The most influential player in England. Bar none.” Sir Alex Ferguson on Steven Gerrard, March 1, 2006. A week that Gerrard would rather forget saw Liverpool’s inspirational captain travel to France on Thursday to present the new Champions League trophy to the mayor of Paris. Appropriately enough, it was delivered Red Star.
Gerrard’s team no longer had an interest in the most celebrated of all club tournaments, the glittering prize won that sensational night in Istanbul having been torn from Liverpool’s grasp by Benfica in midweek. The next day the England midfielder was in Leicester for the funeral ofGary McAllister’s wife, Denise. In such circumstances many footballers would have ducked out of the interview we had arranged.
Gerrard, however, has never ducked anything. The obvious starting point was the holders’ elimination from Europe. One-nil down from the first leg in Lisbon, Liverpool were confident of overcoming the disadvantage at their Anfield fastness. What was one goal to a team that had clawed back three against mighty Milan? “Everybody connected with the club thought we’d go through,” says Gerrard. “I definitely thought we would. The changing room before the game was buzzing, you could see all the boys were up for it, and we could hear the crowd were too.”
Instead, Liverpool spurned their opportunities and Benfica gave them a lesson in finishing to win 2-0 on the night and 3-0 on aggregate. Gerrard still can’t believe it. “The idea was to get an early goal, and we created the chances to do it, but we couldn’t put the ball in the net. I went straight home and sulked. Driving home with a few friends, all we could talk about was the chances we’d had and the massive disappointment of going out.
“Being captain, I’ve got to lift my chin off the floor and try to help the boys get over it because there’s still two important things to play for: finishing second in the league, and the FA Cup. But it’s hard. You were at the game, so you know how it went and the support the fans gave us. They were superb, they deserve a trophy.”
Failure to translate possession and territorial advantage into goals is the story of Liverpool’s season. On Wednesday they used four centre-forwards, Peter Crouch, Fernando Morientes, Djibril Cissé and Robbie Fowler, all of whom were again found wanting. The stats make dreadful reading. The club that couldn’t stop scoring in the halcyon days of Ian Rush, Kenny Dalglish and John Aldridge has managed eight goals in the past 13 games, its strikers have contributed a paltry two in 2006, and in 44 appearances between them they have come up with just one.
In midweek Gerrard created a gilt-edged chance for Crouch, only to see the beanpole finish with all the dexterity of a man on stilts. Morientes was at his worst yet, utterly unrecognisable from his Real Madrid incarnation, and Cissé continues to play like one. Gerrard weighs his words carefully before saying: “Scoring is a team responsibility and I don’t want to sit here and criticise the forwards, but their confidence is low and the goals are not going in. Statistics don’t lie.”
Crouch has four goals to show for 24 league appearances and Morientes three in 21. Gerrard, with 18 in all competitions, is easily the leading scorer. “I’m happy enough with my return, but from the team’s point of view it’s obviously a problem,” he says. “Sometimes you lose games and can’t put your finger on what’s going wrong, but in this case we know what the trouble is, it’s there for every body to see.”
If the problem is readily apparent, so is the answer, which could be articulated in two words: Michael Owen. Gerrard explains: “I’ve got confidence in Peter Crouch, but to get the best out of him, he needs to play alongside a prolific scorer. Peter has never been prolific and I don’t think he’s ever going to be. He’s a target man; you’ll only get maximum benefit out of him if you play him alongside a prolific partner, and we haven’t got one. We’re desperate for one. I’m not going to sit here and disguise the fact that we need a poacher.”
No prizes for guessing the predator he has in mind — the one who joined Newcastle when he left Real Madrid last summer. “I know Michael Owen wanted to come here,” Gerrard says. “I’ve got a good enough relationship with him to know that. We speak regularly and I know what Michael’s feelings were. He wanted to come back and play for Liverpool. The fact that he’s not here now is down to Liverpool not making it happen, rather than Michael not wanting to come.
“It’s difficult for me to say what difference he might have made the other night, but Michael Owen scores goals. Domestically, in Europe and at international level, he has proved that. He’s a great player. Someone asked me in the interviews after the game on Wednesday if I’d like him back, which is a silly question. He’s a world-class player and one I love playing with. Of course I’d love to have him back. I was disappointed when he didn’t come, and so were the rest of the lads, because we all knew he’d have improved us, but it was a tricky situation. Michael was desperate to get away from Real quickly. If he’d given it a bit more time, I think he would have been a Liverpool player again.”
Might he still be? “Who knows what the future holds?” Gerrard says. Meanwhile, the manager, Rafael Benitez, has identified different targets. Gerrard says: “We’ve got Mark Gonzales coming from Spain (Albacete), a tricky winger who plays on the left. Rafa has said he’s also after a right-sided midfielder, and I’m sure, after what has been happening, that he’s going to bring in a striker as well. He has said he needs the money, which is right. That’s the way it is in football now. If you want the best players, you’ve got to find top money. I don’t think it will be a problem. The board will back Rafa because I know they’ve every confidence in him.”
But what of Benitez? Will he be staying? “Yeah, I’m confident about that. There’s been a lot of media speculation because of what’s going on at Real Madrid, and I know Inter Milan are interested, but that’s only normal. He’s one of the best coaches in the world, so there will be clubs chasing him, but I’m confident he wants to stay here. He’s got a lot of belief in this squad, and if the board back him, Rafa will bring more trophies here. We finished fifth last season (37 points behind Chelsea) and we were really struggling. This time we’re playing better football and feel we’re moving forward. Finishing second is the immediate challenge. Manchester United are slight favourites at the moment, but we’ll fight them all the way for it.”
