On Monday morning, two goal hero and fantasy darling Steven Gerrard was allegedly involved in a nightclub fracas for which, this morning, he has now been charged. Perhaps even more disturbingly, a Phil Collins record may have been at the heart of it…
As you may have heard then, Gerrard has been formally charged with assault and affray for his alleged involvement in a nightclub brawl. I won’t go into the details of the incident – you can read plenty on that for yourself elsewhere. I will say however, by way of adding unnecessary detail to the situation, that the dispute in the Southport hotspot was apparently sparked when the DJ refused to play Gerrard’s request. There is some talk that this could have been a Phil Collins record. A potential crime in itself.
Without trivialising these events any further though, let’s try to assess the effect on Gerrard in football terms.
Gerrard is currently on bail having been charged and he is now due to appear in court on January 23. It’s speculative of course, but there’s little doubt that when a player is facing such a situation, it must be a factor in their mindset and potentially affect their performance out on the pitch. The Liverpool skipper has been in spectacular form of late. His performances certainly have a long way to fall should they drop off.
Liverpool have just minutes ago released a short statement on the matter stressing their support for Gerrard. For starters, Rafa will surely pull his skipper from the FA Cup tie with Preston this weekend. His appearance in that game must have been in doubt regardless.
However, such is Gerrard’s importance to the Liverpool cause, it’s hard to see him being omitted from the side that takes the field at Stoke in the Premier League a week on Saturday. That promises to be a very interesting affair, given that Stoke themselves are currently dealing with their own “situation” between Fuller and club captain Griffin. Some would say that an encounter with Stoke would at least give Gerrard an early preview of prison football. I wouldn’t be so cheeky.
More significantly, Liverpool then face Everton on January 19, just four days before Gerrard’s court date. I can’t quite imagine a worse case scenario than a Merseyside derby match under the circumstances. It is at Anfield at least, in front of his own fans who will doubtless attempt to drown out the disparagement from the Everton end.
The games that follow will of course be influenced by the outcome of the court date. Liverpool travel to Wigan on January 27 and right now, we can’t be certain that Gerrard will be in that Liverpool side.
In fantasy terms, Gerrard owners will not be sitting anywhere near as comfortably as they were by 2pm on Sunday, having watched their prize asset single-handedly dismantle Newcastle and bring in another major points haul.
There’s got to be some doubts over his number of appearances over the next month or so. Long-term there’s obviously even bigger doubts. It’s impossible to say how all this will affect Gerrard’s contribution to the Liverpool cause when he is on the pitch. Gerrard has been unfaltering throughout his career in terms of commitment but this will be his biggest test yet.