The Unrequited Love of Steven Gerrard

Too bloody right Noel.  How can Stuart Pearce even think about putting Gerrard on after our big cup win & just before the important game against Arsenal.  Once again Stevie's loyalty borderlines as a patriot squadrant soldier who put's his own body aside for the good of his side, whether us or the England squad.  But yet you know his own passion for the game kills him inside if he can't provide his best game for his team mates when it's supposed to count due to exhuastion.  But yet he has no say on his human limits as he's being pushed again, and yet over a friendly that means pants!  I am proud of Stevie to step up to the plate as always & put his country before himself, I can relate in a different way, but not nice to see people take advantage of this when from someone in power for their own motives.

Anyways, keep on bleeding that lovely bright red Gerrard!!!  

I remember when Houllier took the captaincy off Hyypia. Whatever it was that happened, it made him. A much better player. It made him into the player we all remember and pine for. Prior to that he'd been going downhill.

For a while now, I've been hoping that Rafa/Kenny would take the armband off Gerrard and hopefully free him up to play some football without having to worry about what's happening behind the scenes for all the rest of the squad.

This seems like a start...

As a random aside - the cross Kuyt put in for Huntelaar to score the 2nd goal was as good as anything not off stevie's foot for us this season. 

Awesome post as per usual. Funny thing...in the haze of the Yanks win over Italy last night (USA! USA!), I decided to replay my recording of the USA v England game during the last WC. It'd completely slipped my mind that Stevie was named captain and made the incisive run and finish to tuck the first goal away. Just had me shaking my head at the FA/Pearce could be so addle-minded as to think that he didn't deserve a run out with the arm band in this one. Then again, their thinking somehow justified playing a 31 year old just three days after said player logged 120+ minutes in a cup final. The FA is the bane of my existence and the source of ulcers from Merseyside to Los Angeles. Is this what it's like to be a Reds fan? I'm glad I signed up. FUCK YOU FA!

Oh - and if anyone needed another reason to hate everything: 
http://soccernet.espn.go.com/n...

didn't get to the bottom of the comments threads to see that someone else already brought this up. my bad. fuck all. 

At least going to see Mr. Yorke croon sweet nothings tonight. Thank god, b/c I've been walking around twitching in anticipation of saturday morning. 

I haven't been able to finish reading the post because I'm so angry and upset. Stevie, you're not fucking superman, mate. So the central midfield for Saturday: Spearing, Adam, Henderson: I will now smash my fist through the window pane next to my desk and then rub my wrist against the jagged edges. 

if we go 3 man mid against arsenal, ill take those three vs. song/ramsey/rosicky or whatever the fuck arsenal be playin these days.  spearing loves showing up against the goons, hendo has demonstrated a high comfort level as a two-way piece of a mid 3, and it opens it up for adam do what he does best - nothing defensive whatsoever.

True - and we definitely still can win, but I am nervous as all hell. Would like a 4-5-1.

In fairness to Stuart Pearce, he may well have been told by the FA to do his best to put out as strong a side as possible - you have to remember than in a corrupt institution like the FA the manager is far from the ultimate boss when it comes to deciding the teamsheet etc. 
Although in fairness as an Englishman I'm a little more sympathetic to him because he surprised most of us in encouraging England to play nice, short passing possession football and getting angry whenever the ball was hoofed forward, and generally got a decent game out of England last night, with players genuinely looking up for the match and determined to recover the 2 goal deficit, which they did (albeit briefly). He has the right ideas  and his team selection was almost certainly a case of the FA saying "we don't care how meaningless this game is, we want to win." I think he'd have appreciated circumstances if left to his own devices and kept Gerrard on the bench. He could well have been intending to take him off at half time - in general I think it is unfair to lay the blame solely at his feet. 

After the Suarez stich up this is just another reason to hope that England and the FA get absolutely humiliated at the Euro's.
 
Other thoughts:
 
1. We need to buy a replacement for Gerrard this summer. That's not to mean that I want to get rid of captain fantastic, but we have to realise that injuries and time are catching up with Gerrard and we need to be less reliant on him. Gerrard may well become an under 30 games a season player just to prolong his career. We can't afford to rely on Adam for the other 30 odd games a season which Gerrard's injuries will stop him playing in.
 
2. Henderson can't get near a mediocre England team, yet Kuyt starts 9/10 times for a far superior Netherlands team? Kuyt has been a great servant for Liverpool whethers Henderson has been either steady/quiet/liability throughout the season. Yet Henderson nearly always starts ahead of Kuyt for Liverpool? - something is not right there. You could use the same argument for Carroll/Kuyt.
 
3. In what sort of wierd reality would anyone be happy replacing a managerial giant like Capello with a window licker like Pearce or a mildly retarted joke like old Arry? Seriously, this is almost as bad as replacing Rafa with old itchy! The England team will be a delightful comedy for their three games this summer. I just hope that as many liverpool players as possible avoid been picked for that shambles.
 
4. No Agger, Gerrard or Lucas for the visit of Arsenal/Robin Van Persie FC gulp! 

To your second point, because of his age, Henderson is still on the Under 21 team - where he is actually CAPTAIN.  No doubt he'll make the senior squad before 2014.

What irritates me most is how people who aren't Liverpool fans, seem to have no respect for Stevie G when he probably is one of the few players on the English team that puts in 110% every single time and is definitely one of the best players on the team. Stuart Pearce should be thanking his lucky stars that Gerrard still wants to play on the national team let alone giving him the captaincy, not passing it over to someone who doesn't even captain the club he's part of AND has only 10 caps for his country.  The fact that he didn't give Stevie G the captaincy isn't what makes me want to rage quit its how little respect people seem to have for him.

Sorry this is a rant that doesn't seem to have much direction I'm just so full of boiling under the surface rage that Gerrard is now injured in a situation where he was disadvantaged in every way. RAGE QUIT

Great stuff Noel. I've been saying for years that it disturbed me to no end that Stevie, as a proud Scouser, put Club England before LFC. Of course, one can't fault the guy for his honesty or patriotism but I always wished he had Carra's attitude that Liverpool Football Club came first. That's just me being selfish. 

It's important not to just demonise Psycho Pearce with his clipboard, side-parting, hot-pants shorts and Bulldog spirit as the man who wrecked our top 4 chances. Stevie WANTED to play, even in the wake of the captaincy going to Parker and 120 draining minutes taking their toll on his legs. He WANTED to put on the 3 lions at Wembley. He ALWAYS will want to do that. 

No Scholesian retirement beckons for Stevie. As long as he's picked, he'll play. That may occur less and less. I really believe he needs to adapt in a radical way as a player. To see him trying to force it on Sunday with pot-shots from everywhere and simultaneously go AWOL from the defensive duties that are a necessity in our current system.....well, it wasn't pretty. 

Gerrard is the most outrageously gifted English footballer of his generation but many of those gifts are based on a remarkable physicality. As that prowess wanes, Stevie must adapt. Rafa had a theory that he could extend his career by playing as a withdrawn striker. I would prefer that to the sight of him trying to be Claude Makalele minus the defensive nous. He's NEVER been that type of player. I can only remember a handful of disciplined holding performances from our no. 8. 

It's not a situation anybody wants but we've won without Gerrard on many big occasions in the past. However, at least then there was a Xabi or a Masch or a Lucas to keep the ship afloat. Big ask on Saturday for WeeJay and Chaz. I REALLY hope Hendo starts in the centre...

We'll do ok against Arsenal.  Mainly because it's against Arsenal and the boys tend to be up for the big games.

I remember just a few seasons ago when everyone said we were a "two-man team", and both men were injured, we'd still do fine in the big matches.  Most of the time.

It's a big ask of course.  Someone to hound RVP the whole game.  Jose's gonna need some extra protection against Walcott.  And it sounds like a game made for Carroll up front.  Suarez making a nuisance of himself in and around the box, as he always does.  I can see a possible penalty there.  Pack the midfield and play tight on this one.  Not gonna outflank Wenger.  Frustrate them, contain their attack, hit em on the break or push for a goal against the run of play just after the restart.  Watch all their negative memories of this season come back to haunt them.     

You can't blame the guy for wanting to play for his country.  It's a footballer's highest honor (technically).  

But you can blame the country's FA and caretaker manager for being a twat.

true red2death...it is an honor to play for country and friendlies are typically the most boring games to watch as the players realize it is just a friendly. being from america i was happy to see clint play and SCORE against the azzurri for our first win in like forever for against the blues.  clint played for fulham this weekend as well and i propose that if liverpool we're actually in the CL such as the arse was, then you'd be expecting a hell of alot more matches from steven.  too bad his fitness is a prob but i agree that we'll do fine against the arse (draw most likely).

Did any of you guys hear about the Pepe Reina racist/homophobic commercial thing? It was so stupid, how anyone could even consider that even remotely racist/homophobic is beyond me.

just watched on utube...if anything the commercial is corny and not even worthy of sophmoric humor.  similar to any given commercial you may see on telemundo.  

 Actually, the first thing I thought when I saw that commercial last month was "Yikes, this is racist, and if this gets picked up outside of Spain people are going to have a field day"... which is now what's happened. Other fan reaction I've seen is lamenting about how our team gets "picked on", but as far as I'm aware no one is forcing Reina to be in inexplicably racist insurance commercials. I don't doubt that the press salivate over Yet Another Liverpool-related Gaffe but it would be nice if our players could not make boneheaded choices that put the club in this kind of position in the first place.

 Before throwing the race card around at the blink of an eye, don't you understand that Pepe is lampooning himself.

The advert does not stereotype black people to be "backward, stupid and
animalistic homosexuals" at all, it's simply playing on the fact that
his name means "queen" in Spanish. That's the whole point of the ad. People really need to lighten up and stop using racism as an excuse to promote whatever group they are affiliated with. They are the ones that are making race relations even worse. Life is too short.

The Reina/reina joke in and of itself is not terribly funny, but there are probably at least a thousand other ways to make a joke involving a play on words that does not inexplicably require bringing in a group of indigenous people as the punchline. Hell, Spain has a monarchy; surely they have lots of queen-related humour ready to go at a moment's notice.

Or maybe perhaps Spain is a more relaxed country where people do not have a desperate urge to find 'offence' or an 'ism' in every single comment, advert etc?
 
The advert was in Spain for mainly Spanish consumption and as far as i'm aware no offence was intended or caused.
 
My girlfriend is from South Africa and her job takes her all over the world. Her comments on the recent media/FA led clusterfuck about racism are as follows:
 
1. If you want to know what real racism is and was visit South Africa.
 
2. The rest of the world is a 33.3% perplexed 33.3% laughing and 33.3% angry at the irony, self righteousness, xenophobia and myopic viewpoint that England takes towards racism.
 
3. Perhaps the English FA and press might like to discuss Stanley Rous when they talk about racism.

"Or maybe perhaps Spain is a more relaxed country where people do not
have a desperate urge to find 'offence' or an 'ism' in every single
comment, advert etc?"

Or Spain is more openly racist / less likely to punish racism than other countries.

Sorry can't agree with you here. What the current racism witch hunt in England reminds me of is the old prove you are not a communist witch hunt that went on in the USA after the second World War. Perhaps going back further in history the FA trial of Suarez was like the old witch trials. If he isn't racist he will drown and if he is then he will float and have to be hung!
 
The typical English holier than thou attitude that has been is displayed is frankly myopic and a form of discrimination in itself.
 
The problem with stuffed shirts, the media and frankly the majority of us discussing racism is that we have no idea what racism really is. Be brought up in a country where you must be silent, obey your master, and if you are invisible enough you 'may' avoid a beating. Be brought up in a segregated community. Be brought up in an area where the police are to be avoided at all costs. If we had personal experience of that then we could understand racism a lot better.
 
The only way racism can ever be defeated is through a process of education and understanding. Perhaps if and when this has been done then England can look at the blatant and far more widespread problem of xenophobia that exists in this country?

I agree absolutely with your last two paragraphs, but I think for very different reasons than what you're positing.

To be honest, I didn't it was racist at all.  They're just picking on racism because it happens to be the hot topic right now.

I mean, if the head of the Jungle Tribe Association came forward and complained that it depicts them in a bad light, I'd completely agree.  He could say that people who choose to live in the jungle (irrespective of race) are certainly not all stupid and animalistic and homosexual.  They just have their own culture and choose to live apart from the rest of society.  And he would have a strong case.  But the media making a big deal of it just because the skin color chosen for the actors happened to be dark?  It wasn't about race and they know it.  

I'm not taking racism lightly at all.  But really, Reina or any of the players shouldn't let this affect them one bit.  The media can make a story out of anything - heck, they're professionals, that's what they're paid to do.  Just ignore it and let them run their side story to sell a few more papers.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...

 " if the head of the Jungle Tribe Association came forward and complained
that it depicts them in a bad light, I'd completely agree.  "

Whether or not something is racist is not dependent upon whether or not the victim decides to speak up and say something. (Victims of many -isms are often unlikely to speak up on account of the kind of treatment they're likely to receive if they do.)

"But the media making a big deal of it just because the skin color chosen for the actors happened to be dark?"

I suspect they're making a big deal of it because it draws heavily on the kinds of racist tropes and imagery used for hundreds of years to debase indigenous cultures (in the media, in popular culture, and in real life). It's not just the skin colour, it's the whole package of how a people is depicted in this commercial.

You know what victims of "-isms" are most likely concerned with?  Differences in wealth/income.  Differences in access to education, health care, equal opportunities.  Inequitable protection under the law/persecution by the law. etc etc etc  I've found that concerns over "tropes and imagery" tend to be things that concern college educated white people who have never actually experienced discrimination in their lives more than they concern actual minorities.  

As I'm sure you learned in your cultural studies courses, every representation is a lie - all of the bad ones, and especially all of the good ones.

I agree with you 100%, actually, but since there seemed to be confusion over whether or not the commercial was racist, I wagered that discussion about how institutional racism manifests itself in all the differences you mentioned above would not have been the place to start in trying to illustrate why the commercial is racist.

My point is that this is the kind of racism that white intellectuals get themselves worked up over.  On a scale of "not racist" to "lynching", this ad would barely register a blip for true victims of racism - in fact, it's almost insulting that THIS is what offends us and shocks us into moral outrage - whereas daily struggles to find employment and decent housing pass without comment.  And had it not been for the recent Suarez/Evra events and the media's desire to brand everyone associated with LFC as racist, this ad would not have registered with the media either.

A mate of mine from Jamaica (not Barnsey!) recently said the following to me (bit tongue in cheek).
 
Us black guys are so relieved that the 99% white FA and the 99% white English Media are protecting us and making us feel safe, by telling us what we find offensive!
 
You had to be there really to catch the sarcasm, but it did make me laugh!  

Elizabeth, I don't want to argue the merits of some piece of crap commercial with an erudite Red like yourself, so I won't. The ad is what it is. Gormless and patently open to interpretation as racist. My reaction was EXACTLY the same as yours, with a little "how is this ok?" on the side.

However this same piece of crap commercial is NOT Pepe Reina's creation or responsibility. For the media to hammer him (or even more ludicrously, LFC) would be akin to a hate campaign by Christians against Willem Dafoe for an unsympathetic portrayal of Jesus in Scorcese's film. 

As to it being a "bone-headed choice" by our 25, well, no argument there. Would have liked to see how the director sold it to him....

The perception of many LFC fans that the media is VERY anxious to hammer the club is, however, sadly accurate. Of course, there are mindless idiots whinging about LFC and conspiracies but the stereotype of paranoid,  whining Scousers is an equally offensive slur that's been spread by that same media. This is not up for debate. It's a fact.

Well, that period of calm lasted a long time, didn't it..?!

I think the problem is that people are conflating two separate issues, though: is this racist and are the press unfair to Liverpool. Both can be true. (Both ARE true.) I agree completely that LFC should not have to be help accountable for something a player does that is not associated with the club in anyway (i.e. didn't happen while on club duty in any capacity). But the point is that it's not an unknown fact that the club is under a great amount of scrutiny this season for race-related reasons, so why give the press more fodder against us? I expect the leaders of our team to have a tiny bit more foresight and perspective on these things (which is clearly expecting a lot, although I feel like Stevie would never do something this stupid).

Nope Stevie would never be daft enough to do something like get involved in a bar punch up during troubled times for Liverpool.......... I jest of course, and Stevie was found 100% innocent.
 
I'm not sure of the time frame but it wouldn't suprise me if this advert was made before the Suarez witch hunt had even started. 
 
Is the advert racist? really? I guess there are two ways to look at it.
 
1. Agree with the English media that it's racist and another example of racism from Liverpool. Also another example of those nasty Spanish racists.
 
2. Think for yourself. Has it generated any furore in Spain? Answer is no. The reason the answer is no is because that country's press is not hell bent in trying to find and sensationalise racism in any nook or cranny. Despite what the English media will tell you, I have never seen any evidence (and I have spent 7 years of my life in Spain) to show that Spain has any more or any less problems with racism than England does.
 
Personally I like to form my own opinion so I am going with option 2.
 
Frankly the vast majority of us would never have seen the advert if it wasn't for the Luis Suarez incident. Allowing the press to be moral guardians is a very dangerous thing to do. Look at how they filled that role with regards to banker bonuses and Politician expenses whilst in the background they were tapping phones, taking advantage of grieving parents etc.

I'm disappointed that you think people can't think for themselves and still come to the same conclusion as the English press that this is racist. As I mentioned somewhere else, I saw this ad several weeks ago before the press "discovered" it and found it racist at the time, and still do now that the commercial is migh higher profile. Obviously you do not.

I think you and I have exceedingly different definitions of what constitutes racism, so I will leave it at that as this post has probably been derailed enough.

Yes perhaps we should agree to disagree on this one! For the record although the humour is not really to my particular taste, I do not think that it is racist or more importantly intended to be racist.
 
I would agree that people have varying views on what is racist and on the definition of racism itself. I remember an interview which Morgan Freeman did once where he was saying that the best way to tackle racism was in essence to ignore it. I wasn't really sure that I agreed with him on that (and still don't) but it was certainly a different perspective.  
 
With regards to the press. Obviously not everybody is led by the press, but I would argue the majority are even if it's a case of deciding what the issue is rather than people's opinions are on it. I maintain that if there wasn't a big racism agenda in the news then this advert would not have even been mentioned.
 
Surely it is an amazing coincidence that two high profile footballers were accused of racism within a week of each other (Suarez and Terry). Either this was an amazing coincidence, or previous claims were swept under the carpet or it is the result of a media/FA stirred up agenda.
 
Make no mistake that in particular the Murdoch media is looking for any and every possible way to continue the 'debate' on racism. If there is a way to link it with Liverpool then so much the better.
 
Nothing sells paper like scandal and never, ever doubt the presses ability to create and manufacture scandals, and to lie, cheat and steal to continue to influence people. Hillsborough is for most Liverpool fans the clearest and most tragic example of this, but there has been millions of others.
 
Anyway you are correct, we should get back to chatting about football!   :o)

ok that willem dafoe reference is so on point that i am beyond impressed right now

It's such horseshit man. No wonder Scousers are caricatured as moany. There's been good reason to hate the press. It's not paranoia when they really are out to get you!

Yes i did, I want to know how the moralistic press and FA allow Stuart Pearce to be England boss if he is 'racist'...................go and square that circle if you can???

Well, when Mr Brown, chief exec of the Bedfordshire FA was found to be distributing racist material from his work email, he was not only NOT sacked, his employment was actually extended beyond his original end date.

Pierce the great indicated very strongly  Stevie G did not give the players good vibes like Parker - I am Welsh - PIERCE FOR ENLGAND PLEASE

It's Pearce, you moron!

Is Stuart Pearce really worth wasting a "moron" over? I dare say not.

Peach of a post, Noel.

I wasn't unhappy that he was passed up for the captaincy, even though I felt a little sorry for him because he did publicly state that he'd have liked it. 

I was rather relieved he did not get the armband because I thought he wouldn't be needed to participate in this meaningless fund-raising game for the FA that screwed us, especially after that energy-sapping 120 minute turnout in the final. 

What did I know? Pearce had to start him, with him not being the captain of course and then having to take him off for precautionary measures. I mean, shouldn't precautionary measures have been taken before the game even started because he should have never even started that game after such an exertion? 

I'm not English and this is just another reason for me not to have any kind of interest in the ENG national team because they're just one big media circus; fun to look at for awhile but it's shite when it gets repetitive. 

Surely he must quit England now, they are taking the piss out of him!!!