Steven Gerrard is reluctant to put himself in their class, but his hat trick against Tim Howard‘s Everton in Liverpool’s 3-0 win inTuesday’s Merseyside derby underlined his status as the greatest Liverpool player, ahead of such former Reds as Graeme Souness, Ian Rush and his manager, Kenny Dalglish.
Liverpool’s lack of success in recent years has devalued Gerrard’s worth in the eyes ofsome Reds’ fans, but he was instrumental in their qualifying for the 2004-05 UEFA Champions League and winning the competition. The same thing goes for its FA Cup title a season later.
Gerrard will need to tweak his game and cover less ground if he wants to continue well into his 30s, but his three-goal game showed that he still has many years left in him.