A different man...

[Chili Palmer]

What a difference a year makes! Stevie G is certainly growing into the man and captain that we all thought he would become when he first broke into the team. I for one believed that all the comments he was coming out with last season about wanting to play in a successful team and wanting to challange for the league were building up excuses for the summer move to chelsea. I thought he turned his back on the club that he supported and the fans that supported him. I thought the sulky expressions on and off the pitch were ones of embarrassment because he knew that we knew he was betraying us. I was wrong. I am sorry.

 

Seeing him being interviewed before the match last night he looked younger, fitter and happier than I have ever seen him, when he scored the goal that was genuine happiness on his face as he raced to celebrate with the fans, many of whom would of felt like me a year ago.

 

I know many forgave him the minute he said he was staying, I didn't, I wanted to see how he performed on the pitch, what his comments were about his team mates, formations, Rafa etc, but I have to say that I was wrong to doubt him, he has done everthing right.

 

The real Stevie G ( after a years break) has stood up.

[Leo No.8]

Personally I don't think you have anything to apologise for - I think you were right to doubt Gerrard. It was with very good reason many of us felt he'd betrayed us last summer and the summer before. He did lose my trust, and that of many other reds I know.

 

However since then Stevie has turned things round completely, and is now seeing for himself what we were all begging him to see then; that he can fulfill all his ambitions, achieve all his goals and dreams right here with us, his club and his people.

 

At the time, after the initial shock of hearing he'd consider a move, my feelings were 'Rafa Benitez's Liverpool will be a great force to be reckoned with or without you Steven - more fool you for leaving now when things are about to change for the better'.

 

He didn't, and now there is a spring in his step making him even better than he was before. Gerrard is playing with the same joy as someone like Ronaldinho, with the same thirst for the game, and a big part of that is he knows he has made the right decision and is where he belongs.

 

He has always been an incredible talent and a phenomenal athlete, but he has matured as a player, and adding that to the passion he has rediscovered he is without a doubt better than ever.

 

It is an absolute pleasure to watch Steven Gerrard captain Liverpool now - he is once again our infallible, untouchable, inspirational leader.

[Swan Red]

I think a lot of people should be ashamed of the way they spoke of our captain. I think that those people now who said they would never feel the same about him should consider what they said at the time in light of his performances for us now.

 

We don't know what was going on in his head, we don't know why he considered the move to Chelsea, what his precise motivations were and what kept him here.

 

Yet every f***** had an opinion and opinon that in the end came to f*** all

[nd]

I doubted him, and don't feel bad for doing so - he deserved it. But he is shoving those doubts back down my throat now, and then some. He has been a phenomenal player this season so far, and a credit to the shirt.

[Swan Red]

What he deserved is for us to have waited till he made the decision irreversible before hanging him for it

[matty]

What he deserved is for us to have waited till he made the decision irreversible before hanging him for it

1130457[/snapback]

 

he's made seemingly irreversible decisions a number of times now, though. I don't blame people for what they said back in July. Gerrard's irreversible isn't everyone's elses!

[Swan Red]

seemingly they weren't though ergo every other f***** was wrong

[Bootle Buck]

Personally I have erased the last two summers of Gerrard's Indecision from my brain. To me he is our swashbuckling, marauding Captain, who at the moment I wouldn't swap for anybody in football. The fans love him, he loves the club and the players respect him.

 

What more could you ask for.

[Guest AdamS]

The reason I said anything negative about Steven Gerrard was because I was gutted to lose him. Now, he is more "with us" than ever before. I am happy for him and even happier for me.

 

I wouldn't swap him for any player in the world.

[diaspora]

When the talk last summer was about him going I remember a post where it was said that Franco Baresi had a similar decision to make. He stayed with Milan and they went on to win all those trophies that they said he wouldn't if he stayed.

The same is about to happen with Stevie, once we have the premiership then its a clean sweep with his home town club, The form he is in at present and the form of the rest of the team shows that he will go down in football along with Baresi as one of the all time greats and one who did it with the one club

[Pam]

i wasn't impressed with how be behaved in the last two summers or with some of his comments during last season about how we would perform in Europe without him which were disrespectful to his team mates. I think all Liverpool fans were justified in taking exception to how close he was to leaving us and being a little wary that this new u turn was not just a prelude to another season of media led distraction.

 

However I think his form this season and his obviously genuine love for the club and joy to play for us and with his team mates has more than made up for it. He is playing like a man who knows he has made the right choice.