Don't think anyone has posted this yet. Good read. Have to split this into 2 parts due to the post text limit.
http://www.theguardian.com/football/2014/mar/13/steven-gerrard-liverpool
Steven Gerrard and the 'top, top' chop
How a line from Sir Alex Ferguson got the world wondering just how good the Liverpool and England midfielder really is
Originally published in Eight By Eight magazine
Last October, 500 journalists attended the Institute of Directors on London's Pall Mall to witness history in the making: the launch of Sir Alex Ferguson's second autobiography. The crowd, the imperial setting, and the sense of anticipation spoke of Ferguson's incomparable status in English football. Now retired, no longer constrained by the responsibilities of power, the legendary former manager of Manchester United could speak freely. What would he say?
It turned out Ferguson hadn't spoken as freely as everyone had hoped, since he hasn't really retired. As a director at Manchester United, he's the power behind David Moyes's throne, and the book had been vetted by the club prior to publication. It therefore elided certain mysteries, such as why Ferguson chose Moyes as his successor, rather than José Mourinho, with whom he had always appeared to be so friendly.
Media interest soon focused on the unpleasant things Ferguson had to say about some of the players who had helped him win all those trophies. Roy Keane was portrayed as a kind of lunatic, Ruud van Nistelrooy as selfish and petulant, David Beckham as a silly boy who wasted his career.
But his most withering assessment came almost as an aside, as Ferguson suggested it was unfair that Michael Carrick hadn't played more games for England: "Michael's handicap was, I feel, that he lacked the bravado of Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard … I was one of the few who felt Gerrard was not a top, top player."
"Not a top, top player" might not sound like the most scathing verdict – it allows for being merely "top" – but make no mistake: Ferguson was saying that Gerrard was really nothing special, and coming from someone like Sir Alex, that hurts. Ferguson is above showing his workings; he leaves it to readers to work out why he doesn't rate Gerrard among the elite. The clue is in that word bravado, with its connotation of pretence, of something feigned.
Not everyone shares Ferguson's view. Gerrard's former Liverpool teammate Craig Bellamy wrote in his autobiography: "What makes him so good? Well, there is nothing he can't do. He is clever. He sees the game quicker than anyone else. He sees the picture. He can play the ball first time round corners that aren't even there. He has got intelligence. He has got physical attributes. He can bomb past people. He is quick. He is a proper, powerful athlete. Give him a header, he will score. He can play in behind the front man. He can get the ball off the back four and control the game from the quarterback position. He is just an immense all-round footballer. I have never seen anyone put it all together like him, never seen someone with so many qualities. I have played with a lot of talented players, but he was better than any of them."
Bellamy has hit on what makes Gerrard special: it's the range of his abilities, rather than the degree. There are stronger, quicker players and more clever, skilful ones, but few combine physical and technical excellence like Gerrard. It might have been easier if he'd had a more conventional blend of qualities; he might not have had to spend so long figuring out what kind of player he was meant to be.
'The prisoner of the hopes of everybody around him'
Michael Owen was one of the best teenagers in the history of English football. On the Liverpool youth team, his speed destroyed defences. He was famous by the time he was 15. Gerrard is six months younger than Owen but he was 18 months behind in physical development. On another team, Gerrard might have been the main player. On that Liverpool youth team, Owen was the boss and Gerrard was there to serve him.
Gerrard eventually established himself in Liverpool's first team in 1999–2000, two years after Owen. That was the season Manchester United captain Roy Keane was named PFA Player of the Year. At the time, the only other midfielder on Keane's level was Arsenal's captain, Patrick Vieira. Between them, Keane and Vieira set the benchmark for central midfield play in the Premier League, a standard that endures to this day.
Gerrard's respect for these men is evident in his autobiography, which was published seven years ago, in the aftermath of what was supposed to have been England's victorious 2006 World Cup campaign. He writes that at age 20, he was thrilled by a rare compliment from Ferguson: "Gerrard's physically and technically precocious, a good engine, remarkable energy, reads the game and passes quickly … I'd hate to think Liverpool had a player as good as Roy Keane."
Gerrard's reaction: "I couldn't believe my eyes … fuck me. I knew how much Keane meant to the United fans, and to Ferguson. For Ferguson to compare me with his captain was some accolade."
Keane and Vieira were often called defensive midfielders, but that's not really what they were. They were generals. They directed play from the base of their team's attack. They kept it simple. They covered the ground. They passed it short.
They didn't do tricks or score a lot of goals. They left that to the stars: Giggs, Beckham, Dwight Yorke, Van Nistelrooy, Dennis Bergkamp, Thierry Henry, Robert Pirès. The job of the generals was to win the battle in the centre, to dominate the opposition, to drive them back, to break their hearts, so the stars could pick them off.
It had been years since Liverpool have had a player like Keane or Vieira. They signed Paul Ince hoping he'd be that man, but by the time they got him, he was in decline. Liverpool's last real general had been Graeme Souness, who left the club in 1984.
When Gerrard came along, Liverpool's manager and supporters looked at this big, tough all-rounder who could shoot and slide-tackle and run all day and decided he was going to be for them what Keane was for Manchester United, what Vieira was for Arsenal, what Souness had been for them years before. And the manager and supporters of the English national team felt the same way. Before Gerrard had time to discover himself as a footballer, he was the prisoner of the hopes and expectations of everybody around him.
--- end of Part one ---
http://www.theguardian.com/football/2014/mar/13/steven-gerrard-liverpool
Steven Gerrard and the 'top, top' chop
How a line from Sir Alex Ferguson got the world wondering just how good the Liverpool and England midfielder really is
Originally published in Eight By Eight magazine
Last October, 500 journalists attended the Institute of Directors on London's Pall Mall to witness history in the making: the launch of Sir Alex Ferguson's second autobiography. The crowd, the imperial setting, and the sense of anticipation spoke of Ferguson's incomparable status in English football. Now retired, no longer constrained by the responsibilities of power, the legendary former manager of Manchester United could speak freely. What would he say?
It turned out Ferguson hadn't spoken as freely as everyone had hoped, since he hasn't really retired. As a director at Manchester United, he's the power behind David Moyes's throne, and the book had been vetted by the club prior to publication. It therefore elided certain mysteries, such as why Ferguson chose Moyes as his successor, rather than José Mourinho, with whom he had always appeared to be so friendly.
Media interest soon focused on the unpleasant things Ferguson had to say about some of the players who had helped him win all those trophies. Roy Keane was portrayed as a kind of lunatic, Ruud van Nistelrooy as selfish and petulant, David Beckham as a silly boy who wasted his career.
But his most withering assessment came almost as an aside, as Ferguson suggested it was unfair that Michael Carrick hadn't played more games for England: "Michael's handicap was, I feel, that he lacked the bravado of Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard … I was one of the few who felt Gerrard was not a top, top player."
"Not a top, top player" might not sound like the most scathing verdict – it allows for being merely "top" – but make no mistake: Ferguson was saying that Gerrard was really nothing special, and coming from someone like Sir Alex, that hurts. Ferguson is above showing his workings; he leaves it to readers to work out why he doesn't rate Gerrard among the elite. The clue is in that word bravado, with its connotation of pretence, of something feigned.
Not everyone shares Ferguson's view. Gerrard's former Liverpool teammate Craig Bellamy wrote in his autobiography: "What makes him so good? Well, there is nothing he can't do. He is clever. He sees the game quicker than anyone else. He sees the picture. He can play the ball first time round corners that aren't even there. He has got intelligence. He has got physical attributes. He can bomb past people. He is quick. He is a proper, powerful athlete. Give him a header, he will score. He can play in behind the front man. He can get the ball off the back four and control the game from the quarterback position. He is just an immense all-round footballer. I have never seen anyone put it all together like him, never seen someone with so many qualities. I have played with a lot of talented players, but he was better than any of them."
Bellamy has hit on what makes Gerrard special: it's the range of his abilities, rather than the degree. There are stronger, quicker players and more clever, skilful ones, but few combine physical and technical excellence like Gerrard. It might have been easier if he'd had a more conventional blend of qualities; he might not have had to spend so long figuring out what kind of player he was meant to be.
'The prisoner of the hopes of everybody around him'
Michael Owen was one of the best teenagers in the history of English football. On the Liverpool youth team, his speed destroyed defences. He was famous by the time he was 15. Gerrard is six months younger than Owen but he was 18 months behind in physical development. On another team, Gerrard might have been the main player. On that Liverpool youth team, Owen was the boss and Gerrard was there to serve him.
Gerrard eventually established himself in Liverpool's first team in 1999–2000, two years after Owen. That was the season Manchester United captain Roy Keane was named PFA Player of the Year. At the time, the only other midfielder on Keane's level was Arsenal's captain, Patrick Vieira. Between them, Keane and Vieira set the benchmark for central midfield play in the Premier League, a standard that endures to this day.
Gerrard's respect for these men is evident in his autobiography, which was published seven years ago, in the aftermath of what was supposed to have been England's victorious 2006 World Cup campaign. He writes that at age 20, he was thrilled by a rare compliment from Ferguson: "Gerrard's physically and technically precocious, a good engine, remarkable energy, reads the game and passes quickly … I'd hate to think Liverpool had a player as good as Roy Keane."
Gerrard's reaction: "I couldn't believe my eyes … fuck me. I knew how much Keane meant to the United fans, and to Ferguson. For Ferguson to compare me with his captain was some accolade."
Keane and Vieira were often called defensive midfielders, but that's not really what they were. They were generals. They directed play from the base of their team's attack. They kept it simple. They covered the ground. They passed it short.
They didn't do tricks or score a lot of goals. They left that to the stars: Giggs, Beckham, Dwight Yorke, Van Nistelrooy, Dennis Bergkamp, Thierry Henry, Robert Pirès. The job of the generals was to win the battle in the centre, to dominate the opposition, to drive them back, to break their hearts, so the stars could pick them off.
It had been years since Liverpool have had a player like Keane or Vieira. They signed Paul Ince hoping he'd be that man, but by the time they got him, he was in decline. Liverpool's last real general had been Graeme Souness, who left the club in 1984.
When Gerrard came along, Liverpool's manager and supporters looked at this big, tough all-rounder who could shoot and slide-tackle and run all day and decided he was going to be for them what Keane was for Manchester United, what Vieira was for Arsenal, what Souness had been for them years before. And the manager and supporters of the English national team felt the same way. Before Gerrard had time to discover himself as a footballer, he was the prisoner of the hopes and expectations of everybody around him.
--- end of Part one ---
