Gerrard said: "The manager's criticism was a shock but a wake-up call nonetheless. I've always leaned on him, and never more so than when I went through this. Our meetings through the slump became more regular and he was desperate to get me right. His advice has always been sound and I could confide in him, which helped.
"He's good at evaluating situations and suggesting solutions to problems. He's been a stable influence on my career and I know I owe him so much.
"I went right back to basics to get my head right. I put everything out of my mind and kept everything simple. I had to build from the bottom upwards and deal with the harder aspects of my game later on.
"My head had gone and I wondered where my next good game was coming from. I wish I could put my finger on one thing and say that's why I struggled but the truth is it was a number of things.
"The slump was bad, I know that. It got to the stage where it was mental rather than physical. I started to go into games wondering if I could play at all.
"It was doing my head in. There were so many things on my mind. I thought, shall I change this or that or should I keep it simple?
"I found I wasn't training well and everything I did became complicated. It was affecting all aspects of my game and made me very miserable."