Anfield men need spirit of Stevie G
LUCAS LEIVA grew up near the western Brazil-Paraguay border rather than Huyton, yet the hard-tackling midfield player accepts his responsibility as Liverpool’s longest-serving player to summon up the spirit of Steven Gerrard at today’s 225th Merseyside derby.
This will be the first Everton-Liverpool game to take place this century without Gerrard being a brooding and formidable presence.
The legendary Anfield captain is restricted these days to sending good luck text messages from across the Atlantic, something he does regularly.
But Lucas is still centre stage, a Liverpool player for eight years and educated by Gerrard himself on the importance of putting one over bitter city rivals.
It hardly needs mentioning that with Liverpool winning only two of 10 matches this season and manager Brendan Rodgers under extreme pressure, the stakes for a team of Reds going to Goodison Park have rarely been higher.
‘We could see all week with Stevie how much the derby meant,’ said Lucas. ‘His emotions were different, super-focused. He talked only about the match, how we couldn’t lose to Everton. It’s something I learned from him.
‘Now I have the same feeling, I understand. Dropping my kid off at school, people are talking about the derby. The guy at the petrol station, talking about the derby. My son Pedro (4) is a Scouser. Even he’s saying to me: “You are playing Everton at the weekend!”.
‘Since Stevie left, me and (Martin) Skrtel have the responsibility of showing the players how much it means to the people. If we keep Stevie’s spirit and passion, we are going to be fine for sure.’
It is fighting talk from the 28-year-old midfielder. He knows as well as anyone else how important it is for Liverpool and Rodgers in particular to kickstart their season, having been booed off at Anfield on Thursday night after a draw with modest Swiss club Sion in the Europa League.
Since Gerrard left in May, Liverpool have had to contend with the bitter transfer of Raheem Sterling, injuries to new captain Jordan Henderson and big summer signings Christian Benteke and Roberto Firmino, and strong speculation about the manager’s future.
Despite Rodgers’ insistence that he remains the best man to lead Liverpool, it is a fact that Carlo Ancelotti and David Moyes both lost their jobs after games at Goodison.
They will certainly want to be more adventurous and dynamic than during a 3-1 defeat at Manchester United last month, a performance and result that led to a heap of criticism from former Liverpool players in the media, including Jamie Redknapp and Graeme Souness.
Lucas continued: ‘We have quite a young team and anxiety is normal when results don’t go well. But you have to learn how to deal with things.
‘I am one of the oldest guys here. My job is to just try to make sure the young players keep calm and allow their quality to come through. I think that we are on the right path.’