Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard has apologised for his stinging criticism of Everton in the wake of Sunday’s pulsating Merseyside derby. Row: Steven Gerrard angered Everton players with his ‘long ball’ jibe (Picture: Getty) Gerrard had sparked anger in the aftermath of the 2-2 draw at Goodison Park, by complaining that David Moyes’ side were not interested in playing football, and instead tried to replicate Stoke’s infamous long-ball approach. The comments especially riled Gerrard’s England colleague Phil Jagielka, who responded by admitting that Everton do favour a more direct option, but hit back by suggesting it’s more successful that the passing style favoured by 12th-placed Liverpool. ‘If Stevie says we are a long ball team then I’m not going to deny the fact that we play long balls. Do we play them for the full 90 minutes? No. But we play quite direct,’ said Jagielka. ‘Who wouldn’t when you have someone in form like Marouane Fellaini, who can bring the ball down for fun and we start creating things from there? Why wouldn’t you do that?’ ‘We don’t believe in passing it around for half an hour for the sake of it. We won’t change the way we play. ‘We won’t start to look to put in a thousand passes a game.’ Gerrard is refusing to get embroiled in a war-of-words though, and has since backed down, admitting he went over the top in the heat of the moment. ‘Just to clarify I’ve watched the game again and I’ve seen some of Everton’s matches this season, and what I said in relation to their style of play went too far,’ confessed Gerrard. ‘I was frustrated by the disallowed goal from Luis when I spoke and also some of the things that have been said about Luis in recent weeks, which haven’t been fair in my opinion.’ ‘As captain I have a duty to stand up for our players when I feel they are unfairly singled out.’ ‘But it wasn’t my intention to disrespect Everton or Stoke for that matter and I certainly didn’t intend any disrespect to their manager or players.’ Everton will hope to have the last laugh come the end of the season, with the Toffees currently six points clear and cruising in fourth place. PICTURES: Everton 2-2 Liverpool

A news article on 2012-10-31 11:50:00 from: The Metro

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