London.Steven Gerrard is being pushed to make his first start for Liverpool in six months against Manchester United next week by the club’s coaching staff.

The Reds first-team coach Steve Clarke believes the time is now right for captain to step up his bid for regular football.

The England international was left out of Fabio Capello’s squad for Friday’s Euro 2012 qualifier in Montenegro as he has played just 56 minutes of football in three substitute appearances this season.

With more than a week until the club’s next match, at home to arch-rivals United, Clarke hopes to see the influential midfielder start pushing himself further.

‘For Steven it’s just a progression. He’s coming back from a long-term injury and we’ll try to treat him as cautiously and carefully as we can,’ Clarke told the club’s official website.

‘Obviously there will be a time when he is going to have to push on - and I think this is the time now.
‘With Steven it has been well documented that we’re looking after him.

‘He’s going to have to push himself in the coming weeks - and the more minutes we get into him, the better.’
Liverpool’s medical and coaching staff believe they have covered every minor detail in managing Gerrard’s comeback, tailoring his rehabilitation with specifically designed programmes.

 ‘So we worked with him in small areas and then gradually started to make the areas bigger. Every step is important.
‘He’s handled the steps we’ve given him so far very well and we’ll just look to push him on.’

Stewart Downing believes Liverpool are ready to stun arch-rivals Manchester United when they meet at Anfield this weekend, warning the Reds are ready to hand out a hiding.

Kenny Dalglish’s side picked up a morale-boosting Merseyside derby win over Everton last weekend to hit fifth spot in the Barclays Premier League.

Striker Luis Suarez urged his team-mates to forget about the league and focus on the cups but Downing believes the reds are ready to finally hit their best form in time for the visit of the 19-time champions.

 We need to be more clinical and kill teams off ó the game against Wolves was a good example. We made it a harder day than it needed to be because we should have scored a few more times.

Liverpool-Manchester United rivalry
The fixture between Liverpool and Manchester United is one of the most significant sporting rivalries in football, sometimes referred to as the North West derby. Both clubs hail from the North West of England. With both cities of Liverpool and Manchester historically being part of the county of Lancashire, this fixture has been known as a Lancashire derby.

The clubs are also the two most successful teams in England; between them they have won 118 honours: 60 for Manchester United and 58 for Liverpool. The fixture is usually played at midday due to media interest and to discourage fans from drinking before the game.[citation needed]

Long-serving Manchester United player Ryan Giggs claimed that Liverpool against Manchester United is “probably the most famous fixture in English football”. This rivalry is one of the most high-profile derbies in the country.
The rivalry can be considered as a manifestation of one which already had existed between the two cities since industrial times.

During this time both were competing with each other for supremacy of the north-west, with Manchester famous for its manufacturing prowess while Liverpool was famous for the importance of its port.

Once the Manchester Ship Canal was built, ships could bypass Liverpool and transport goods directly into Manchester. The Ship Canal was an audacious project and upon completion in 1894 it was the longest man-made ship canal in the world. The Ship Canal meant less dues for Liverpool merchants which consequently resulted in job losses at the Port and resentment from the local people of Liverpool.

Historians generally regard this as the key incident as to why such inter-city rivalry exists. Furthermore, the crest of Manchester United includes a ship representing the Manchester Ship Canal and reflects Manchester’s trade roots. Furthermore this ship is also included on many other Mancunian institutions such as Manchester City Council and rivals Manchester City F.C..

During the late 1970s and 1980s, the two cities had been in decline due to the downturn of industries. However, both cities have again grown and found success, with Manchester now being recognised as a world-class city. Recently, Manchester hosted the 2002 Commonwealth Games, while Liverpool was awarded the title of 2008 European Capital of Culture.

[edit] Football rivalryBoth clubs claim the title of ‘the Greatest English Football Club’, having won over 50 major trophies each. Liverpool dominated English football during the 1970s and 1980s, claiming the league title eleven times and the European Cup on four occasions during that period, including winning a treble of the League, the League Cup and the European Cup in 1984.

Manchester United, however, have dominated the 1990s and 2000s, winning the league title a record twelve times, a European Continental Treble (European Cup, the Premier League and the FA Cup) in 1999, two domestic Doubles and The European Double of the Premier League and European Cup in 2008. Both clubs are also the two most successful English sides in European competition, with Liverpool having been European champions 5 times, and Manchester United 3 times.

With Manchester United’s victory in the Premier League season 2010ñ11, they moved ahead of Liverpool with a record 19 league titles. Despite Liverpool’s success in England, they have never won the Premier League since its founding in 1992. Winning the League Cup in 2010, Manchester United then set a new English record of 33 domestic honours - moving one clear of the Merseysiders for the first time.

Manchester United currently have 34 domestic honours after their victory in the 2010ñ11 Premier League season. As well as competing on the football pitch, both teams are also two of the biggest-earning, and widely-supported, football clubs in the world.

The rivalry has extended to the players as well: United striker Wayne Rooney, a product of Liverpool’s city rivals Everton described how, although he is from Liverpool, he grew up hating the Reds,[6] while Liverpool’s Steven Gerrard took a film crew on tour of his home where he showed off a collection of football shirts he had swapped with opposing players as part of the after match routine; he pointed out that there were no Manchester United shirts in there and that he would never have one of them in his house.

Manchester United’s Gary Neville has been publicly vocal in the past with regards to his dislike of Liverpool; following a fixture in which John O’Shea scored a stoppage-time winner in front of the Kop in 2007, Neville described O’Shea’s achievement as “a lifelong dream” for himself. Neville was berated by Liverpool fans for his role in celebrating in front of them in 2006, kissing the crest on his jersey and appearing to shout angrily towards the fans.

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