POSTING STATS FOR USFCL JULYWell as its near the end of the month here are the stats for the NG.Even with +DEL+ and his daily spam of old news i still remain the groups top poster with over...
Gerrard has more goals to aim for this season
Jul 28 2005
By Ian Doyle, Daily Post
FROM lifting the European Cup in Istanbul, to declaring his intention to leave and then reiterating his love for Liverpool by signing a new contract, it's been difficult to keep Steven Gerrard off the back pages.
But it's now for his actions back on the pitch where the Anfield skipper is again making the headlines as the midfielder reiterates the goalscoring dimension he has added to his game.
After having netted a career-best 13 goals last season, his penalty in Tuesday night's 3-1 Champions League win at Lithuanian champions FBK Kaunas was already his sixth in three competitive games this season.
It took Gerrard to 15 goals in European competitions for Liverpool, lifting him to joint fourth in the club's all-time European scorers list alongside Terry McDermott and within seven of record holder Michael Owen.
But while Gerrard dismisses talk of surpbutting his former team-mate, he admits to being greatly encouraged by his improved goalscoring prowess.
"To be honest with you, Michael Owen's record isn't important to me," said the 25-year-old. "The team's more important to me.
"It is nice to score goals and to catch people ahead of you in the goals list, but more important right now is this job (against Kaunas) is half done and so now we need to finish it off next week because we're all desperate to get into the group stages of the Champions League.
"It's always a midfielder's intention to try and get goals. That's an area of my game I've tried to improve over the last couple of years and I've started the season really well.
"I was happy with 13 last year and the idea this year is to try and improve on that.
"I believe the ones I have scored in the qualifying rounds will count in my career total but they don't count for the Golden Boot, which is a shame.
"I'm lucky that the likes of Henry and Shevchenko haven't got started yet and they can't do much about it at the moment!"
Gerrard's head start has come as a result of the necessity for Liverpool to begin their Champions League defence in the first qualifying round, with the Anfield side having seen off Welsh minnows TNS Llansantffraid earlier this month during a busy pre-season that has also seen friendlies in Austria and Liechtenstein and a training camp in Switzerland.
And Gerrard admitted: "Yes, this is all tiring. We have had plenty of travelling and flying and a lot of matches. But we cant do anything about the decision to place us in the first qualifying round. We are just lucky to be here and counting our blessings.
"Rules are rules and we didn't qualify, it was as simple as that. If we had finished above Everton we would have avoided all this, so it is our own fault."
Such is the increased workload that Gerrard, like his teammates, will be rested at times this season by manager Rafael Benitez.
But he joked: "I would like to play 77 games this season! But I know that's not going to be possible and the idea is to have big squads these days so the manager can swap and change the team.
"I spoke to the manager about this and he said not everyone will play all the games and there will be changes made, and I'm sure when the time's right he'll rest me.
"I'd think I'd play the same amount of games as the other internationals and by the time the World Cup comes around - fingers crossed we've qualified - I'll be fresh." Gerrard's European endeavours have helped push holders Liverpool to the brink of the final qualifying round for the Champions League group stages.
Merseyside derby remains a possibility when the draw is made in Nyon, Switzerland tomorrow, and the midfielder has added his voice to the groundswell of opinion that such a clash would not be in the best interests of either club.
"I'm sure it'd be a great occasion if we did draw Everton in the next round but I'm sure if you asked both sides, we'd prefer to avoid each other at this stage," said Gerrard.
"It'd be brilliant to see both clubs in the group stages but it'd be sod's law to draw each other on Friday and if it does happen, they'd be two fantastic games to look forward to.
"As a player, you want to play in big games and they wouldn't come much bigger than Liverpool and Everton playing off for a place in the Champions League group stages."
Of successfully defending the European Cup, Gerrard added: "It'd be nice to lift another trophy but I think the main priority is to improve on our league performance and hopefully enter the title race.
"The squad's a lot stronger this year and the manager's still trying to bring in a couple of new faces still. The important thing is we forget about what we achieved last season and stay hungry to succeed this season." Benitez has been busy in the transfer market this summer, bringing in Pepe Reina, Momo Sissoko, Boudewijn Zenden and Peter Crouch with Chilean winger Mark Gonzalez still to arrive.
And while Gerrard praised the great strides made in squad rebuilding, he acknowledged there remains a little way to go before Liverpool can boast a completely competitive squad.
"I'm impressed by the signings we've made so far," said the midfielder. "But I do think we need cover for Jamie (Carragher) and Sami (Hyypia) because they can't be expected to do all the full workload by themselves.
"Even though they're well capable of doing that because they're two fit lads and two top centre-backs, it's always wise to have cover in case one of them gets injured or suspended."
could be prepared to be pushed further forward to capitalise on his new goalscoring form!
"It's about time!" said Gerrard of his team-mate's strike. "He's been close the last couple of games and he came close on eight or nine occasions last season but never had no luck.
"I didn't try to pick him out for the goal, I just tried to put the corner in the right area. I was pleased with my delivery but he still had a lot of work to do, so it was a great finish."
