Liverpool legend Steven Gerrard was helped in the early stage of his career by Gary McAllister and then went on to pass that wisdom down to various other players at Anfield
17:49, 25 Jan 2026
Liverpool legend Steven Gerrard is one of the club's greatest players
Liverpool legend Steven Gerrard is one of the club's greatest players(Image: Paul Bonser/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
Gary McAllister has outlined how he helped mold a young Steven Gerrard when the pair played alongside each other at Anfield.
"I don't think I was brought in there to help him pass a ball or how to see a pass," McAllister, who played alongside Gerrard at Liverpool between 2000 and 2002, told talkSPORT. "It was basically how to navigate Monday through Friday. If there's no midweek game, what does that look like? What should it look like? How much intensity do you put into training?
"When do you sleep? What are you eating? Are you resting properly, even though the game might be five, six days away?"
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McAllister had been in Gerrard's position as the young pro making his way in the game during his stint at Leeds, when he shared a dressing room with Scottish icon Gordon Strachan.
"I thought I was a good player when I got to Leeds, played a lot of games at Leicester and went in there with my shoulders back," McAllister said. "Then I looked at Strachan and I thought, 'You're on another level to me,' and he was 35. I'm jumping across to Liverpool at 35.
"You can still put your emphasis on what should be done during the week to prepare and help you play as well as you can on Saturday.
Gerrard won several trophies at Anfield
Gerrard won several trophies at Anfield(Image: James Holyoak/MB Media/Getty Images)
"It does matter what you do in the week. A lot of people think it doesn't, but it does. It's all muscle memory. If you work hard, you'll get the rewards at the end of the week by playing well."
Gerrard was a little over-eager in his early days and needed to be told to calm down. In the end, he made the most of his talent, becoming one of the best players in Liverpool's history. "He wanted to be winning every ball," McAllister said.
"The words I said to him, 'You might be hurting an opponent,' but the biggest danger when you go reckless into tackles or see the ball and all you can see is winning that ball, then you process you might hurt yourself.
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"If your body is out of sync and you're stretching to make the tackle, you're not in a strong, low position. I think he thought, 'Ok, that makes sense.' He's a warrior, he wants to win at all costs, he wants to win every ball. Occasionally, it's not a bad thing to go in and steal it, use your brain a little bit."
Liverpool.com says: It is for reasons such as these that players who are experienced really matter in the locker room. Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk, when they depart, for instance, will be big misses as players, but also as personalities.
The same can be said of Andy Robertson, who is of interest to Tottenham at the moment. Losing him would be a major loss of leadership inside the training ground and around big games.
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Robertson remains a solid player as well as a model pro, but it is because of both factors that Liverpool should look to keep him around not just for the rest of this season, but beyond his current contract too, if that is possible.