Syed is a f***wit he's come out with some pooe about rowing as well which he knows nothing about.
gareth
Injured, 4 games in 11 days, big game on Sunday.
How can someone who is paid to know so much about football be allowed to just come out with this pooe?
Does Mr Liverpool already regret arranged marriage? By Matthew Syed IT IS perfectly human to get cold feet - particularly when making life-changing decisions. Marriage counsellors, for example, report that the emotion is common among brides and grooms-to-be, a phenomenon that has spawned an extensive and often tragi-comic literature. What is unique about Steven Gerrard, however, is that he is prone to making contradictory life-changing decisions on consecutive days, each infused with the rhetoric of conviction. One day he is through with Liverpool, the next he is Liverpool through and through.
What is more, he is consistent in his inconsistency. Last summer he told England team-mates that he was off to Chelsea but as soon as he came within sight of the Liver Building he ran back into the bosom of Anfield. This summer he told the world that he was going through with a transfer and the next day agreed to sign a four-year extension to his contract. As Hugh Grant did in Four Weddings and a ceremony, Gerrard would have jilted his bride, run into the arms of his lover before dashing back to his bride again. Two summers in succession.
No wonder the Kop is confused, still somewhat unsure whether to feel like a spurned lover or a blushing bride. That is why it was so important for Gerrard to make a quick start to the season: he understood (in the time-honoured manner of a philanderer who has been caught flirting) that in order to salvage a wounded relationship, he had to woo as if in the first flush of love. Each early-season goal (all seven of them in the first three rounds of Champions League qualification) was like an unexpected offering of a red rose. Football commentators were startled by his zeal - but it will have come as no surprise to those who have survived a rocky relationship.
Gerrard's form has sweetened the lingering bitterness to such an extent that fans are once again focusing on his performances, rather than his fidelity. This is fortunate for the Liverpool captain, since his resolution on the pitch cuts a stark contrast to his juvenile indecision off it. He cajoles and motivates and crusades around the park like an evangelist proclaiming the apocalypse. After last month's match between Middlesbrough and Liverpool, Gareth Southgate quipped "at one stage we thought that Gerrard was heading his own crosses".
It was intended as the ultimate compliment - although this ubiquity sits somewhat uneasily with Rafael Ben'tez's conception of football in which there is a place for every player with every player in his place. But Gerrard has little time for such constraints. He defends, marshals the midfield and attacks. He takes free kicks and corners. One imagines him at half-time dashing to the kitchen to slice the oranges.
He started on the bench for Tuesday night's 2-1 victory over Real Betis and some have taken this to imply some fresh turbulence in his relationship with his manager (relationships are everywhere in football).
The less conspiratorial conclusion is that the manager is attempting to conserve a precious buttet who has played so many games in so few weeks. Do not forget that Gerrard has also lost a few days this season to a calf injury. That said, there is undoubtedly tension between Ben'tez and Gerrard. The captain seems peeved because his manager refuses to regard him as PelZ incarnate whilst Ben'tez fears the potentially mutinous power wielded by Gerrard.
And so to tomorrow's showdown against Manchester United, always a mouth-watering prospect, even when neither team can plausibly claim to be the best in the country. The contest inevitably draws comparisons between Gerrard and Roy Keane, but, unfortunately for neutrals, this time the Manchester United captain is out with a hamstring injury.
The fundamental problem for Gerrard is that he plays for a team unlikely to win trophies. Last season's European Cup victory was a one-off (albeit beautiful and uplifting) rather than a herald of things to come; each conquest was more a triumph of romantic optimism than raw ability. The chilling gulf between Liverpool and Chelsea is as evident from the early performances this season as it was from the 37-point gap last season.
Here we go again pt 2.... 3804Especially when you look what the more senior journalist has written on the same day !! Gerrard states case for Liverpool's title ambition By Oliver Kay NOSES...
This is why Chelsea fans regard Gerrard's Damascene conversions as damn obscene. How could any sane person commit to Stamford Bridge and then change their mind? JosZ Mourinho's comments at the time were apposite despite their palpable bitterness: "I can say to him in the next ten years we will compare trophies at Chelsea and trophies at Liverpool. And he will lose."
After the miracle in Istanbul, Gerrard was asked whether he would commit to Anfield. His response was like that of a lover attempting to prove his fidelity: "How could I leave after a night like this?" It is possible that his subsequent dithering will come back to haunt him. Not because it took him so long to commit to the team he loves but because he failed to commit to the team he lusts after. "This won't be happening again next summer or ever again, as far as I'm concerned," Gerrard said after signing his contract extension. More likely, however, is that he is getting cold feet once again.
THE LOWDOWN
STYLE Purposeful, audacious, crusading - Superman without the cape
HIGH POINT Lifting the European Cup after the miracle of Istanbul
LOW POINT Pledging allegiance to Liverpool after saying he was leaving. He looked a little foolish and not a little insincere
CATCH HIM ON Sky Sports 1, tomorrow, Liverpool v Manchester United, kick-off 12pm
