by account deleted by request » Wed Feb 27, 2008 5:27 pm
Times OnlineFebruary 27, 2008
We're not good enough, says Steven Gerrard
Steven Gerrard has delivered a scathing assessment of Liverpool's faltering title campaign, saying even a fourth-placed finish in the Premier League is "not nearly good enough" for a team of their high standards.
Liverpool are currently fifth in the table, three points behind city rivals Everton.
"You don't get any prizes in football for finishing in second place, never mind fourth," Gerrard said. "I don't think that the fans would accept fourth as an accomplishment and for me it's not nearly good enough. We need to improve dramatically and even if we do finish fourth, it doesn't mean we have had a good season."
Gerrard said that even winning the Champions League would not make up for their shortcomings in the Premier League.
"I am not going to pretend that even winning that trophy - and we are a long way away from it at the moment - will make up for the disappointment of the league campaign," he said.
"I'm pretty gutted every time I look at the table and see the gap between us and Arsenal at the top, and even the gap between us and second and third. We believed we had the players to challenge for the title, and we wanted that one more than any other trophy available to us. I still believe we have the squad to be a hell of a lot more competitive than we are right now."
Gerrard said he was fed up of his side's continuing failure in the league, with the Merseyside club having last lifted the title in the 1989-90 season.
"I'm getting tired of saying the same thing over and over again," he said. "We can't keep talking about next season all the time. There are only so many times you can say it and believe it. Sooner or later we have to make one season the season we make it happen and do the talking on the pitch.
"We need to make people believe it. I'm 27 now, I don't want to be talking about 'next season' for Liverpool when I'm 32. We've got the stadium, the fans, the manager and the players to compete for the Premier League. But we have no chance of doing that if we are always well out of it by the first week in January. And at the moment we have our work cut out fighting it out with Villa, Everton and Manchester City for fourth.
"Only we can make this season a success now. We'd like to finish fourth and win the European Cup again. But the demands of being a Liverpool player, the expectations that come with the privilege of pulling on that jersey mean we've got to improve.
"You make your own luck, shape your own destiny. And now we soon have massive games at Manchester United and Arsenal, knowing we can't win the league. We are not bothered about whether we have an impact on the title race we're not in. But winning at both those places would send out a message for next season. That would lay down a marker that no-one would ignore."
Gerrard expressed his disappointment that a season of crisis off the pitch has given "those in the media who don't like Liverpool" the chance to criticise.
"We have made it easy for them," he said. "It's not been a good situation (the takeover speculation) for anybody. It's sad so much of the club's business has been conducted in public. The club I have grown up supporting always did its business behind closed doors, and that is what we have to get back to.
"It's been a damaging situation for every single person involved with the club, fans, players, bosses, owners, from top to bottom."