Gerrard blaming the travel for a crap season. It's funny how the hypocrite managed to fly over to London to appear on BT Sport
http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/...bed-of-roses-for-former-anfield-a6720316.html
When Los Angeles Galaxy’s jaded players wheeled their well-travelled suitcases through the arrivals hall at LAX for the final time in 2015, they had covered 21,999 miles in the course of the regular Major League Soccer season, a competition that enforces stringent rules which limit the number of charter flights each team can take.
While regulations were relaxed slightly in 2008, squads are still restricted to four private journeys per year: a guideline intended to prevent wealthier clubs such as Galaxy, who can afford to spend more on important details like preparation, from gaining a competitive advantage over the rest.
It also, in theory, stops those with lesser means from trying too hard to catch up before floundering financially like they did in the days of the North America Soccer League, a phenomenon, which contributed to the tournament collapsing entirely in 1984.
For all players, though, no matter their profile, it means weekends are long: often starting on a Thursday evening if going from west coast to east, before returning three, maybe four days later owing to the time differences involved and, occasionally, the number of connections needed.
It has meant then, that Steven Gerrard has been absent from his Bel Air home more than he envisaged when he originally agreed to move to California in January. When his wife, Alex, along with their three daughters were Stateside throughout the summer, he was in transit to another city as much as he was there with them, at his happiest.
The away trips also acted as a reminder that Los Angeles is – in football terms – in a relatively isolated part of a country where teams do not really share rivalries of any kind. Each time he produced a boarding card at the gate, in more ways than just one, it must have felt like a tap on the shoulder, telling him again that he was very far from Anfield.
Although these details do not explain entirely why Gerrard is contemplating a return to Liverpool in some capacity, they contribute towards a growing restlessness inside him.
Over the last few weeks, the former captain of the club has been busy ahead of his return to Merseyside for Christmas: speaking with Jürgen Klopp by telephone several times and meeting with Liverpool’s chairman, Tom Werner, who lives a few miles away in Beverly Hills. Werner is the person inside Fenway Sports Group, the Massachusetts-based investment firm that owns Liverpool, whose opinion he supposedly respects the most. Werner, indeed, was the driving force within the group in the decision to sack Brendan Rodgers and replace him with Klopp.
On Monday, Gerrard convened with Bruce Arena, Galaxy’s coach, and the pair discussed the future over lunch: going over what had gone right for Gerrard and the team over the previous four months, what had gone wrong – and the numerous areas where the former Liverpool captain feels improvements are glaringly necessary.
