Steven Gerrard was, apparently, not fully briefed (translation: told of the negatives) on what life would be like upon moving to Major League Soccer and the LA Galaxy this summer.
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Things, such as? Turf, altitude and humidity, among other things, according to Gerrard. Quoted in a story on LAGalaxy.com Monday, Gerrard opened up about some of the challenges he encountered during his first three months in MLS. Either the Liverpool legend wasn’t filled all the way in on what it’s like to play in MLS, or he’s feeling the pressure of an underwhelming debut campaign — not to mention his massive contract — and excusing his own shortcomings.
Gerrard, on the unique challenges of MLS — quotes from LAGalaxy.com:
It’s pretty hard to believe that Gerrard wouldn’t have been made aware of the fact that games are played on turf, at altitude and/or in humid conditions. One would like to think the Galaxy learned quite a bit from David Beckham’s tedious integration into MLS eight years ago. There’s also the fact that Gerrard is friends with Robbie Keane (the two played together at Liverpool and have been seen together frequently in LA), who would surely have taken the responsibility of helping his new teammate settle into his new life as seamlessly as possible.
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The whole thing is quite strange coming from Gerrard. At the very least, he needs to know that he was not only not good enough for the Galaxy in 2015, but also that he actively hurt his team on a regular basis. They were a worse team with him on the field, which is a damning indictment of someone taking home $6.3 million per season.