Source: Telegraph
Onus rests on Steven Gerrard in Liverpool's quest for title
On spotting the team coach, fans leant out of car windows, giving thumbs up, waving flags, shouting messages of eternal gratitude. [LNB]But if Liverpool slip up against Aston Villa on Sunday, failing to exploit the gift of the champions' loss to Fulham on Saturday, they will feel like they have turned off the M62 on to the road to nowhere, giving United the directions back to coronation street. [LNB] Related ArticlesTalking tactics: Aston Villa v Liverpool[LNB]Gerrard commits to Liverpool[LNB]Liverpool must keep United momentum[LNB]Gerrard escapes assault charge[LNB]Premier League team news[LNB]Quotes of the week[LNB]Thrown a life-line, Rafa Benitez's side must clutch it confidently. They know how much the league means to Kopites. During team meetings at Melwood, players need glance only at a quote from Johan Cruyff emblazoned across one wall to appreciate the passion. [LNB]"Liverpool fans sent shivers down my spine,'' observed the Dutch legend, recalling a visit to Anfield. "A mass of 40,000 people became one force behind the team. There's not one club in the world with an anthem like You'll Never Walk Alone. There's not one club in the world so united with the fans.'' [LNB]There's not one player so embedded in the hearts of Liverpool fans as their captain, Steven Gerrard, the man who knows he must not surrender the slim chance of the title by faltering against his long-standing friend, Villa's Gareth Barry. Gerrard stood on the Kop when Alan Hansen hoisted up the old Football League trophy in 1990. He "hurts'' to watch Ryan Giggs, Gary Neville or John Terry lift the gleaming Premier League version. [LNB]Frank Lampard boasts the Latin GCSE on his CV but his great rival, Gerrard, has carpe diem stamped on his playing record. From Istanbul to Old Trafford via Cardiff, Gerrard has a reputation for seizing the moment. Silverware, particularly the title, obsesses him as it does the Liverpool followers. [LNB]People rightly talk of Torres' special relationship with the Kop, highlighting the way fans chant "we're going to bounce in a minute'' before launching into their lively tribute to "Liverpool's No 9''. Observers understandably salute Jamie Carragher, pointing out how supporters famously "all dream of a team of Carraghers''. But it is Gerrard, the kid from the Kop living the dream, whose roots run deepest in the Liverpool community. [LNB]It will be Gerrard who delivers one of the main readings on the Kop on April 15 when Liverpool remember the 96 who perished at Hillsborough, including his cousin, Jon-Paul Gilhooley. Captain and supporter, the Liverpool shirt will always cling to Gerrard like a second skin. [LNB]Now is the moment in the race for the season's grand prizes when leaders truly come to the fore, driving teams on when bodies are tiring after the long haul from August, when the stakes are rising, when any mistake spells oblivion. Terry and Lampard galvanise Chelsea's dressing room. Ferdinand, Giggs and Neville remind their comrades of United's unendingly great expectations. Arsenal's dressing room is short of natural leaders but not shy of opinions. [LNB]Anfield will look to Gerrard over the obstacle-strewn finishing straight. Never the quickest to bestow praise, Benitez hails him and Torres as "fantastic players'' but the striker has an ankle problem, needing occasional painkillers, and his hamstrings are vulnerable as well. The onus rests on Gerrard. [LNB]Starting on Sunday. Used to blocking out poisonous chants this season, Gerrard will receive more abuse from Villa fans with long memories. Holte Enders have never forgotten a penalty-winning dive eight years ago nor forgiven a two-footed horror tackle on George Boateng that even drew rebukes from within his own dressing room, notably from that wise Scottish owl, Gary McAllister. [LNB]Ignoring the boos, Gerrard will seek to plot Villa's downfall, securing another three points. If the embers of Liverpool's title ambition still flicker in the grate, following the bellows applied so spectacularly in recent days, then the Champions League fire burns particularly strongly. Again Chelsea await, although this is one repeat ITV will not be criticised for screening. [LNB]With the dynamic Michael Essien distracting Gerrard, Liverpool will need all their European guile to outfox Chelsea. England's other representatives enjoyed far easier draws: Arsenal's strikers will relish renewing the acquaintance of the occasionally hapless Pascal Cygan, now at Villarreal. Granted a straightforward-looking quarter-final pairing with Porto, United fans are so confident of making the final in the Eternal City, let alone the semis, that even Rome flights out of airports like Bristol were being booked up by Stretford Enders within hours of Friday's draw. [LNB]The strong possibility of Premier League clubs filling three of the semi-final berths may have Uefa's president, Michel Platini, choking on his croissant but at least the football will be exciting, particularly if Barcelona outpass Bayern Munich in the quarters. [LNB]If the sporting Gods put their mischievous heads together and ordain a United-Liverpool final at the home of Italy's worst Ultras, the Carabinieri will probably need to borrow the Swiss Guards off the Pope to deal with security. However tense for the fans, the Olympic Stadium will offer so much to players. In a non-tournament year, showcase occasions like the Champions League final are when contenders for European Footballers of the Year put forward their cases. Gerrard, Liverpool's driving force, aims to be there. [LNB]
