Steven Gerrard: My life at Liverpool and my favourite moments

Our team of writers, and a select group of writers on fans websites, were asked to rank their favourite Reds players over the past 25 years.

Ian Doyle caught up with Gerrard to look back on his Anfield career and pick some of his best moments.

Hiya, Stevie. How are you?

Not too bad, thanks.

You've been named the best Liverpool player of the Premier League era in our special ECHO poll. Well done!

It's always flattering when you win these type of polls. This one is slightly different, but whether it's journalists or fans, when it comes down to it being judged by people who watched you in action then it's always flattering.

I know how closely they'll have watched my career over the years. Whether you are first, second or third or even in the top 10 or 20 of any best Liverpool players list, you have done well.

There have been so many top players over the last 25 years, so to be anywhere near the top is an honour.

I'm not really one for getting too excited about individual honours, I always wanted team ones as a player but I'd happily accept the individual ones along the way. So I'd like to say thank you.

No problem. We know how much of a fan of Liverpool you are. But just how exciting was it to make your debut against Blackburn Rovers back in 1998?

It wasn't exciting – it was scary! The build-up to it was more exciting, the chance to train at Melwood and having Gerard Houllier, Phil Thompson and Sammy Lee in my ear saying I was doing well.

When it actually came to the moment to get my tracksuit off when I was going on, I was aware of the clock and that moment wasn't exciting. It was terrifying!

I just remember that it was almost like the precise moment I was slapped in the face and made aware of the realism of running out in front of that many people.

When I look at the footage and see myself in that big red kit... I was delighted about my debut afterwards, it was my dream come true. But for those few minutes, I was terrified.

The more you play, the more comfortable you get. But if I'm really, really honest, I wouldn't say I was comfortable in the first team for the first 20 or 30 games.

You're really just nervous, excited and you're desperate to do so well. You want to grab every opportunity, and you don't want anybody or anything to get in your way. You don't want anyone to ruin that chance.

Then there was your first goal against Sheffield Wednesday...

That helped me massively. You come into the first team and that sets you up, and you're being put in different positions – right wing-back, right-back, holding midfield.

But it was because of that run and goal that people really began to think 'he could be a more attacking player'.

That was the type of goal I'd score every so often when I was coming up through the ranks. I'd do decent stuff around the opposition area and not just make tackles and passes, which is what I was getting known for in the first team.

It is still one of my favourite goals, definitely in my top 10.

How did you feel when you scored it?

The feeling was up there with more important goals, the really decisive goals.

What you have to realise is what when I scored that goal and ran away, basically in front of supporters only a short time earlier I'd been part of, all my heroes were diving on my back, the likes of David Thompson and Danny Murphy, players I had done my apprenticeship under.

I mean this in the right way, but when you make friends as you are coming up through the ranks, you want to leave those mates behind. It's that competitive. So to score that goal was special.

What was your favourite individual performance for Liverpool?

In terms of an all-round performance over 90 minutes and extra time, the West Ham performance was my favourite. In fact, I'd say it was a perfect performance.

In every other performance, no matter how well you play, you'll always make minor mistakes and have periods where things don't go well.

I just think that on that one day, I was on it. It was like I was on auto-pilot, everything I was trying was coming off. It was almost like a 'wow' performance from myself, when I look back at it.

In terms of my favourite moment, you won't be surprised. Istanbul.

For what it means – not just for me but for the whole club, the fans, everyone – that is always going to be number one. You only have to look at the legacy it has left.

In fact, it wasn't even just about the final itself, it was about the journey. We were underdogs all the way through, and how we did it was incredible. And to share that with teammates... it'll always be my favourite moment.

Which leads nicely on to asking about your favourite atmosphere at Anfield...

Yeah, that's an easy one too! Chelsea in the semi-final of the Champions League that season was incredible.

From about an hour before kick-off, the ground was virtually full and it was bouncing.

The Kop was shaking, and while that's happened on many, many times during a game, I'd never experienced it for the full warm-up, the start of the game, the middle and all the way through to the end. That night, the whole place was absolutely rocking.

It's hard to look beyond that night, although I had a lot of great times at Anfield.

You played with some pretty decent players at Liverpool. Who was your favourite player to play alongside? And who was the best?

My favourite player would always have to be Carra. I always felt more secure, I felt more invincible being in front of him because I always knew what I had behind me, I knew I had a leader and, well, a mouth!

Everybody knows I'm not someone who shouts much on the field, as a captain I was more of a one-to-one speaker and more one to talk at the right time.

Carra, though, did love a good shout. And I always felt better when he was behind me, I felt we had a better chance of success.

In terms of who shocked me about how good they were, Fernando Torres and Luis Suarez would be my two favourites. They would often have moments where you'd think 'wow, has he really just done that?'.

I used to love playing with Michael Owen because of his movement and, speaking as a midfielder, whenever he was playing in front of me then I knew I had a chance of an assist.

I was a massive fan of Robbie Fowler and he was my hero when I was trying to get into the team. I played with him more towards the end of his career – his best days were before I became a regular – but it was still an honour. As a midfielder, I do love a good striker.

Usually the best players are the ones who are good on a daily basis in training, the ones who are consistent.

Xabi Alonso was one such player, I knew after five minutes of his first training session that he was some player, just from his passing technique. You can tell after a few days' training who is going to make it.

So what other on-field partnerships did you enjoy?

I used to love playing with Peter Crouch at times. Crouchy set up some of my favourite goals, such as the one in the FA Cup final against West Ham. It was underestimated how much work he put into the team.

I felt I could have got the same sort of connection with Andy Carroll had he featured for us a bit longer, because I did like a striker where I can bang the ball in and maybe get a knockdown off.

There are always certain players you like to play with. You can count Dirk (Kuyt) among them. Everybody knew the job he did for the team. But he had quality and he just knew he'd be there to snatch a big goal. You look back at some of our best results and there was Dirk, popping up with the important goals.

You scored 186 goals for Liverpool, some more famous than others. But what were your best ones from a technical point of view?

Probably the last-minute one in the Cup final against West Ham and the Olympiakos goal. They were the two that when you hit them, you know you've hit them like a dream.

I remember both times hitting the ball and thinking 'yeah, this one has a chance'!

Another favourite was one at home against Middlesbrough from a long way out. Then there was a strike in Marseille where I cut across myself and curled one into the top corner.

I liked that one. I scored one similar to that at Goodison. So there's my best five.

You've spoken about assists. Do any in particular stick in the mind?

I remember one at Fulham in 2014. I hadn't played with Daniel Sturridge very long, and one thing I'd always try to do with new strikers is set them up for a goal as soon as I could, to give us both confidence.

Daniel had been with us about a year when we went to Craven Cottage. For his goal, there wasn't a lot of space between the defence and the goalkeeper, so I saw the gap and had to put a bit of check on it to make sure it didn't run off, also while hitting it with the outside of my foot.

In terms of natural ability, Sturridge is up there with the rest of them. He's so sharp and can get his shot off, as we saw against Everton last week. I don't think sometimes he realises how good he is.

Another assist I enjoyed was the FA Cup final one for Djibril Cisse, partly because of the distance it travelled. If you get an assist over a long distance, it's always very satisfying.

There was also one for Torres against Newcastle when we won 3-0 in 2008, I was happy with that one.

What about a favourite penalty? You took a few in your time...

Probably the one against Arsenal in the Champions League quarter-final in 2008 at Anfield.

It was late on, they'd just got back to 2-2 to go ahead on away goals, and it was in front of the Kop.

That was pressure. I remember having to put that one quite high. I used to like to go low because I could get decent power in those.

Sometimes, though, you have to go for the distance away from the keeper, and I managed to stick that one in. That was a good moment.

Did you have a favourite away ground?

Goodison, without doubt. I used to love the atmosphere and the pitch was always great. I would thrive off the hatred and banter.

I loved watching Liverpool play there, and when I got the chance to do so I always wanted to make the most of it. We won a few there too, of course.

So you must have enjoyed beating Everton the most...

Them and Manchester United would always be in the top two. They are the ones I would be fearful of losing to. I would struggle to sleep on the night before those games, but when you won it was a great feeling.

You've mentioned fear a few times now.

Fear is something that has driven me throughout my career. The fear of missing out or the fear of losing. I suppose that goes hand in hand with the buzz of winning. You have those two extremes, and I'm someone who is aware of both.

What about your favourite manager at Liverpool? You worked under some big names.

They were all different, so that's always a difficult question for me to answer.

You can have good times under certain people. They may not be your favourite person, it's just when you're at the peak in your career, so my answer to that is always Rafa.

He always wanted to mould me into a type of player who was more tactically aware and the way he set up the team was perfect for me. With the people he put in the team that were around me, I always felt at my best. You can also add in the fact I was coming up to being 24 or 25 so was going into my peak years.

Tactically, of course, Rafa was also world class.

To be honest, I enjoyed playing for all the managers. Kenny was one of my heroes, and I loved the football we played under Brendan Rodgers.

I had good times personally under Roy Hodgson, and I felt I played well under him and it was a shame in some ways I couldn't work more with him.

Plus, of course, there's a special mention to Gerard Houllier, who gave me my first start and helped me so much on and off the pitch in those early days.

If you could have one wish, would you change anything?

The run-in to the 2013-14 season.

You're back being a fan again, at least for now. What have you made of watching Liverpool this season?

I have loved it. I have loved watching them. The exciting thing for me is not so much where they are in the league, or the late derby win, although I did enjoy that.

The positive thing is they should have won every single game they have played. Yes, they got some things wrong at Burnley and Bournemouth, and have dropped points elsewhere they shouldn't have.

But they've always looked like they should win. And that's the most exciting thing for me.

That tells me we are watching a top Liverpool team here.

Source: Liverpool Echo

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