Premier League Preivew – Stevie G Style

By: ssm | August 15th, 2008

The 2008-2009 Premier League season is almost here my friends, and with the arrival of a new season of competition comes a new season of expectations. One could argue that the expectations are not higher for any team in the EPL than Liverpool (or maybe Tottenham, depending on who you talk to). These expectations fall hard on Rafa, but Captain Fantastic will bear the brunt of the on-pitch weight this season. After a very solid 2007-2008 campaign, Stevie will be absolutely desperate to improve on his effort from last season to finish the top of the table.

SG will need to be the “glue” of the team more than ever this year. With the El Nino-El Keano strike partnership still needing some work, Stevie will be looked upon to be the heart of the team for the start of the campaign. After suffering a groin injury against Valerenga two weeks ago, SG didn’t get any minutes in the Champions League ~~snooze-fest~~ game against Standard Leige this week. We can only hope that his groin is fully healed so he doesn’t face another injury-shortened season. On a related side-note, I hope that is that last sentence I write hoping the best for another man’s groin.

In all seriousness, Stevie will need to come out of the gates tomorrow and put in solid performances all season. If we lose him to injury or sub-par play for an extended stretch this season, LFC will end up in 4th….again. Sunderland are a good opening weekend match up, but they should not be overlooked. Hopefully they will serve as a suitable re-entry to competitive football for Gerrardinho.

In non-footy related news, Stevie finished construction on a gym that would eat my house this past week. The main Offside page had it posted a couple of days ago, but in case you missed it here it is again. Also recently reported via my Google Alert: Steven Gerrard splashes out on brand new Mini Cooper for wife Alex Curran’s birthday. Must be good to make £120,000 a week.