![]() ![]() The former Liverpool captain's appointment is part of a coaching reshuffle at the club's Kirkby academy. "I have to help these players prepare for careers, not all with Liverpool's first team, but I feel if I can help them compete then it will help their careers depending on what level they get to." Steven Gerrard returned to Liverpool in a floating coaching role in February. "I've seen a lot of players who have come out of the academy with huge reputations and go into the Melwood dressing room and then it is sink-or-swim and a lot of them sink. ![]() "I think a lot of them are shocked with the step up to Melwood from the academy," he said. Gerrard said he wanted to make sure Liverpool youngsters are better prepared because "the hard work starts when you get out of the academy." "Too many try to model themselves on players like Ronaldo when you have to look at yourself and say, 'What are my strengths and how can I improve my weaknesses?'" We all love a bit of skill and talent but the other side of the game is huge, it is massive. ![]() "There is a showboating mentality throughout academies now and a lot of kids who play the game think they have to do 10 lollipops or Cruyff turns to stand out. I hate watching footballers and football when there is no physical side and they don't compete. "It is not just about tackles and competing. "As a player I got many, many tackles wrong and went over the top a few times and I had to come out and apologise and that is not something I want to put into young players at all but you have to prepare them for the top and the top level is physical and demanding. It is important you channel it in the right way," the former midfielder told multiple English newspapers. Gerrard, who returned to Liverpool in a floating coaching role in February across various age groups, will take up the U18 job in the summer after completing his UEFA A Licence.Īnd he vowed to focus on implementing the physical demands needed to succeed at the top level while purging Ronaldo-esque tricks and skills. On the day he was confirmed as Liverpool's new under-18s coach, Steven Gerrard criticised "a showboating mentality" in football academies as young players try to emulate Cristiano Ronaldo. ![]()
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