Keane's first match in English football was against Liverpool at Anfield. He was two weeks past his 19th birthday, and his direct opponent on the field was the reigning PFA Player of the Year, John Barnes. Keane's teammate Brian Laws described what happened: "After 10 minutes, he'd trampled all over John Barnes, and I was laughing because this kid was going to do my job for me, which was brilliant! He was a man playing in a boy's body. He didn't give two monkeys who he was playing against, and he made it very clear he was not going to let anybody stand in his way." Gerrard had to go through so much, his parents got divorced in 2002. He didn't score or play well for a little while probably because he was saddened by his parents decision. There was a time where Gerrard had got dropped because he got injured so often but he still never gave up and performed everytime he got the chance. Personally this book stood out for me for a number of reasons. The first is the stark contrast between the private nature of Steven Gerrard from day to day, and how revealing he is in this book. It would have been so easy for a footballer with this career up to this point to concentrate on the professional highs and lows, and not delve too much into the personal side of things. Indeed, taking this route must have been tempting for someone who works hard to keep himself out of the media limelight. Keputusan terbaik Gerrard adalah mendengarkan suara hatinya. Tidak pindah ke Chelsea. Meski begitu diidolakan oleh Mourinho. Belum diberi kesempatan mengangkat piala Liga Premier, bukanlah sebuah kegagalan telak bagi penggemar setia Liverpool. Those are the statistics for the Steven Gerrard on the pitch. Off the pitch he is known very much as a private individual who largely keeps himself and his family out of the limelight for non football related reasons. His autobiography, released when he was 26, was therefore much anticipated. It was well received by fans and critics, and won the Galaxy British Book Awards Sports Book Of The Year in 2007.

With his insights, Gerrard is likely to ruffle a few feathers and not everyone is likely to view his book positively. But, for a boyhood Liverpool (and Gerrard) fan, this is going to be a regular re-read in the foreseeable future. Yes,the book has its quibbles. There are passages that could've been shorter and less repetitive. But even then, I'd think this deserves 4.5ish stars. These days, Gerrard takes occasional injections to strengthen the ligaments in his hip. He is the captain of a young team that's trying to master a patient, precise, possession football that seems at odds with his own impatient style, with its apparent governing ethos of "never hit a short, simple pass when a long, spectacular one will do." Narrated in the brutally honest tone of Liverpool's iconic captain, the book doesn't shy away from landing a few strong punches. Clearly, Gerrard couldn't care less about political correctness (especially at this stage in life).Steven Gerrard is a modern football legend. He enjoyed a coveted career spanning over a decade for the English national team and Liverpool Football Club. Upon reading this autobiography I was interested in gaining an insight into the life of an international icon. It was ironic that Benítez took ceaseless criticism for "playing Gerrard out of position." In truth, he was the first coach to understand that, for Gerrard, "out of position" meant central midfield. He would never be a general, an orchestrator, because those players need a wider emotional range. They have to know when to be aggressive and when to be crafty, when to keep it simple and when to try something outrageous, when to speed it up and when to slow it down. Technically and physically, Gerrard was Liverpool's best player by far; he could do things with the ball nobody else could. But his barometer was permanently set to hurricane. Di mata Gerrard, kita juga akan melihat, bahwa bermain di liga Premier bukanlah hal yang mudah. Bakat, kemampuan teknis, dan banyak hal lainnya yang saling bertautan, menentukan si pemain mampu bersaing di liga paling kompetitif sedunia. Belum lagi masalah dengan pers lokal yang doyan menguliti pemain. Kemampuan fisik itu yang dirasakan Gerrard, merupakan salah satu prasyarat seorang pemain mampu berkompetisi di EPL. Bek tangguh EPL bukan masalah mudah bagi seorang Aspas, Ballotelli, misalnya. Sebagai seorang kapten. Kita dapat melihat dan sedikit merasakan beban yang ditaruh di pundak Gerrard. Di rehat musim panas. Selain menyemangati pemain andalan, semua pemain di tim, dia diberikan "tugas" buat merayu, -tidak kesannya terlalu rendah- mengajak pemain incaran Liverpool untuk bergabung. Memang tidak mudah. Tapi tentu tidak ada usaha yang tidak berarti. Beberapa hal lainnya yang tak kalah menohok adalah seperti kata pepatah "habis manis sepah dibuang", pemain kerap tidak diberi penghormatan secara sepantasnya oleh pihak klub.

Kala itu Stevie kecil menangis di kamarnya setelah mendapat surat penolakan. Kemudian ia berteriak pada ayahnya bagaimana bisa seorang kapten Liverpool Boys tidak bisa lolos tes dan bersumpah tidak akan bermain sepak bola lagi. Ayahnya kemudian mengatakan begini, More importantly, I also found the tone to be slightly ill-judged in places. Call me old fashioned, but I don’t see the need to include profanity, especially when many kids will likely read the book. It’s been while since I read the 2007 book, but my recollection of the difference can be summed up in contrasting anecdotes. The story about the garden fork and Gerrard’s toe in the first book was genuinely dramatic. The story in this book about Gerrard getting cut in a sensitive area away at Bournemouth and the playing the derby game with four stitches was overdone. Leadership came naturally to players like Souness, Keane, and Vieira. At Liverpool, Gerrard had leadership thrust upon him. He's a worrier, an introvert. It's not in his nature to boss people around. For most of his career he's played for a team he knew wasn't quite good enough to succeed. He's been the brooding figurehead of an institution haunted by anxiety about its own decline. It turned out Ferguson hadn't spoken as freely as everyone had hoped, since he hasn't really retired. As a director at Manchester United, he's the power behind David Moyes's throne, and the book had been vetted by the club prior to publication. It therefore elided certain mysteries, such as why Ferguson chose Moyes as his successor, rather than José Mourinho, with whom he had always appeared to be so friendly. As previously stated, Steven Gerrard released this book at the age of 26, which for footballers is only really middle age. Most professional footballers don't retire until their early thirties, and indeed the likes of Ryan Giggs (who is an iconic footballer in his own right, and still playing first team football for Manchester United at the age of 35) have shown that it is possible to go on longer than that at the highest level. Personally I felt that at the time of releasing this book Steven Gerrard had at least another five or six years left at the very top level of club football. As such, it was something of a disappoint that he released this book only two thirds of the way through what is, up to now, a glittering career. You can't help but feel at the end of this book (especially if you've read it recently) that a second book is likely at some point down the line.In terms of content, as expected the book covers his early life and football career, starting when he was aged nine. It progresses in a logical fashion, with later chapters generally alternating between Liverpool and England events, all the up to the end of the 2006-07 season, which is when Liverpool reached the final of the Champions League, but lost to AC Milan. So within the book you get his take on classic Liverpool moments such as the Treble in 2001 and winning the Champions League in 2005, as well as similar moments for England such as the 5-1 thrashing of Germany in 2001. Jika kamu bertanya pada Kopites--sebutan penggemar Liverpool FC di luar kota Liverpool--generasi 90an terutama dari Indonesia bagaimana awalnya mereka menyukai LFC, jawabannya hampir selalu sama. Steven Gerrard. Setidaknya itulah yang saya tangkap dari cerita-cerita fans di situs LFC Indonesia. Dan, saya setuju. A person I found interesting in this book was Steven Gerrard. His desire and determination has great an made him to become one of the all time England greats, and a captain at Liverpool football club. He is a leader and has a winning mentality like no other person on the planet. At first, Benítez tried to persuade Gerrard to play more with the head and less with the heart. By his second season, he had decided it would be better to find a way of working with the player's nature rather than against it. So he started playing him out on the right. Gerrard considered this a demotion, and every so often he would tell the media that he preferred to play in the middle. Benítez argued that the truth was on the field. The move away from the centre coincided with Gerrard playing the best football of his career.

This book is an autobiography of a soccer player, so it will not appeal to many people. It is not fiction, it is not unrealistic, and this is a person’s life. If you like soccer, or really any sport, you should read this book, because it shows that these professional athletes are not just what you see on TV, they are real humans, with the same struggles and life as we have. This autobiography really opens your eyes to the world of a professional soccer player, and much of it is quite surprising.Read it. Read it because there is so much to take away from Gerrard's story. He is so authentic and humbling in the way he talks, and his loyalty, integrity, and respect for some of the greatest names in football, is unbelievably admirable. It's no secret why he's a Liverpool legend. He embodies their spirit, and he has given their fans some beautiful memories that will live on long after he does. And so if you were to ask me today who my role model is - my answer would be what it was nine years ago, when I was a thirteen year old girl obsessed with her favourite footballer of her beloved football club. Alonso's departure that summer effectively lobotomised the team. A year later, Benítez followed him out the door. Liverpool got a new manager, Roy Hodgson, an English football traditionalist who returned Gerrard to what English football had always considered his proper position, in central midfield. The team collapsed.