Gerrard Not Slowing Down Yet

Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard is prepared to adapt to fit in with what Brendan Rodgers wants but insists he can still play a dynamic game.

Gerrard is now 32 and has had a number of injuries in his career, leading to suggestions that his future may be more as a deep-lying midfielder.

However, the England international says he still wants to play with the same energetic approach that has always been one of his strengths.

"I think people want me to say I can't play the same way any more, that I have to go deeper to control the game and play a slower game," he said in the Daily Express.

"But believe me, it's not happening. Not yet. I can still play a dynamic, energy-type game. I am prepared to adapt - I'll do whatever the manager wants - but I can still play the same way."

Gerrard has had discussions with new Reds manager Rodgers about what his position might be for the next few years, and he thinks it will only be a gradual change.

"The manager has spoken to me about what role he sees me filling," said Gerrard. "I still think he sees me as an attacking midfielder, but as we work through the ages - maybe 33 or 34 - then maybe I might be dropping a bit deeper. But I don't think anything is going to change this season.

"On the other side of it, I know I'm not going to be bombing forward every few seconds without a care of what's happening behind me. I have to play with my brain and control and pick the right time to go. I do appreciate I'm no spring chicken.

"There are people at the club who collect figures every day in training and measure my heart-rate, the amount of running you do.

"They haven't come to me yet and said, 'Listen, I don't think you can play the way you have been able to play '. They will do that one day, they'll come to me and say, 'You might need to adapt your game'. But it hasn't come to that yet."

Gerrard is enjoying life under Rodgers and insists he has lost none of his enthusiasm for training as he builds towards Saturday's Premier League opener against West Brom.

He explained: "Every day you have got a chance to show the manager that you should be in his starting line-up. Even though I am 32 I still try to impress the manager every day."