Little snippet

[GordonGecko]

Hee hee.....got a bit of "insider" info

And as it is my one and only bit ever, I thought it deserved its own thread

From a mate's mate who's knows Stevie Gerrard through filming etc....

Anyway.....apparently Stevie G is "grumpy" cos he's being asked to play everywhere & wants to play in his preferred position of centre mid.

Also.....benitez has told him to cut down on the off the field activities i.e. sponsership etc....as it is getting too much.

That is all....I shall now retreat back to the Chat Room, cos being up here in the Liverpool Forum is giving me a nose bleed.

[MrMichael]

"Grumpy"? ****ing footballers

Cheers GG

[brikkis]

Sounds like the boss is pissed off with Steven and it certainly reflects on his game

Thanks for the info

[paulcooper4]

cheers gecko lad

[paulcooper4]

now **** off back to the chat room

[GordonGecko]

Suck my snizzler Coops.

[paulcooper4]

Suck my snizzler Coops.

ok mate, meet yer behind the chat room in 5

[GordonGecko]

:scared:

[Tom]

I'd be grumpy on 90k a week too,

[brikkis]

I'd be grumpy on 90k a week too,

He shouldn't be tho

[paulc]

A Warrior only in his own head

WHEN Jock Stein was Scotland's manager in the late 1970s and early '80s, Scottish football's heated debates often centred around one man and where to play him. Some said Kenny Dalglish was most effective in midfield, others said he was at his best as a forward. The arguments reached Stein one day at a press conference and he ended the matter swiftly. "Och," he growled, "just let him on the park."

Steven Gerrard is viewed by many as Dalglish's spiritual successor at Anfield. Dalglish has said that Gerrard can surpass his achievements at the club.

Stein, of course, never simply let Dalglish on the park and Rafael Benitez is too controlling a manager to allow for trite talk of freedom. Yet Benitez goes into today's sources, about Gerrard and his best position for the club. Rumours persist that the player is unhappy, particularly at not being allowed to play as he would wish, where he would wish.

One of Benitez's finest accomplishments at Liverpool has been to recognise that Gerrard, who craves the kudos and nourishment to his ego that playing in the centre of midfield would bring, must be given a role, but that he also thrives with an absence of responsibility.

Benitez developed this role for Gerrard last season where he played predominantly on the right, scored 24 goals and was voted the PFA Player of the Year, but it may have formed in the manager's mind during the frenzied two hours in Istanbul. At the end of that night in May 2005, Liverpool were the European Champions and Gerrard was rightly acclaimed for his second-half performance which had hoisted Liverpool back into the game.

But in the first half, Gerrard, in the role where he was certain he would prosper, was lost. A little boy unable to find his way into the game, he was absent for the first 45 minutes as Milan set about crushing Liverpool. In the second Gerrard was released from responsibility and Benitez realised how he could play.

Gerrard is at his best when he is reacting, often explosively, to events on the field, but he cannot control a game and in Istanbul the matter was closed for Benitez. Last season the manager found a position for Gerrard which suited him perfectly.

It was Gerrard's best season for Liverpool, but this year the campaign has begun again. Gerrard's unhappiness is well known, but if he recovers from his hamstring injury to play today, he will not play in central midfield.

Dalglish may see great things in Gerrard, but he has admitted to suffering from a lack of self-belief during his time as a player at Anfield and his idea that Gerrard can surpass his achievements may be a continuation of that doubt.

Gerrard's own insecurity is masked by a conceit shared by all those English players who have reached maturity in the Sky age. Like his fellow England midfielder Frank Lampard, Gerrard was feted by Sven Goran Eriksson. England's midfielders assumed power without responsibility, they talked themselves up then absolved themselves from blame when things didn't work out as planned.

Gerrard has yet to score this season and in the world of ego-massage in which he and his fellow England players reside, he has suffered a series of setbacks

The English players have pardoned themselves since the World Cup. Their poor performances were the result of Sven's louche ways, not part of a cultural handicap which prevents English football from developing as it should.

Gerrard was off the hook again, just as he had been two years earlier when, after a poor European Championships, he blamed the speculation - most of it emanating from Chelsea and his representatives - about a move away from Liverpool for his poor form.

Benitez, however, absolves nobody from blame and long before their relationship appeared close to fracture in the summer of 2005, there had been suggestions that Gerrard felt unloved and unwanted by Benitez. Gerrard, it was said, felt that the manager preferred the game-shaping talents of Xabi Alonso to his more combustible abilities.

During that strange, miraculous year when Liverpool ended up winning the European Cup, Gerrard was removed, distant and moody. At times, he seemed to write off Liverpool's chances in the tournament, something, according to Guillem Balague in his book A Season on the Brink, which led Benitez to remind him of his responsibilities and offer the simple advice that perhaps he shouldn't look so glum all the time.

When Liverpool travelled to Bordeaux last week, Gerrard was left behind. While most believed the official story that he was suffering with a tight hamstring, there were some suggestions he had been rested with today's game - his 350th for the club if he plays - at Old Trafford a priority for Liverpool.

Gerrard has yet to score this season and in the world of ego-massage in which he and his fellow England players reside, he has suffered a series of setbacks. First, he was overlooked for the England captaincy, then he was moved out of the centre of midfield by Steve McClaren, who apparently listened to Benitez's views on the subject. Reports last week suggest Gerrard is unhappy that McClaren took Benitez's advice.

It is never too hard to know what Steven Gerrard is thinking. Stoicism is not among his qualities. Sky's pundit Andy Gray often refers to Gerrard's unhappiness when he is asked to play away from the centre of the field.

Before Liverpool played Chelsea, Gray wondered aloud what would happen if Gerrard refused to play anywhere but central midfield. He was not encouraging the player to take such a course, he said, but it was hard to imagine Gray musing on such a strategy for Beckham when he played at Manchester United without fearing the wrath of Alex Ferguson.

Like Gerrard, Beckham spoke often of his desire to play in central midfield. This was an ego thing, a need for Beckham to show that he could be the main man, but Ferguson knew better and kept him on the right. Gerrard is more talented than Beckham but he has been, in his eyes, marginalised too while players with less all-round ability such as Alonso and particularly Momo Sissoko are where he wants to be.

He is disturbed too by the notion, which has never quite left him, that Benitez is not an admirer. In his autobiography, Gerrard light-heartedly says he is determined to earn some praise from the manager. Yet Benitez compliments Gerrard in public all the time, dealing with his desire to play in the middle by comparing him favourably to Ronaldinho and Zidane. It would appear to be perfect management: provide adoring comments to the press while, in private, demanding more of the player.

"The manager is always looking at ways of making me a better player," Gerrard said during his first season working with Benitez. Privately, however, he was said to be upset at Benitez's critical approach to his game. Chris Bascombe, the knowledgeable football correspondent of the Liverpool Echo is quoted in Balague's book. "Houllier was over-indulgent with Gerrard to the point of smarm. Eriksson is the same. Maybe he has never worked with a ruthless but democratic manager who doesn't want to divide the squad between good and bad players, but wants everybody to be seen in the same way."

It is the area where Gerrard and Benitez move in different directions. Gerrard's generation of squandered England talents have been fattened by the panegyrics of the English media. They have believed the publicity, assumed the world was theirs for the taking and then felt shocked, dismayed and victimised when football revealed different truths.

Benitez may have flaws, but in refusing to act as a barker for the English press' freak show he displays an understanding of the fundamentals necessary in all good managers. Benitez has been led by his judgement alone since he arrived in England, ignoring the clamour of the mob if it does not correspond with his thinking.

"People ask you for criticism but they only want praise," Somerset Maugham wrote and Gerrard, an adultescent constantly in need of encouragement, and a warrior only in his own head, needs as much praise as he can get. Benitez at times provides it but he will not succumb to a PR campaign.

At lunchtime today against their fiercest rivals, Gerrard will need to start giving the manager what he wants. If not, Benitez may soon act decisively, ensuring that Dalglish's achievements at Liverpool are not surpassed by Steven Gerrard.

http://www.unison.ie/irish_independent/stories.php3?ca=94&si=1710645&issue_id=14796

[Shaggy]

What a great article.

[bazza76]

Great piece of writing there.

[redlancer]

briliant article and IMO not far off, if not bang on the truth

[Slim]

Fantastic read. Thanks for posting.