[GocartMozart]

It took him a while, but i guess it makes sense considering he only has a second grade education.

ESPNsoccernet - England - Gerrard concedes title and puts focus on fourth

Gerrard concedes title and puts focus on fourth

Steven Gerrard has told team-mates and fans to forget about winning the Barclays Premier League title and concentrate on finishing fourth.


Liverpool had to settle for a point against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Sunday in a disappointing goalless draw.

Liverpool's failure to turn their first-half dominance into goals meant they failed to overcome the Blues but Gerrard admitted the focus must now shift away from the title for another year.

The Reds are 16 points behind leaders Arsenal and Gerrard said: 'We realise now that we're facing a big challenge to finish in the top four and we've got to forget about the title and focus on fighting for fourth place.

'There are a lot of teams around us who are in good form and playing well so it's important that we don't let our standards drop.

'Chelsea was definitely a big improvement on how we've played of late. We looked more solid defensively and I thought we were the better side over the 90 minutes and if anyone was going to win it was us.

'Certain players who have had a bit of criticism of late performed really well and I think it was a good team performance against a side that have been playing very well lately.

'There are definitely a lot of positives to take out of this game. We controlled the majority of this game and it felt as if we could have snatched it.'

Manchester City, Everton and Aston Villa all picked up three points over the weekend that meant Liverpool lost further ground in the race for fourth place.

But the Liverpool captain was more than happy with the performance apart from the cutting edge in attack.

He said: 'When we do go to those places we've got to perform like we did yesterday and maybe an extra five or 10% could see us nick a win.

'I just thought we lacked that cutting edge in the final third but I can't fault many other things because it was a good performance.

'I don't think you could fault any player. A couple of days before the game I said you need every player performing close to the maximum and I think we got that.'

England striker Peter Crouch, who missed a gilt-edged first-half chance to give Liverpool the lead against Chelsea, admitted they should have scored for the first time at Stamford Bridge under Rafael Benitez's reign.

Crouch said: 'A couple of half-chances came my way, and maybe the one on my left foot could have been better. If I hit the target then I think it would have gone in.

'It was a good battle. We matched them and in the end we were the better side.

'We are still a way behind at the top, but we proved today that we'll keep going until the end.'

Former England defender Jamie Carragher was also impressive at the centre of Liverpool's defence but he echoed Gerrard's view that the title race was over for another season.

He said: 'We shaded the game and maybe could have nicked it, so I'm a little disappointed because we had a couple of chances.

'Realistically we're out of the title race now. Arsenal and Manchester United have set the pace and we now have to show respect to Aston Villa and Manchester City because we are in a right battle to get fourth place with them.'

[Torque]

LOL. They should have thought about playing better earlier. Too late.
Just can't believe that the captain of a team that was fighting for the first place could say that. Can't believe that it's the captain of an English team. They don't deserve to win the title for the next 10 years if they give up so easily.

[Mark]

Well they can't win the title until they really start to put up a serious challenge, and finish at least top3 if not runners up. But they are always just too far from early january )
About Gerrard, he is a sportsman, I'm not sure that education has that much of an importance on the pitch. Outside, ofc, although he never striked me as an uneducated or dumb person.

[GocartMozart]

i was being facetious about Steven Gerrard's level of education. I'm sure he has at least battled, scraped and bribed enough people to get through 6th grade at least.

[randy420]

Hmm I guess this actually WASN'T there year. Ah well Stevie la, maybe next year yea?