Steven Gerrard makes right call in ending a remarkable Liverpool career
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Version 0 of 1. The first thing to say about Steven Gerrard is simply this: he has been a tremendous captain and player for Liverpool. Yes, the deterioration has been sharp and it might be that, deep down, he will acknowledge he has never shaken last season’s ordeal out of his system. Or, indeed, what happened in the World Cup when the lingering memory for those of us in the England press corps came on the final morning, in a windowless room at the Urca training centre, as he slumped in his chair, wearing a week’s worth of stubble and staring into the distance. He was “hurting bad, broken”. It may be that he is still carrying that with him. Gerrard has always been tremendously hard on himself and it will have pained him that his deterioration has been so obvious. He is 35 on his next birthday, on the date of the FA Cup final, and plainly that is not an impossible age to continue for Liverpool when we see Frank Lampard, 23 months his senior, still excelling in Manchester City’s colours. Yet Sir Alex Ferguson once described Lampard as a “freak” because of the way he barely missed a match and applied the same word to explain Ryan Giggs’s longevity. Gerrard has a different playing style: the all-action hero, the leader, the man who would throw himself into tackles and take it upon himself to try to grab a game by its lapels. And age catches up with even the greatest in the end. That is why, among the tributes over the coming days, it is unlikely there will be too many people saying he should have tried to defy the process and remained at Anfield, always to be a one-club man. Gerrard has simply recognised his own vulnerabilities and, however much of an emotional wrench it will be, nothing would have been more galling for him than feeling like he was straying dangerously close to letting down the club he cherishes so much. Related: Steven Gerrard is the standout player from my whole career | Gerárd Houllier The proposed move to LA Galaxy and Major League Soccer is perhaps a surprise but, equally, where else could there be at this stage of his professional life? If Gerrard feels he can no longer play with great distinction for a Liverpool side that has been stranded in mid-table this season, it is unlikely (though not impossible) that the current European superpowers would be able to find a place for him. But what a player he was in his peak years. Have you ever seen Gerrard win the league? No, and that will be the regret that pricks at him forever. Yet we have seen him win the Champions League, lest it be forgotten, as well as being the symbol of his team for more than a decade. He is five short of 700 appearances for Liverpool and sixth in their all-time list of scorers, with 180 goals. Gerrard may always feel unfulfilled not to have lifted the Premier League trophy and that mocking Demba Ba song, on the back of his now infamous slip against Chelsea last April, probably hurts him more than he is willing to admit if we remember his emotional reaction after the defeat of City that had left Liverpool on the cusp of their first title since 1990. Eight months on, he will know that Liverpool are not going to win the league on his watch. Yet he should not beat himself up too much when his Liverpool career is hardly short of moments of distinction, including one of the all-time great performances in an FA Cup final. What happened against West Ham in 2006, including a last-minute equaliser from 30 yards, was remarkable, particularly when remembering the awkwardness of his movements as cramp stabbed at his legs. The following year he was voted into a Fifa world XI. “Gerrard is for me, in the position he plays, one of the very best in the world,” Ronaldinho said at the time. “He has a huge impact. For the job he performs, he is one of the greatest.” Yet the people who keep these records reckon that Premier League football is around 20% faster now and the truth for Gerrard is that he no longer has the mobility to belong to the level where he has spent most of his career. His performance against Chelsea in the 2-1 home defeat in early November was one clue. There have been others and Gerrard, that unrelenting self-critic, will not have rushed into this decision. A player of 34 does not rescue the steady path of decline and, overall, it is probably better for everyone at Liverpool that he is remembered for what he was, rather than being clouded by insecurities about what might happen next. And just watch the reception at Anfield after his final game. |