English Premiership
Gerrard best in Reds history?
2010-11-05 15:04
Liverpool - Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher believes Steven Gerrard is the best player in the club's history and the most influential of the Premier League era.
Gerrard came off the bench with Liverpool trailing 1-0 to Napoli in the Europa League at half-time on Thursday and produced a man of the match performance.
The 30-year-old England midfielder scored a hat-trick in the final 15 minutes to bail out under-pressure Reds boss Roy Hodgson and Carragher insisted it was a display which carried the hallmark of a true great.
Carragher is convinced Gerrard has now risen above the likes of Kenny Dalglish, Kevin Keegan, John Barnes and Ian Rush as the greatest player ever to pull on the club's famous red shirt.
"Stevie is just an unbelievable talent, we all know that," Carragher said. "We have seen him do things like he did last night time and again during his career.
"But he keeps on producing when it matters and, to me, that makes him the best player the club has ever had and the most influential player ever in the Premier League.
"You could see the crowd responded to him when he came on in the second half and he lifted everybody's performance."
After the game, Carragher said the team owed a debt of gratitude to Gerrard, whose one-man show extended Liverpool's mini-revival to three wins and a draw in their last four matches.
"He was outstanding and we were able to get out of a tight spot," Carragher told the Liverpool Echo.
"Thankfully we were able to get the win and now we have got to make sure we can keep this run going for as long as possible."