Giving the captain the respect he deserves

This week, 10 years ago Steven Gerrard, made his first team debut for Liverpool Football Club. Since then Gerrard has gone on to captain the club and has established himself as one of the best midfielders in Europe. To put it quite simply, Gerrard is easily Liverpool's most important player. 10 years is a long time for a player to have spent at any club and to commemorate the occasion the Liverpool FC official website has declared it "Steven Gerrard Week."

Our skipper has been very highly praised, and rightly so. Even so, I can't help but feel he does not fully get all the respect he deserves. Even though he's considered one of the best players in the world, I don't feel he gets enough recognition.

In my honest opinion, Steven Gerrard is the best player in England. Cristiano Ronaldo of Manchester United is obviously a fantastic player (although I hate his guts) and he's one of the most talented attacking players in Europe. I think last season there was no player better than Ronaldo (because scoring 40+ goals is a feat itself, but scoring 40+ from the midfield is insane). But in terms of overall playing ability, Gerrard is the best in England and I'll explain my rationale behind this.

Steven Gerrard is one of the most complete midfield players in the history of the game. He's got an amazing shot and amazing vision - getting nearly 20 goals and 20 assists a season. Physically, he's got everything you would want in a football player: he's quick, he's pretty tall, he's strong, and he's got amazing stamina. To accompany great attacking prowess and physical talents, he's been blessed with great defensive capabilities. Liverpool legend and former England international, John Barnes, believes, "He is the most important player Liverpool has and could be the most important player England has. In my opinion he is the most complete midfield player in Europe. If you look at attacking midfield players with Zidane and Ronaldinho and you look at defensive midfielders like Claude Makelele, creative midfield players with the passing of Beckham. He can do it all. For me he is the most complete midfield player in the world." To have the skills of 4 world class midfielders attributed to him is no small praise and there are few midfielders in the history of the sport who have such an honour.

Because he is such a complete midfielder he's extremely versatile. He's best known for playing as a central midfielder, where he is in the middle of the action dictating our play. This is where he has played for the majority of this season, being one of our better players. This allows him to showcase both his defensive and offensive capabilities. However, we must not forget that he can play in a variety of possitions better than many players can. He broke into the Liverpool first team 10 years ago playing on the right hand side of the midfield - and when he won the PFA Player of the Year award it was given to him because of his outstanding season on the right of our midfield in the 05/06 season. During that season he was given a free role out wide, much like the great Pavel Nedved of Juventus. Last season we saw Gerrard establish a great partnership with Fernando Torres playing as a central midfielder - but higher up the pitch in a more attacking role than a regular central midfielder. And who can forget his performance in extra-time against AC Milan in the Champions League final of '05, playing as a right back. That was a quality performance from him, playing in a very different role than he is used to.

Steven Gerrard is a player who enjoys making a name for himself on the big stage. He has scored in many many important games, as well as many cup finals. God knows how many games where Gerrard has managed to rescue Liverpool from an embarrassing defeat or draw and give us a win. Some of my greatest sporting memories have been the ball flying from our captain's right foot into the back of the net. I think the best example of this is the 2006 FA Cup final, where two goals from the skipper (including a last minute stunner) allowed the Reds to claw their way back into the game and eventually win it on penalties.

Aside from his playing ability, Steven Gerrard is a leader on a team of captains. Liverpool have an extraordinary number of players who have either captained another club club or their national team (or both). These players include Jamie Carragher, Sami Hyypia, Dirk Kuyt, Javier Mascherano, Xabi Alonso, Robbie Keane, Yossi Benayoun, and I think Martin Skrtel has captained Slovakia once. Despite having all of these leader-figures on the team, one man stands out as the definite leader. He inspires the team with his performances on the pitch and is always ontop of players making sure they give it their all. As a local lad playing for his boyhood team he knows what the club means to the fans and he'll do his all to get the win for his club.

He's so good that even the Queen of England made him a Member of the Order of the British Empire. Now tell me that isn't cool.

Steven Gerrard is a player of tremendous talent and he's easily the best player I've ever seen in a Liverpool shirt. He's a player that will be remembered as a great in the following decades and it's really great to be a fan of a team that has a player with so much quality. He's a living legend and I think he should get a lot more respect from Liverpool fans and from non-Liverpool fans.

Steven Gerrard: Living Legend

In other Liverpool news Dirk Kuyt and Fernando Torres scored two fine goals while on international duty with Holland and Spain respectively. Congradulations boys! Now come home and do the same for us!

And because I have spent so much time praising the Liverpool captain, here is a YouTube video highlighting his excellence:

It's better on top

So we had not won in two games: with a disappointing loss away at Tottenham and a penalty saving our blushes at home against Atletico Madrid in our midweek Champions League clash. What the Reds needed was a return to winning ways to maintain the league title challenge.

Liverpool delivered. It was the last fixture of the day in English football, and on a rainy night at Anfield, Liverpool hosted newly promoted West Bromwich Albion. West Brom are known for their possitive attacking mentality, despite really struggling for goals this season. And I really respected their confidence and willingness to get forward and try to take the game to us. It was a really pleasant change from having teams visit Anfield and try to put all 10 players behind the ball.

The starting lineup was Reina in goal, with a back four of Arbeloa, Carragher, Agger, and Aurelio. In midfield we started Mascherano and our captain Gerrard in the middle running things, with wingers Riera and Benayoun on the flanks and two strikers up top in Robbie Keane and Dirk Kuyt. A nice possitive 4-4-2, so we could take the game to West Brom. The visitors started well, they kept the ball nicely and moved it about the pitch with pace and fluidity - had I not known better, I wouldn't have thought they were massive underdogs or a promoted side.

But Liverpool grew as the game went on. Chances started to be created, the first of which came from Yossi Benayoun who got through on goal. The Israel captain had a shot which was blocked by goalkeeper Scott Carson (who played 9 games for Liverpool) and the arm of Jonas Olsson. The referee, however, deemed that this handball was accidental and therefore did not award a penalty. In the 34th minute, the deadlock was broken when Robbie Keane scored his first premier league goal for the club he supported as a boy. The Irishman connected with Steven Gerrard's pass and scored with a great left foot finish.

For the remainder of the first half, the game was Liverpool's. Numerous chances were made and shortly before the half time whistle blew, Robbie Keane latched onto a great ball played by Fabio Aurelio. Keane rounded Carson and slotted in once more with his left foot into the open goal. The second half was more dull. West Brom never looked like breaking through until they put Chris Brunt on as a substitute. The young winger has got one hell of a cross and can take a good free kick - and his delivery was worrying for the Reds, though they dealt with it well.

At around the 70th minute the man of the match, Robbie Keane, was substituted off for Fernando Torres. It was great to see the Spaniard striker back on the pitch and while I think Keane should have been given the chance to complete his hattrick and perhaps Kuyt should have been taken off instead - I'm really looking forward to the prospect of a Torres-Keane partnership up front. Torres had one shot and participated in build up play, but if I'm honest the world's greatest striker didn't really have too many chances today. The scoring finished near the final whistle, when right back Alvaro Arbeloa received the ball in the box to score a left footed curler - making the final score 3-0.

The result makes the title race interesting. As you can see, (if you click the link) Liverpool are currently top with 29 points. This could change tomorrow as Chelsea have a higher goal difference and are playing tomorrow. Today's match between title rivals Arsenal and Manchester United was important. Arsenal have been in bad form lately, losing to the likes promoted teams Stoke and Hull City. Arsenal pulled off a big win against Liverpool's biggest rivals (playing some very good stuff too). But being 8 points clear of United and 6 points clear of Arsenal is fantastic for this stage of the season. We need to keep this up for the rest of the season. On a side note, I don't think I have ever seen the bottom half of the table so close. We're in for a very interesting season.

Well, a good win today. I'm very glad to see Robbie Keane looking like the player we paid so much for and I'm happy to see Fernando Torres on the pitch once again. Here's hoping for a Chelsea loss tomorrow. Until next time, my friends.

Liverpool prepare to face Chelsea

I said I would write again on Saturday, and here we are at 37 minutes past midnight and I am writing my second blog post on Saturday. All the focus in the Liverpool world is the impending match with Chelsea.

Chelsea are a weird club. We have probably played them more than any other club in Europe since 2005. I know we've played them in 3 Champions League Semi-Finals in the last four years (being victorious twice!). But they've got a very good record at home, and we'll be traveling to their stadium hoping to carry on our unbeaten run. Both teams are undefeated and Chelsea haven't lost at home for 86 matches or something ridiculous like that. I hope it's a good game.

I know it will probably be a dull game with both teams playing really defensive football because neither team will want to lose. And if I'm honest, if I were to expect one team to try to take the game to the other, it would probably be them (being that they are the home team). But this is a pretty good time to play them in terms of how injuries and suspensions have effected their squad. They've got Didier Drogba, Michael Essien, and Joe Cole definitely out - those are huge players for them. We've got our own injury problems with Skrtel definitely out for a few months, Torres not being likely to play, and Keane, Gerrard, and Alonso all carrying what Rafa Benitez describes as "minor knocks." I really wish Torres could play though, that would be great.

I really hope that we can win this one. Chelsea are major title contenders and we're level with them on points (although they have a higher goal difference). Winning away at Chelsea wouldn't just mean ending their insane home undefeated stretch - but it would send out a serious message to the rest of the league. We want to win the league and I think this is the closest we've come to actually challenging in a long time. It's a long season, obviously, but I'm not old enough to remember the last time Liverpool won the league and it's something that I'm desperately looking to see.

I've got a busy week ahead of me with take home midterms, regular midterms, and various other activities. I hope that Sunday will kick start a productive week with a Liverpool win!