Gerrard Fire On

Gerrard writes in his autobiography, which is being serialised in the News of the world. [BBC]

"Sadly a dark side stains Cristiano Ronaldo's game. His part in Wayne Rooney's dismissal was a disgrace. What really [got to] all the England players was Ronaldo's wink to his bench. It was a wink which said 'job done'. How could he do that to his Manchester United team-mate?"

"On the bus after the game Wayne asked me: 'What do you think about the wink?' I said: 'Honestly, Wazza, if we were playing Spain and [Liverpool team-mates] Xabi Alonso or Luis Garcia winked at the referee or gave a signal for me to be sent off, I'd never speak to them again.'"

"Players like Carvalho are damaging football, not Wayne Rooney. It's coached into them that when an incident like that happens, they go to work on the ref. Ronaldo was at the front. But the blame does not just rest with him. Five or six Portuguese players were at it."

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"We were not as good as we thought we were. England were guilty of over-confidence. Me and the other players placed too much pressure on ourselves by constantly claiming we could win the World Cup. Stupid. We talked ourselves up too much. Never again. In future tournaments we must learn to be humble."

"A few decisions were wrong, like not taking five strikers. He certainly shouldn't have brought Theo Walcott to Germany. Not only were England embarking on an arduous World Cup campaign with only four forwards but one of them was Theo Walcott. I almost fell over when I heard. Now let's get one or two things right about Theo. He's a nice lad and one day he will mature into a very good player. But he had no right to be in Germany. None at all. I was gobsmacked to find him on the plane."