The American Gerrard Awards
Liverpool Football Club have had a season worthy of the record books. One day we may all look back and realize how lucky we were to be fans during the Jurgen Klopp era. Every single member of our squad has had their role to play in contributing to our first title win in 30 years. Each player deserves recognition but I thought it would be fun to give out my own individual awards honoring achievements in carefully selected categories… so I created the American Gerrard Awards!
Use your imagination with me for a moment: Jamie Carragher is our Master of Ceremonies, as he does his best Billy Crystal impression and introduces Liverpool-inspired presenters. King Kenny and (Ian) Rushie share a bit of banter, before Jamie Webster performs a medley of Liverpool songs in a stage performance matching even Beyonce’s wildest. Then Stevie G presents the Player of the Season award with a tear in his eye. You may say I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one…
This week I ran polls on our social media accounts giving our followers a chance to contribute their opinions on which players deserved to receive the awards. Everyone’s opinions were crap, so I just decided I would be the judge… I am the American Gerrard after all.
Just kidding! Using the data collected from our social media posts, my fellow staff members at American Scouser, and the input of a respected former pro (thanks Dad), I assembled my list of award winners. I hope you enjoy.
Young Player of the Season
Liverpool have a large number of promising young players coming up from the youth ranks these days. Realistically there were really only three serious contenders: Curtis Jones, Neco Williams, and Harvey Elliot. We did not get too much of a look at Harvey Elliot, but he seems to have a lot of fans among the Liverpool staff and fellowship. Neco Williams is also a promising youngster – and may have earned Klopp’s confidence to seal the back up right back slot next season.
But hands down the winner of the Young Player of the Season award was Curtis Jones. He has really stepped up this season, and scored some impressive goals and looks to be a decent prospect to replace Adam Lallana. The online polls were near-unanimous: there was literally only one vote that was not for Curtis Jones. Perhaps he had an unfair advantage being a Scouser and all. That’s it – I’m getting Curtis Jones #17 on one of my new Nike kits!
The Ramos Award
The Ramos Award (a.k.a. the Sergio Ramos Award) is dedicated to the person in football that pissed off the most Liverpool fans. Unfortunately rules state that we are unable to give Sergio Ramos the award every season (not to mention we did not even face Real Madrid this season). However, we did face Atletico Madrid, who ended Liverpool’s hopes of winning back-to-back Champions League.
During the first round-of-16 leg away at Atletico, Madrid’s manager Diego Simeone angered Liverpool fans with his antics, exciting and encouraging the home fans. His defensive tactics also made the game frustrating to watch for Liverpool fans. When the match was over, Simeone celebrated like he had just won the World Cup. The return leg at home was very disappointing as well, but it was his actions during the first leg that set the tone.
Diego Simeone is 2020’s winner of the Ramos Award.
The Stand in Stand Out Award
The Stand in Stand Out Award goes to a player who stepped up and filled the position of another due to injury. For me, there is really only one true winner for this award, Adrian. When Liverpool signed Adrian, no one expected him to play as many games as he ended up doing. It was Alisson’s early-season injury that forced Adrian to step into the limelight, having only signed for the reds for a short time prior.
Although Adrian’s overall performance was far from flawless, he played a key role in a season where we lost only three games in the league – and none of the losses were with him in net. When we thought Adrian was back on the bench for the rest of the season, Alisson forgot even goalies can handle a ball out of the box, and received a red card against Brighton. Later on in the season, Alisson suffered another injury, giving Adrian even more time in the starting 11. For Adrian’s performance stepping up in Alisson’s absence he has been awarded the Stand in Stand Out Award.
Goal of the Season
The 2019-2020 Premier League season was filled with many season-defining goals. Considering all of the options, it is difficult to select the best goal:
Adam Lallana’s last-minute equalizer against hated rivals Manchester United kept our undefeated season alive, snatching a point despite a widely-panned performance by the referee.
Fabinho’s early belter against Manchester City inspired an amazing performance that cemented our table position over the Premier League defending champs.
The majority of Liverpool fans, myself included, have decided Mo Salah’s goal against Manchester United at Anfield was the Goal of the Season. Liverpool were up 1-0 with only minutes left, looking to seal all three points and continue their Premier League domination. After a poor attempt on goal from a United corner, Alisson collects the ball and punts it up field to Mo Salah, who has timed his run just right. Salah easily fights off the challenge of Daniel James, and coolly slots past David De Gea to make it 2-0. The crowd, no longer fearing the possibility of jinxing the title, finally sings, “We’re gonna win the league, We’re gonna win the league, and Now you gotta believe us…”
Player of the Season
The voting results for the Liverpool Player of the Season were a lot tighter than I had expected. It came down to a close battle between frightening forward Sadio Mane and Liverpool’s stalwart captain Jordan Henderson. In the end Jordan Henderson edged out Sadio Mane by a single vote.
Sadio Mane scored some important goals for the Reds this season. He is finally being recognized as one of the best players in Europe. However, it was not enough to convince our readers over his captain’s performance.
Jordan Henderson led our squad to the title both on and off the field. Many expected him to fall out of the starting lineup when we signed Fabinho, but he has proven again and again his importance to our team. Jordan Henderson proves you do not need to score goals or make assists to be the most important player on the pitch. Honorable mention goes to Trent Alexander Arnold, who came in third place in the voting.
There you have it, I present to you the winners of the 2020 American Gerrard Awards. None of the winners were able to accept their awards due to busy schedule (and not knowing these even exist), but I am sure they would all thank you for your continued support.
I’m Jordan Gerrard and as always I thank you for reading.