When Stevie G\’s good, he’s fabulous.
Gerrard 3 Everton O was a memorable one-man show last night.
What makes a top gladiator special?
I think a top gladiator is someone who maximises his natural talents for ten years because he realises that\’s what he was put on this earth to do.
The most accomplished are tall and handsome and charismatic and have so much power and class that they make their goals look inevitable. You have confidence in their decisive thrusts. The more you watch them, the more you expect them to score.
I\’m thinking Marco van Basten, Dennis Bergkamp, Cristiano Ronaldo.
And that\’s what Stevie G was like at Anfield last night in his 400th Premier League game as he scored his 87th and 88th and 89th goals for his only club in front of a rocking crowd of 44,921.
Liverpool\’s biggest win over Everton for nine years gave the Kop a night to remember.
It looked as if Everton picked a side that had never played togther and they\’ll have to do a lot better than this in Saturday\’s FA Cup tie against Sunderland.
After 34 minutes, Liverpool produced a slick move and when Suarez found right back Kelly, his shot was parried by Tim Howard, who recovered to clear with his foot to the edge of the penalty area and the magnetic Gerrard pounced on the loose ball sidefooted it up and over the covering Jagielka.
Reds 1 Blues 0.
Luis Suarez led the line with fiery invention and in 50 minutes he twisted past Distin and Jagielka before allowing Gerrard to smash in for 2-0.
In 95, when sub Drenthe slipped in Liverpool\’s half, Stevie exploded forward like a big red arrow, zooming down his pitch in giant strides, and found Suarez, who beat the towering Distin with ease to set up that big left boot for 3-0.
What a magnificent athletic effort for 95 minutes!
Most of the most exciting footballers are great athletes and at such moments it seems as if Stevie G the action-hero has always been there, always wearing a red shirt with No.8, always wearing the armband, always looking the same, his hair somehow always exactly the same. His arms and neck not disfigured by ugly tattoos like the ghastly Beckham.
On such nights, I always recall what Michael Owen said about Steven : “I\’ve played with him since we were eight and he’s always been bigger, stronger and faster than anyone else.”
Stevie, the modest old-school head boy, said, “Luis Suarez put two on a plate for me.”