’s Gerrard, without question,” the Manchester United manager said. “He has become the most influential player in England, bar none . . . anyone would take him.”

Ferguson went on to admit that it would be “complicated” for the player to move between two such bitter rivals and a transfer abroad is not thought to appeal to Gerrard, even with three Englishmen at the Bernabéu. Arsenal want him, but the money will be a problem, given that they have not spent more than £17 million on a player and could not hope to offer the £5 million-a-year salary that Gerrard would expect.

Which brings us back to Chelsea. The squad is overstocked in midfield, but Gerrard would jump ahead of Claude Makelele, Alexei Smertin, Tiago, Scott Parker and Gérémi. Frank Lampard and Gerrard are England’s future and unless Arsenal come into money or he is willing to enrage every Koppite by heading to Old Trafford, they will surely be Chelsea’s, too — threats or not.

[dawson99]

no need for frowns just yet. i think stevie g is happy here, why wouldnt he be?

[Ciggy]

Hes said yesterday 4th is not good enough and I cant see us gettin that can you?

[dawson99]

he aLSO SAID THO THAT UNDER BENITEZ WE WILL DEFINATELY IMPROVE TO ARSENALS LEVEL. THE "WE" PART (oops, caps) being most important.
I just dont see why he wouldnt stay after seeing the improvements that are being made. it just wouldnt make sense to me

[Redrider]

Who is this Matt Dickinson ?  Reads like an Arsenal fan to me, part of the Wenger mind machine !!
He should stick his Kopometer up his ar$e, where his article came from.

[XSD]

When a reporter comes up with that bullshite about his own fans sending threats to his family I stop listening.