Stevie - most important player.

By Mighty Reds
January 29 2006

Rafael Benitez says that Steven Gerrard has been the key player this season. Stevie has scored 16 goals and Rafa can’t speak highly enough of his importance to Liverpool.

He said:

"They key player for us this season has been Steven Gerrard," enthused Benitez.

"You have seen him score a lot of goals and he's been the big difference for us. Our foreign players have settled really well but Gerrard is playing at a very good level. You have to remember he was injured for three months last season but now he's a real success.

"He's grown up. Yes, he's growing still but he can also improve. That's the positive thing for me. You can work with him and he can learn and go forward even more.

"If they say the best player in the world is Steven Gerrard then you can say it's true because he's a really good player."

The Liverpool manager reasoned the likes of Gerrard and Jamie Carragher are so passionate for the team and said it is infectious for the rest of their team-mates.

"They all have a hunger to win," explained Benitez. "If you experienced the atmosphere in the dressing room you would see that all of them are happy.

"They train really hard and the team now has a lot of hungry players. The positive thing about the local lads is that they have passion. And this passion is contagious.

"We have different nationalities but we also have a lot of good professionals - players with passion who want to improve and want to win trophies. They all want to win for Liverpool.

"We have closed the gap on Chelsea, Arsenal and Manchester United. And I will keep trying to reduce that gap. It's important to win trophies but it's more important to progress."