by stmichael » Tue Mar 28, 2006 3:11 pm
despite the marked improvement of kewell, the ever superb carragher and finnan, and the emergence of reina and sisssoko, for me it has to be our talismanic captain, who for me, has had his best season since the 2003/2004 season when he virtually singlehandedly got the team into the champions league.
i've seen a marked improvement in him as a player and as a captain this season (i'll put saturday's blunder down to a rush of blood). i've openly criticised him in the past for poor discipline (both tactically and physically), poor body language and going missing in big league games, but this season he has really stepped his game up 20% and he's now not only the best central midfielder in the league, but the best right sided midfielder aswell.
to be honest the signs have been there since day 1. he was scoring goals for fun in the CL qualifiers and he then put in a breathtaking individual performance against boro on the first day when he should have had a hatrick. i remember gareth southgate coming out after that game and saying that at times it was as if gerrard was getting on the end of his own crosses.
i remember starting a thread after that game where i "went out on a limb" and claimed that gerrard would score 20-25 goals this season and would also be voted pfa player of the year. whilst the former will be true, i don't think the latter will be too far off either. i certainly expect him to be in the shortlist for the final three, probably along with joe cole and rooney.