Former Premier League midfielder Jamie O’Hara has admitted attempts to rattle Liverpool legend Steven Gerrard comprehensively backfired during his playing days.
Now a league winning manager at Rangers, Gerrard remains an Anfield icon having made 504 league outings for the club – the majority of which came as captain.
O’Hara meanwhile enjoyed a top-flight playing career spanning three clubs and amassing 93 appearances in total, but it was during a breakthrough season at Tottenham in 2007/08 when the Englishman met the Liverpudlian talisman.
The Spurs man was tasked with keeping a lid on Gerrard’s in-game influence on the final day at White Hart Lane, however, O’Hara admitted to talkSPORT that his underhand tactics may have been misplaced.
I remember trying to get near Gerrard. I’d just got into the Spurs side, I was young, I was hungry, I was fit. I remember playing against him at White Hart Lane. I thought, ‘first few minutes I’ve got to smash him, I’m going to steam into him, I’ll do him today’. The first one, it was a soft header, I’ve got right over the top of him and gone, ‘bosh! Get some of that!’. He’s just turned around and given me a look. It was like I’d just poked a bear because after that, he literally run rings around me and snapped me in half about four times.
The ex-England Under 21 man went on to further detail how Gerrard got the better of him, before exclaiming he was taken off at half time – ahead of being sold to Wolves soon after.
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With all due respect, the Liverpool skipper has run rings around many a player levels above O’Hara.
On his day Gerrard was on another level entirely and carried the Reds through much of the Premier League era and to multiple trophy successes despite often not having the strength around him.
