probably put him just above klinsmann. could never understand the ‘battle’ between him and lampard since they were both different players, and Lampard was a lot better anyway.
God loves a trier, and a good talisman and motivator. But he never really bossed a game like the all-time centre/def midfielders do which was always exemplified by how he could never handle relatively minor changes in the England squad. Heck of a boot on him when he wanted though. THIS DOES NOT SLIP NOW.
I think people forget how often he dragged a fairly mediocre Liverpool team to wins, taking games by the scruff of the neck and forcing them to do his bidding. I remember there was a period of about three seasons on the trot where he was winning man of the match almost every single week. He never really did the same for England where he was forced into a more conservative role.
He never made it look effortless or easy though - you could tell it was hard work and exhausting.
Not sure about this. I’m not a Liverpool fan but he bossed that FA Cup final against West Ham didn’t he?
Don’t people say: Lampard to win you a championship, Gerrard to win you a game? Not sure how true that is but he definitely could turn it on when it counted (apart from with England, obviously).
Was an excellent choice when City bought him at the age of 58 just to come off the bench and do his run from the penalty spot to do a slidey tap in every game
he absolutely did in the second half of the 2005 CL, or at least spearheaded the comeback. That header and his wild gesturing to get back and keep going is stuck in head forever
Stood out in otherwise mediocre Liverpool and England teams. And whoever edits his Wikipedia page should know that coming second or third does not constitute a ‘honour’.
I think that was largely a result of the players he was surrounded with. He’d usually give them about half an hour to see if they’d help out and then roll his sleeves up and boss the game from there because no one else would step up.