Steven Gerrard - into the world of management

Watford a huge leap to become champions! WHAT A RESULT. Great story buddy, love that your Derby is doing so well. Hopefully Stevie can coach Hughes into becoming England (and possibly Liverpool's) next field general? :D
 
sayitstuesday said:
Watford a huge leap to become champions! WHAT A RESULT. Great story buddy, love that your Derby is doing so well. Hopefully Stevie can coach Hughes into becoming England (and possibly Liverpool's) next field general? :D
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I know mate, 4th to 1st isn't bad in one afternoon. Yeah Hughes could be brilliant if I can coach him right :)
 
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Reporter: So Steven, congratulations on your promotion to the Premier League. How are you feeling about the season coming up?

Steven Gerrard: Thank you. I'm really excited about the new season and can't wait to get started being back in the Premier League.

Reporter: What's the aim for this season then?

Steven Gerrard: It has to be to stay in the league. I've no doubt the bookies will have us as favourites to go straight back down.

Reporter: It's difficult to say who's favourite at this stage with it being so early in the transfer window. Have you got your eye on any new signings?

Steven Gerrard: Yes, we're working incredibly hard to bring in the right players who will fit our system and current group of players. Having said that, I want to give the lads, who performed so well this season, a chance to prove themselves in the Premier League.

Reporter: Well, thanks for meeting us today and good luck with the new season. I'm sure I speak on behalf of everyone when i say, we're looking forward to seeing you in the Premier League once again.
 
With the new season a number of weeks away, I was keen to get started early with our transfers ...


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The first signing was one I had under my sleeve for a while now.

Youness Kaboul signs on a free transfer after his deal with Tottenham ran out.

Kaboul joined us for the second part of last season and proved he was different class at this level. I saw enough in the experienced Frenchman to convince me he can perform in the Premier League as well.​

We were quick to add to the squad further ...

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Patrick Bamford signs from Chelsea for a fee of £2.3 million.

Bamford had two consecutive loan spells at Championship side, Middlesbrough, where during his second spell he struggled and only recorded 6 goals in over 30 appearances.

I still think he can do a job at this level though and only being 22, he has plenty of time to improve.​

We shortly made it 3 signings in a row ...

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Another young player, in Ravel Morrison joined the squad.

The troublesome midfield player joins from Italian club, Lazio for a fee of £2.1 million which could rise to £2.6 million.

Morrison is another player with bags of talent who can improve massively in the future. I'm a little worried about his attitude but hopefully playing every week will sort the lad out.​

The next signing was the one that got away ...

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Former Man Utd graduate, Nick Powell turned down our contract offer and instead opted to join QPR.

It looks as though our contract offer was pretty similar to the one he accepted at QPR so he must have seen Derby as a bit of a risk.​


With this disappointment, we concentrated on tying down our current players ...

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The first player to commit was center back, Raul Albentosa. The Spanish defender was brilliant for us last season and I'm confident he can perform just as well in the Premier League.​

Cyrus Christie was the next player to commit ...

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The right back has been brilliant for me and is one of the biggest reasons we achieved promotion.

I started playing his further forward as a wing back last season so he's now capable of playing either that role or a standard full back.​

The next player I wanted to tie down to a new deal was Goalkeeper, Lee Grant ...

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Unfortunately, he had different ideas.

Grant wouldn't even listen to the offer we wanted to put forward. He's currently on £12,500 per week so I was prepared to increase his wage but I couldn't even offer him a deal.

The reason for this is because he wants to join a club in the Champions League. Grant's done well but, in my opinion, he's miles away from the Champions League!

We'l have to see if he changes his mind anytime soon.​

We had one more set back before pre-season finished.

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Bryan Oviedo was refused a work permit to join us after his contract with Everton expired.

I can never understand this rule, he's been playing for Everton for the last 4 years yet he can't join us and has to play abroad now. It doesn't make any sense to me.​

 
With all that out of the way, we concentrated on our pre-season form ...

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On the whole, we've done well here but in truth we should have won all the games given the weaker opposition we came up against.

The only result that concerns me slightly is the last one, a 5-4 defeat against Cittadella, who play their football in Serie B.

It's not the loss itself that concerns me but the fact that we conceeded 5 goals. We'll have to defend much better when the real games start, or risk getting embarrassed.​


After those pre-season friendlies, I decided we could do with a couple more additions ...

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First up, Charlie Mulgrew signs from Scottish champions, Celtic for a fee of £1.9 million.

Mulgrew is capable of playing both central defence and left back, but he'll become our first choice left back and can even play wing back if needed.​


And our final signing ...

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Graziano Pelle is the final man to join the squad before the season starts.

Pelle signs from Southampton after 2 years on the South coast. Pelle went on to score in 22 in 37 games. Pelle signed for £1.5 million and is capable of either playing up front on his own or partnering Bamford.​

With the start of the season just around the corner, its time to look at the 'Season Preview'.

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We enter the season second favourites to go straight back down to the Championship.

Only Wolves are judged to be worse than us. I think this really proves what a job we'll have on in staying in the division.​

On one of the more exciting pre-season days, we saw the fixture list for the new season ...

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Well, we've been given a pretty tough start, Arsenal away followed by Everton at home.

After those 2 fixtures though, we have a couple of winnable games against QPR, Newcastle, Burnley, Wolves and Leicester.​
 
The first game of the Premier League saw us come against Arsenal who had a really disappointing season last year after finising 9th and duly sacked managed Arsene Wenger.

This was the first game in charge for new Arsenal manager Marcelo Bielsa.

New boys, Charlie Mulgrew, Ravel Morrison, Patrick Bamford and Graziano Pelle all start.

New Arsenal signings, Morgan Schneiderlain and Nicklas stark both start for the Gunners.​

Let's see how the game goes ...

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A 4-2 defeat sounds as though they hammered us but I wasn't actually that disappointed with our performance.

We got off to a dreadful start with Santi Carzorla opening the scoring after just 6 minutes. We then re-grouped well and levelled through new signing, Pelle just after half time.

Then in the second half, Danny Welbeck took over! He re-took the lead for Arsenal less than 15 minutes into the second half.

We then pegged them back yet again, this time through another new signing, Patrick Bamford.

Welbeck then took over and scored two more in the next 20 minutes or so. Both goals arrived from goalkeeping errors from shots I feel Lee Grant should have been saving.

Arsenal ran out 4-2 winners but our performance going forward gives me hope for the rest of the season. We just need to improve defensively.​
 
Next up was the first home game where we faced Everton. It will be interesting what kind of reception the Toffee fans will give Gerrard after such a long time playing for their rivals ...

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Our first win in the Premier League.

What a performance and what a result. The game was pretty close with only a few chances created for either side.

New signing, Patrick Bamford grabbed his second goal in as many games which ensures we go away with all 3 points.​
 
After that great win against Everton, our attentions switched to the League cup where we faced Championship side, Blackpool ...

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We made a number of changes for this game and game some of the fringe players some game time.

Most of them impressed, albeit against weaker opposition. Darren Bent and Verbic with the 2 goals.


​
 
We now turned attentions back to league action with an away trip to Loftus Road to face QPR ...

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Not a great performance but still a decent point.

QPR started really well and took the lead through Jordan Rhodes.

Youness Kaboul climbed at the far post to clinch the equaliser late on.​
 
Just before the next game, which saw us have an away trip to face Newcastle, we some injury news to deal with.

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Star center back, Youness Kaboul was ruled out for up to 8 days with a bruised shin.

This keeps him out of the Newcastle game but should be back to first team action straight after.​

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This was just a really poor performance where we didn't deserve anything other than a hammering, and that's what we got.

Newcastle beat us 3-0 without even breaking into a sweat. We offered absolutely nothing and deserved nothing.

We really have to start improving our performances if we want to pick up any points any time soon!​
 
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After our poor run of form and shocking display against Newcastle, I decided to get the players in Monday morning to tell them this level of performance isn't acceptable.​

Steven Gerrard: So then lads, thanks for coming in today on your day off. First of all, I want to know why you think we were so poor against Newcastle?

Players (Richard Keogh): We think we just had an off day gaffer, those these things happen in football.

Steven Gerrard: An off day? Some ****** off day! We hardly had a shot to mention! Newcastle could have had, and should have had, 4 or 5 more goals had it not been for their poor finishing.

Players (Lee Grant): I think we really missed Youness (Kaboul) boss. Don't forget that many of the squad haven't played in the Premier League before and they miss the leadership that Youness brings.

Steven Gerrard: I agree with that Lee, It's a learning curve for many of us. I haven't brought you in here to ******* you all. We've got a nice set of fixtures now and I really think we can get some points on the board.

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Steven Gerrard: We've got 5 very winnable games here which will really catapult us up the league. Burnley, Wolves and Leicester up next. Come on lads, lets get 3 wins from 3 here and show everyone what we're about.

Players (Youness Kaboul): Come on lads, lets really go for this!
 
After that chat with the players, we took on Burnley at home. A really winnable game ...

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Thats more like it!

A brilliant 3-0 win where we were totally dominant and hardly gave Burnley a kick.

Stephen Warnock came into the side after an injury to Mulgrew kept him out briefly.

Pell'e got us on our way with a great strike after just half an hour. Our cause was then helped further when Scott Arfield got himself his second yellow card which earned him his marching orders.

Further goals from Ravel Morrison and Mason Bennet helped us on our way to a brilliant win.​
 
Congrats on promotion! Definitely think Stevie can keep Derby up, your return to Anfield will be interesting!
 
SeanKeaney said:
Congrats on promotion! Definitely think Stevie can keep Derby up, your return to Anfield will be interesting!
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Thanks mate, Yeah i was hoping Liverpool away would be early on in the season but sadly not.

xJamieWilliams said:
Been a while since I've caught up on this!

Well done on the promotion too mate :)
Click to expand...

Thanks pal. Can't wait for the Liverpool game now :)
 
Next up we faced Hull in the league cup. This was another winnable game, although Hull are flying high and are currently 5th in the Premier League ...

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Another great win!

A thumping 4-0 win over a good Hull side who are right up their in the Premiership.

Bamford opened the scoring just before the half hour mark. Then in the second half we tore them a new one.

Raul Albentosa doubled the lead shortly after half time. We then continued to hit Hull on the break and Ravel Morrison and Chris Martin added further gloss to the win.​

This win means we'll be playing Leicester away.

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Another winnable tie, although if i'm honest, the League cup really isn't a priority this season. It's all about the league and survival.

The pick of the other ties has to be Man Utd vs Arsenal at Old Trafford.​
 
The final game of the month saw us take on Wolves at home ...

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Another brilliant win!

I don't know whats got in to us recently. Since the little pep talk I gave the lads we've won 3 from 3, scoring 10 goals and conceeding none.

Bamford got onto the scoresheet yet again, before Graziano Pell'e bagged a brilliant brace.​


This game brought the end of the month with the table looking like this ...

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Not a bad start to the season.

10th after 6 games isnt bad, those two league wins have really made the league look much better.​
 
Our first game of October saw us face Leicester away from home. This is a game we really should be winning, Leicester are bottom of the league having failed to pick up any points from their 6 league games this season ...

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This was really disappointing!

I really felt we could have claimed our 4th win from 4 games here. We went with the same side that thrashed Burnley, Hull and Wolves.

We didn't play too badly but didn't create anything which was clear cut.​

On to Man City at Pride Park next ...
 
Just before the Man City game, I asked Richard Keogh into my office ...

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Steven Gerrard: Hi Richard, thanks for seeing me.

Richard Keogh: No worries gaffer, what can I do for you?

Steven Gerrard: I just wanted to discuss our next game against Man City. I know I haven't been selecting you recently due to the form of Raul and Youness. But I just want you to know that you'll be starting against City. I need you at your best mate!

Richard Keogh: Thanks boss, it's always nice knowing you'll be playing, especially in such a big game.

Steven Gerrard: I've decided to play 3 at the back with Raul and Youness either side of you. We've been playing well recently and I really think we can beat Man City. We all need to be at our best though.
 
Onto the Man City game then. City have been doing okay and are 4th in the league, although they now haven't won in their last 2 games ...


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What a result! This has to be the best result I've had here!

We played brilliantly and only allowed Man City 2 shots all game with only one of them being on target.

The first half was pretty uneventful but we started the second half brilliantly and took the lead after 50 minutes through Patrick Bamford. Cyrus Christie then bagged the second to ensure the points would be ours.​
 
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