The former England and Liverpool star has had his say on Tottenham Hotspur's warm-weather training trip to Spain this week
Steven Gerrard has warned Roberto De Zerbi to be "very careful" about Tottenham's warm-weather training camp in Marbella and that he thinks it's a risk.
Spurs are heading off this week to Spain for a few days to ensure De Zerbi's new-look squad, with 10 summer arrivals still bedding in, become closer and bond further in order to get them moving in the right direction after Saturday's dramatic draw at Old Trafford showed progress within a team that lie 19th in the early table.
"We have to build the team. Now the target is to build the team, not the group of the players. We are a great group of the players, but we are not a team yet," said De Zerbi after the game at Old Trafford.
On the purpose of the trip to Marbella, he said: "To work together, to stay together, to go for dinner together, to know better each other, because to be a team you have to know the team-mates, and stay together."
In an episode this week of the Overlap Daily, Gerrard was asked about Tottenham's training camp in Spain and it made him recall when Rafa Benitez took the Liverpool players to the Algarve for a few days ahead of a Champions League match against Barcelona in 2007.
After a karaoke night went wrong, John Arne Riise would later claim in his autobiography that team-mate Craig Bellamy lost control and swung a golf club at him back in the hotel that evening leaving him with bruises down his legs. Bellamy was fined and both players would end up scoring the goals in the 2-1 win against Barcelona, Bellamy celebrating his by swinging his arms in a golf club motion, but the media frenzy around the trip stuck with the team.
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So when asked about Spurs' trip this week, Gerrard shook his head before saying: "You're speaking to the wrong person. You're speaking to the wrong person, I'm telling you, because whilst they can work and they can be beneficial, I've experienced it with Rangers going to Dubai, and we derailed one year, and then we done it the year after and we improved and kicked on.
"So I've seen the pros and the cons and I've experienced the pros and the cons. I would say Marbella is brave just in terms of location, risk, because there's a lot of other places where you can go that are probably safer. Although the players nowadays are a different generation to us and the generation before.
"But as soon as you mentioned it, it just sprung to mind, and I just think of mid-season camps. I just think, be careful, be very careful, especially if you're in a position like Spurs, when you're down the bottom of the table. Be very careful. And Marbella to me, I just think risk. I just think risk."
Thinking back to that controversial Liverpool trip, he added: "The team bonding worked in terms of the result, but I'm just talking about the risk. You have to be really careful when you're away, especially when you're in Marbella."