Liverpool finally make it back to Wembley . . . Gerrard speaks up

Liverpool FC | Thursday 26 January 2012 by Richard Blayney

This is how it looked the last time Liverpool made it to Wembley

The last time Liverpool played a game at Wembley it was May 1996. John Barnes, Jamie Redknapp, Steve McManaman and Robbie Fowler were in the lineup and those cream suits were the butt of jokes for a generation. That was the F.A. Cup Final against Manchester United and although the club have been back to Cup Final’s since then, those finals were at the Mellenium Stadium in Cardiff while the new Wembley was being built. Indeed, since the new Wembley opened it’s doors in 2007, an amazing 60 different teams have played there without Liverpool having made an appearance. Last night’s 2-2 draw with Manchester City resulting in a 3-2 aggregate victory ensured that they would finally make their new Wembley debut’s.

Last night’s second leg at Anfield was a huge game for the club. Confidence has been shaky of late and if anything was likely to restore it, a solid performance against the Premier League’s top side with a trip to a cup final on the end of it, was always likely to help. The performances of late have rightly seen some criticism thrown their way but the team certainly responded to it.

Cardiff will be their opponents in the final and while Liverpool will be big favourites against the Championship side, they must not take them too lightly. We all seen what happened to Arsenal in last years final against Portsmouth, and for that matter then 1988 F.A. Cup final for Liverpool against Wimbledon. Still, if they can perform any way like last night and in no way like they did against Bolton last weekend, then they should be lifting their first trophy since the F.A. Cup win, way back in 2006.

Back then Liverpool were just a year removed from winning the Champions League and it seemed the glory days were coming back, but as has been the case with Liverpool over the past twenty years, these signs of returning glory have usually proved to be false dawns. It happened in 2001 when they hauled in virtually every trophy going except for the league only to go a further four years without another piece of silverware. So nobody for one second believes a win in the League Cup will be the immediate beginning of great things, but I for one certainly feel that if they can get the taste for silverware once more it’ll give them some insentive to push on the rest of the season.

Some people will always try and tell you that this is only the League Cup and that it doesn’t matter, but while those same people would be quick to celebrate their own team making the final or indeed winning it, such comments are usually made by the fan who only took to watching football over the past ten years and believe that Chelsea, for example, have always been a title threat. In their glory days when they would win the League and European Cup on a regular basis, Liverpool won the League Cup four times in a row (between 1981 and 1984) and it didn’t do that team any harm. As former manager Bill Shankly himself said, “The purpose of Liverpool Football Club is to win trophies.”

The current manager, Kenny Dalglish, has taken a little flack over the past week or so because of recent results, because of the huge money spent last summer on players that have yet to work out, and because of the way the club dealt with the whole Luis Suarez saga. But, let’s take a look at the facts for just a moment:

In his first year since returning to the club since he left some twenty years before, and in his first managerial job in ten years, Dalglish has guided Liverpool to their first Cup final in six years. The target for the club before the start of the season was a top four finish and a solid run in both cup competitions. They’re currently six points out of fourth with sixteen games to go and 48 points up for grabs, they’re into the League Cup final, and they play Manchester United this coming weekend looking for a place in the F.A. Cup fifth round. The old cliche is that ‘Rome wasn’t built in a day’, and given that this time last year, Liverpool were in the process of clawing their way up from the lower end of the table and were already out of both cup competitions, tells me that despite some questionable form of late and the struggles of some new players to settle in, the club have taken the first step forward in what is — whether you like it or not — a steady rebuilding plan under new ownership, a new manager, a new coaching staff, and a collection of new, young, players.

The next step is all important and will be taken over the remainder of the season and into next summer, but surely it all begins on February 26th with the League Cup final, or perhaps it has even began with the elimination of the mighty Manchester City to reach the final?

A bit of advice to the club: Wear a sensible, smart and forgettable suit.

***

Gerrard speaks up

“What would it mean for me to lead Liverpool out at Wembley?” Asked Steven Gerrard of himself the day before the teams aggregate victory over Manchester City to put the club into the final of the League Cup. “Nothing,” he answered. “But to lift the cup at Wembley would be a dream come true. If I lead the club out and we lose, I will remember it in a bad way. To get to Wembley is the target. To win it is the dream.”

That says everything about the kind of player Gerrard is. He is winner and he is one of the finest captains of the Premier League era and has recently become a little more vocal in defense of his team and their goals for the season and whether current form should dictate they reacess those goals.

“Can I just go back to a question about our targets at the start of the season?” he asked earlier in that same press conference having decided to weigh in on the subject in more depth. “Our targets were to get into the top four and go on two long runs in the cups and itís still possible. Why change? Why are we crying out for change?

“Weíre six points off fourth and there are 16 games left. Youíre not telling me that this team and the players weíve got here are not capable of making that up? The sides who we are competing with arenít on all-out consistent runs. Man United got beat 3-0 by Newcastle the other week, Chelsea drew with Norwich and Arsenal have lost their last three.

“Why isnít it possible? Why are people crying out for change? Donít get me wrong, itís not all great here. Weíve got a fight on for fourth, but we had a fight on at the start of the season when we were telling people our aims for the season.

“Of course you go into every season wondering if you can get into the title race, and at the moment weíre not in it. But at the end of this week we could be going to Wembley, we could be in the fifth round of the FA Cup and six points off fourth.

“The flip-side of that is different, but big weeks happen at big football clubs and this is a big week.”

And as he has proven so many times in the past when the pressure is on and a big game is on the line, Gerrard helped push the club — thanks in part to his two penalty conversions in each leg — to a 2-2 draw on the night and 3-2 victory on aggregate, and into the League Cup final.

During that interview Gerrard had spoke of how the team had rightly taken criticism from their manager after a disappointing performance against Bolton last Sunday and how it was important to “give a big reaction on Wednesday” against City. Speaking indirectly to the newer players at the club about how at Liverpool the manor of such a defeat is unacceptable at any time, he said “The people new to the club will appreciate and understand that a bit more now after a performance like that. You canít do it here. The fans wonít accept it. Itís not allowed.”

With that they responded with last nights effort and are now just one more good showing away from winning their first silverware in six years. It’ll be Gerrard’s first time leading the team out at Wembley, but as is quoted at the top, it’ll mean little to him if he isn’t lifting silverware for the first time at Wembley by the time the final whistle blows.

Gerrard’s achievements speak for themselves. Some people point to the fact he has never won a league, but that would be unfair, if not foolish. He could easily have done what so many have done and followed the coin for silverware to a team willing to offer him the best possible shot at the title. In his prime, every team in the world would have loved to have him. Instead he choose to remain loyal despite coming very close to making that money move for glory to Chelsea. Liverpool went through some turbulant times and never quite gave him the support that would have been necessarly to sustain a title challenge.

But in cup competitions when big players come through with clutch performances, Gerrard’s record reads well. Twice and F.A. Cup winner, twice a League Cup winner, a Champions League winner, a UEFA Cup winner and a UEFA Super Cup winner. In fact, international competition aside, a domestic league title is the only thing missing from his resume. Liverpool fans would like to think that a 32-years of age there is still time for him to be a part of a Liverpool title winning team, but even if it isn’t to be for him, he’ll still go down as one of the Premier League greats and certainly one of its best leaders.