Gerrard: Soul-searching saved my season

The 22-year-old incurred the wrath of Gerard Houllier after a series of disappointing displays threatened to envelop his season. Gerrard admits that he had to take a considered view of his performances in order to regain his form.

Gerrard said: "I wasn't enjoying my football and had to sit down and sort myself out.

"I started the season very well and for the first 10 or 15 games I was very happy and playing consistently. Then I had a blip of around eight games where things weren't going well and I wasn't enjoying my football.

"So I sat down and had a good think about things and got myself together in training and it finally started showing on the pitch."