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A great player is often categorized by his impact and the legacy he leaves behind. Especially so in a team game like football. Some of the recent players (90s onwards) who have a had a great impact for their countries include Zidane for France, Ronaldo and recently Neymar for Brazil, Maldini and then Pirlo for Italy, Schweinsteiger for Germany, Xavi for Spain and Messi for Argentina. All of them to a certain extent had teams built around their abilities or their persona, and the impact has been visibile.
Looking at Steven Gerrard’s club career it would have been easy to imagine him donning that role for England, and certainly many English fans believed it would happen. His performances for Liverpool over the years have been legendary but that super human ability never truly took England to the top. So what went wrong?
Gerrard – a Liverpool Legend
There’s no doubt that since the advent of the Premier League, not many players have had a larger impact for their teams, than Gerrard for Liverpool. A club suffering to compete with the best since the advent of the modified top league in England, had many a dark year in the ensuing period. Anfield has been one of the greatest football grounds in the world for time eternity, and it is so because the club faithful place such belief in their team, that the atmosphere at this great venue is always electric.
But even their faith has been tested, sometimes so near yet so far, sometimes rank outsiders, supporting Liverpool in the late 90s and the early 2000s was a lot of heartache occasionally broken by celebratory moments.
It is in the backdrop of these testing times that Gerrard made his name as captain fantastic. When the occasion demanded a super human effort, he produced it, almost as if that was the moment he was made for. Iconic players are defined by their efforts at the biggest moments, and Gerrard over delivered at most such times. Epic performances in the Champions League final against AC Milan and in the FA cup final against West Ham stand out, but one often overlooks that he played an equal, if not a greater part in getting the team there in the first place.
That performance against a rampant Milan side, 3-0 up at half time, is the game that defined his personality, it defined his ability to inspire, and it remains easily one of the greatest performance by a single player at the highest stage.
| League | Cup | Europe | Overall | ||||
| Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals |
| 475 | 111 | 66 | 22 | 124 | 39 | 669 | 173 |
Stats courtesy: espnfc.com
The number of appearances itself are staggering, and as a midfielder his goal scoring ability was second to none. But more important than the figures themselves, is the ability to score at crucial times and the ability to raise the overall team performance with his attitude on the pitch. It is that influence that brought the best out of him and in turn his dedication brought out the best in his team.
Inability to replicate the same for England
A look back at Gerrard’s career for his country too shows similar performances, but the rate at which they came was much slower.
| Friendlies | Qualifiers | Competition | Overall | ||||
| Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals |
| 43 | 5 | 50 | 12 | 21 | 4 | 114 | 21 |
His ability didn’t change for club and country and having seen him chase game after game for England as well, his commitment too was unquestionable. Football remains a team game, and while one player may dominate headlines from time to time, the rest of the squad and tactics play a huge role in success or failure.
At Liverpool for many years the game was played around his ability, the tactics were developed around his ability to move the ball, to move into key positions, and he was the ideal player between defense and attack. In the England setup there was always a question mark on Gerrard’s role.
Having Scholes as his midfield partner early on and then Lampard meant that he was not always looking to attack and that may have curtailed that impact to a certain level. Scholes and Lampard are players of great pedigree as well, there’s no question about that, and asking them to curtail their game would have been just as silly, but in hindsight, not building England’s midfield around Gerrard could be a reason that England never seem to deliver inspired performances.
While Scholes and Lampard remain great impact players for what they could do on the field, Gerrard’s ability to inspire was a key ingredient that was missing from the England team in major competitions. With his opportunity to drive forward slightly limited, the chance to provide a moment of magic to life the team reduced too.
Managerial Impact
Another thought provoking feature is the type of managers that Gerrard played under. Liverpool fans demanded attacking play, even in bad times, and their managers imbibed that from day one. English football as a whole does not have that need. English football under successive managers has been a story of get one goal and defend, and that obviously isn’t something that would work for players with such talent going forward.
| Sven-Göran Eriksson | 2001–2006 |
| 2006–2007 | |
| Fabio Capello | 2008–2012 |
| 2012 | |
| 2012–present |
Lack of clarity on formations, choosing captains on the basis of experience, and a focus on getting the job done as opposed to playing good football, were characteristics of all managers during the period in question. After the epic Champions League final in 2005, England should have named Gerrard captain, and they would have had a good nine years to build a team around him and develop a fast, attacking outfit that could have been a world beater, but the management staff always seemed to play it safe and that has hurt England more in the long run.
A lesson in every loss
England’s loss (Gerrard’s international retirement) can be a huge gain for Liverpool. With a single minded focus on the league (a competition that Gerrard needs to win more than anything else), Liverpool can benefit greatly from the lesser number of games he will be involved in. His dedication to the cause and his larger than life status at the club can deliver that promised land, especially having come so close last season.
England though have to rebuild the wheel. But the guardians of English football need to learn their lessons quick. They need to look no further than Gerrard and what could have been under him to develop the next generation built for success. England must in the future identify not only young talented players to take their game forward but also identify the strong leadership early, to develop and bring not only belief in ability, but also a willingness to play for country as they play for club.
Gerrard’s England story is one of so much promise and so little achieved, but if English textbooks can imbibe the lessons of poor management and eliminate the wrongs, then Gerrard will still go down as the one who transformed English football, and it is nothing less than he deserves.
