Jamie Carragher on Steven Gerrards decision to retire from international football - Steven has been mulling this over for a while, weighing up what he should do, but the closer it came to revealing his decision, the more difficult he found it. When we spoke, my advice to him was that international retirement would benefit him as much mentally as physically. He is in great condition at the minute, so I am not sure the extra games would have been a problem; being England captain, though, comes with huge responsibility and pressure and those demands can be draining. Now he will be able to get time to completely switch off and be refreshed for the Champions League games that will be on Liverpool’s agenda and recover from the little fitness niggles footballers tend to carry. Liverpool, certainly, will benefit from this decision. England, by contrast, will miss him. But how will he be remembered? I described him as a great servant. Unfortunately for Steven and others, such as Frank Lampard, Terry, Ferdinand and David Beckham, there will always be that feeling of what might have been. I once said I never felt the same affinity for England as I did for Liverpool because I was on the outside looking in. With Stevie, nothing could have been more different. The pride he felt leading the side, particularly under Roy Hodgson, was there for all to see. Having suffered such disappointment when caretaker Stuart Pearce picked Scott Parker as skipper against Holland in February 2012, being made permanent captain brought him such joy. That’s why he didn’t make this announcement without giving it maximum thought.
Posted on: Tue, 22 Jul 2014 01:55:49 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015