Eye on detail, not size, matters in a nation achieving its football dreams: Gerrard

SINGAPORE – An attention to detail can help developing football nations catch up with more established ones, even if they are small in size or stature.

This is particularly important at an early stage of a player’s pathway, said former Liverpool and England captain Steven Gerrard on Oct 4.

He told The Straits Times: “All countries learn from each other. Just because you’re a big nation doesn’t necessarily mean you’re going to be successful.

“It’s in the detail of the game, trying to get as many qualified coaches as possible. Then from a young age, you need to take the children and try to lend them the knowledge and detail of the game, let them evolve, let them grow.

“That’s how you create really good players and strong teams.”

Even with the right guidance and right coaching, the 46-year-old stressed that it was important that players reach their full potential at their own pace and that “no one is rushed”.

“I never broke through till much later,” he said. “It’s important that the coaches and the guidance and the parents around these children allow them and give them time and patience to be ready.”

Gerrard spoke to ST on the sidelines of an event at the Equarius Hotel organised by sports events company World Football Legends (WFL), in his first appearance in Singapore.

The Beyond the Pitch event, presented by Resorts World Sentosa (RWS), is part of a new series by the Singapore-based WFL which organises events involving football legends across Asia.

Recognising that kids also need to have idols to look up to and learn from, Gerrard said he wants to interact with as many people all over the world as possible.

In Singapore, he was part of a football clinic for around 120 participants at the Equarius Hotel in the afternoon on Oct 4.

“I’ve been there myself... I know you need players who have played the game to look up to. When I was a young boy, I used to grow idolising the Liverpool players.

“If I can sort it have a similar impact to the young children now, that will be very important,” he said.

At the event’s gala dinner at the hotel in the evening, Gerrard shared about his football career before discussing football development in Singapore with members of the local fraternity.

Joining him for the panel discussion were Football Association of Singapore deputy president Desmond Ong, Lions captain Hariss Harun, former national goalkeeper Lionel Lewis and WFL founder Ian Holahan.

A day earlier, Gerrard scored four goals during an AllStar Legends five-a-side exhibition match in Kuala Lumpur alongside former Premier League players including Michael Owen and Ryan Giggs.

At the discussion on Oct 4, he reiterated the importance of letting budding young footballers grow on their own while protecting them from “wrong things they can over-indulge in” such as social media.

“It’s very important we have a plan to protect them and lay out a pathway for them to make them better people, better players.

“I wish I had a lot of things in my career that are available now. But for our children, let’s protect them from what’s not going to help them and use everything available to make them evolve and grow into better people.”

The panellists also discussed other changes in the local football landscape now, like the increased presence of academies and bigger involvement of parents.

Hariss, 35, pointed out that with the structured programmes offered by academies, young footballers might lose their “ruggedness”.

He said: “When you don’t learn things by yourself, you lose that little bit of aggressiveness which you would have learnt from the streets.”

Lewis, 43, also added that education usually comes first in the Singapore context.

Gerrard said that a balance should be struck between education and sport.

“I look at the numbers and statistics. Very few people make it to the top as an elite footballer, so it would be very wrong as parents to push education to the side.

“We have to let children in any country at any age enjoy football, play with freedom and just let them be children.”

Laura Chia is a journalist covering breaking news and current affairs, with an interest in sports.