Steven Gerrard Can Confound Critics with Stirring Display vs. Everton

Look at Steven Gerrard’s rather sluggish Liverpool performances of late and the realists may wonder whether he deserves a starting role against Everton at Anfield this Saturday. 

But this is the Merseyside derby, a fixture synonymous with Gerrard’s passion and extra bite—could this be the turning point in the Liverpool captain’s season, or at least a one-off positive spike in his form?

Poor form

Tim Ireland/Associated Press

There are no obvious incidents to point to in terms of Gerrard’s form since spring this year—his slip against Chelsea at the back end of last season has lazily been attributed to an inadequacy of Gerrard, rather than the reality that it was simply a slice of bad luck. 

When Liverpool had the momentum, when they went on their 11-match winning streak, Gerrard’s solitude in his deep-lying playmaker role was often distracted by the stunning attacking football happening ahead of him.

Nevertheless, Gerrard made a vital and important contribution to that title chase, both as a leader and key cog in the Reds’ relentless machine against Premier League opposition.

His form has soured somewhat, and performances have become unattractively flat. It’s at this point in an article on the 34-year-old that his age and Liverpool’s increase in games are mentioned, albeit increasingly predictably.

Against West Ham at Upton Park last Saturday, Gerrard was invariably vacant—not taking a stronghold of the Liverpool midfield or the game by the scruff of its neck when the visitors found themselves 2-0 down inside seven minutes.

WhoScored.com gave Gerrard a rating of 6.1, Liverpool’s worst-performing starter. His rating of 6.7 the previous week at home to Aston Villa wasn’t much better but by and large in line with a dire team performance.

The exhaustion of missing out so closely on the league title, followed by a dismal World Cup campaign as England skipper and all the criticism that came with it, could well be taking its toll on Gerrard. 

He seems to lack confidence in his ability, with nervous passes and less cohesion with his team-mates, particularly defensively.

The arguments for and against Gerrard’s almost guaranteed place in Liverpool’s team could go on forever—ultimately only to be tested by Brendan Rodgers’ faith in the midfielder or ruthlessness in man management. 

But if there’s one game on the fixture schedule that the script is set up for Gerrard to dominate, it’s Liverpool vs. Everton this weekend.

Mersey Beats 

Jon Super/Associated Press

Every Liverpool fan has in their mind an image of Gerrard and what he represents to the club.

Whether the fan is of the opinion that he should be dropped from the team or not, one recurring positive remains: Gerrard has been, is and always will be a beating heart of the football club. 

Enter Everton on derby day and Whiston-born Gerrard has an extra spark to his game. Growing up on football-mad Merseyside, Gerrard appears to have a innate desire to beat the team in blue, as quoted by David Maddock in the Daily Mirror as saying earlier this year:

"

It’s difficult to put into words that feeling you have. If you lose a big game at Anfield it hurts for a few days but you have to move on. 

But losing to Everton at Anfield – that hurts for a long time. It’s the complete opposite to winning at Goodison. Ask me one league game I would want to win at the beginning of the season and I would pick Goodison Park, followed closely by winning at Old Trafford.

So to lose against Everton on your own patch is the complete opposite to that. It’s a nightmare.

"

Gerrard was sent off against the Toffees in 1999, scored a thunderous goal and proceeded to taunt their fans in celebration in 2001, scored more goals in 2005 and received another red card in 2006—this time his second bookable offence was for a rash challenge on Kevin Kilbane.

More goals in 2011 were followed by a hat-trick in 2012, becoming the first player to score a derby treble since Ian Rush in 1982.

Gerrard’s performances have made many doubt recently, but this is the perfect game to set the record straight and prove the critics wrong. 

After all, the form book goes out of the window on derby day, doesn’t it?