Ian Ridley: Steven Gerrard must stick or twist at Liverpool as Rafa Benitez wavers on the brink

16 January 2010 22:18
The debate is finally raging around Rafael Benitez, histeam-building and tactics, as Liverpool fans have been forced byresults to divert their disgust from warring owners to a flounderingmanager.  Should he stay or should he go?[LNB]What, though, of Steven Gerrard? Could it be T for the Talisman T, that is, for Time? [LNB]In recent years, Gerrard seems to have given the same interview overand over, backing Benitez and urging, if indirectly, Tom Hicks andGeorge Gillett to sanction reinforcements of quality if Liverpool areto satisfy Anfield's craving for winning the Premier League.[LNB]And if nothing changed? The captain would have to reconsider hisfuture. Now, with a World Cup this summer and probably at most two moreyears at the top of his game, Gerrard has decisions to make as his 30thbirthday approaches. After the groin strain of the autumn came anotherinjury in that midweek, debate-stoking FA Cup defeat by Reading. [LNB]Smoke and mirrors: A hamstring strain or just back pain from carrying his team and club?[LNB]This, though, looked less like the hamstring strain officially citedbut instead back pain from carrying the team, as well as the woes ofthe club.[LNB]Gerrard may only rarely have been at his prime this season but hestill looks a cut above the offal around him. At Portsmouth, forexample, as Liverpool slumped to an inept 2-0 defeat, he grew morefrustrated, was forced ever deeper, the game passing him by as he gazedon a host of inadequate team-mates. [LNB]'Can you remember him looking as sad and as bad as this?' someone wondered.[LNB]Actually, yes. It happened as Liverpool also lost 2-0 on the SouthCoast, at Southampton in January 2005. It was Benitez's first season,at the end of which Liverpool finished fifth but won that astonishingChampions League final against AC Milan to earn the manager the gracehe has largely enjoyed. [LNB]   More from Ian Ridley, Mail on Sunday Sports Reporter... IAN RIDLEY: After Togo shooting, let players decide if they go to World Cup09/01/10 IAN RIDLEY: Smarten up, Carlo, or risk becoming a fashion victim02/01/10 Ian Ridley: Protect Lionel Messi and he could become greater than Pele and Diego Maradona26/12/09 IAN RIDLEY: Don't blame Wolves manager Mick McCarthy, greedy Premier League are the problem 19/12/09 IAN RIDLEY: Why salary cap would stop Premier League ship from sinking12/12/09 IAN RIDLEY: Don't believe the hype as Fabio Capello's England could still make a mess of it all in South Africa next summer05/12/09 EXCLUSIVE: England's 2018 World Cup bid team want Frenchman Wenger21/11/09 Arsene Wenger is the right kind of hero in England's hour of need21/11/09 VIEW FULL ARCHIVEUntil lately. That victory also convinced Gerrard after clearlyhaving his doubts that midwinter that he had been right to turn downa £30million move to Jose Mourinho's Chelsea the previous summer. Since Istanbul, however, apart from an FA Cup in 2006,Gerrard must have spent many nights wondering anew. And as he nursesinjury and the insult to his pride over the next few weeks, you suspecthe will do so again. [LNB]Much has been made of Fernando Torres going if Liverpool fail tosecure Champions League qualification but Gerrard is in a similarposition. Would it spoil his one-love career to leave the club of his birth and heart? Can Liverpool compete again for the title, under either Benitez or a new man, in the time left to him? [LNB]If not, does he remain a local hero or try elsewhere to become a national champion? Would the fans understand? [LNB]Gerrard may well want to live around Merseyside for the rest of his life, after all. [LNB]'I want to be winning things with Liverpool, not somewhere else,' he has said many times in interviews of the sort he may be giving again some time soon if the club and Gerrard himself cannot reassert their status. The difference now, compared with those six years ago when Gerrard spurned Chelsea, is that the footballer's big Three-O arrives in May. [LNB]The advent of 33-year-old Patrick Vieira at Manchester City, quite possibly to show us how age wearies a driving midfield player, will only highlight for Gerrard the enemy that is time.[LNB]In the wings waits Mourinho again. The Internazionale manager still admires Gerrard and would like to take him to Milan. Perhaps, though, Mohammed might be coming to the mountain that is Anfield should matters worsen for Benitez and the Portuguese be too impatient to hang on in the hope of getting the Manchester United job when Sir Alex Ferguson retires.[LNB]For Gerrard, there could over the next few months be more of that past agonising. Too old now to change, or in need of a new challenge? To stick or to twist?[LNB] [LNB]It has been a miserable FA Cup third round except for the likes of Leeds and Reading with attendances low and revenue limited at this terrible time for clubs' cash flow. [LNB]The grand old competition needs a lift, and offering a Champions League place to the winners is one way, if the Premier League agree or UEFA accept it, both of which are unlikely should a Championship club win the Cup. [LNB]But one instant improvement to boost gates and atmospheres might also be for the Football Association to re-examine ticket pricing to allow clubs more flexibility to offer deals.[LNB] [LNB]  

Source: Daily_Mail