Rafa Benitez, who used to be the manager of Liverpool, has named the two players who had the most impact on Steven Gerrard while he was there.
Rafa Benitez was the manager at Anfield from 2004 to 2010. During his time there, the team won the Champions League and the FA Cup.
During those five years, Gerrard was Benitez’s captain and his team’s star player. During this time, he may have played his best football.
In 2009, when Liverpool came in second, he was named the Football Writers’ Player of the Year.
And Benitez thinks that it was two signings made later in his time in charge that unlocked Gerrard and let him shine in his role at Liverpool.
The obvious choice is Fernando Torres. As soon as the Spaniard walked through the doors at Melwood in 2007, he and Gerrard hit it off. They became one of the most feared teams in the Premier League.
A few months earlier, the Reds took a young player on loan from West Ham United named Javier Mascherano. This was a move that would eventually become permanent.
Benitez says that this transfer let Gerrard play a more forward role in the team, which worked so well with Torres.
He told The Coaches’ Voice, “Some people remember the names of Liverpool’s key players from the beginning to the end of my time there.”
What did Rafa Benitez say?
“When we signed Torres, we moved Gerrard behind him so that we could sign Mascherano, Lucas Leiva, and Alonso. This was one of the most important decisions. The balance gives Gerrard the freedom to attack and get into the box, and Torres’ runs. Kuyt worked hard for us, and depending on the year, we had wingers.
But the most important thing was giving Gerrard freedom behind the striker and letting Torres run in behind defenders up front. Then two midfielders who could pass the ball like Alonso and keep it like Mascherano. We signed Lucas Leiva when he was 19 and he had been at Liverpool for 10 years, so they balance each other out,” Benitez said.
In 2010 and 2011, the two players left, with Mascherano going to Barcelona and Torres going to Chelsea six months later.
Their importance was shown by the fall of the Reds as a whole since their departure came before one of Liverpool’s worst times.
