Liverpool Owe A Debt Of Gratitude To Steven Gerrard, Says Roy Hodgson

Roy Hodgson believes everyone at Liverpool - not least himself - owes Steven Gerrard a debt of gratitude after the England international’s 14-minute hat-trick averted a morale-sapping defeat at home to Napoli in front of new owner John W Henry and director of football Damien Comolli.

Gerrard emerged as a second-half substitute with Liverpool trailing to a strike from the Argentine international Ezequiel Lavezzi but produced the fourth treble of his career - bundling home after a mistake by Andrea Dossena, coolly converting a penalty after a foul on Glen Johnson and brilliantly chipping home his third - to leave the Premier League side needing just a point to qualify for the knockout rounds of the Europa League.

Though Hodgson admitted in an ideal world he would not have needed to call on his captain to rescue the game, he was effusive in his praise of a performance which he believed encapsulates everything which makes Gerrard Liverpool’s spiritual leader.

“It was a real leader’s performance,” said Hodgson. “In the second half his entry on to the field was a catalyst. It galvanised the crowd and the team and I thought the way he scored the first goal epitomised the energy and the spirit the team showed in the second half.

“That goal was not pretty, but we had missed plenty of chances after pretty play. It was a captain’s goal, the goal of a guy who wanted to get his team back into the game and who was determined, even at the risk of injury, to get the ball into the goal.

“That is appreciated by me, all of the staff here and by the incredible crowd we had. We owe a big debt of gratitude to him but he would be the first to join me and say it was a good team performance in the second half. We deserved to win the game.”

Though Hodgson suggested it would be harsh to suggest it was the first time he had seen the best of Gerrard since taking charge at Anfield, the player’s insistence that the club are still very much a work in progress could, in truth, apply to his form this campaign too.

“Every game is a battle at the moment,” Gerrard said of his team’s form. “It started in Naples with a good defensive display and we have built from that with back-to-back league wins and now coming from behind to win. But there is still a long way to go and we know we can play better. It is a building process with a new manager, a lot of new faces and new ideas. It will take time, but we are getting close to where we want to be.”